This psalm is about praising God for all of the wonderful things He has done for us. The writer expressed his attitude very well. “Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with His godly people.” Do we feel that way when we enter the church building? Do we joyfully greet all the people we come in contact with and give them a blessing or do we ignore them, sit in our seats, and never smile while we wait for the service to end?
The writer mentioned many reasons why we should worship God in this short psalm. Verse after verse mentions something good God has done for His children. Of course, his outlook was how God had helped the children of Israel after their departure from Egypt. God had supplied their needs throughout their lives from Abraham on; however, they were not exempt from the same hard times other nations experienced, but God supplied their needs. “He gives food to those who fear Him; He always remembers His covenant.”
In verse 7 he wrote, “He has shown His great power to His people by giving them the lands of other nations.” Now, this was the same land God had promised to Abraham in Genesis 13: 14-18. But Abraham would need many descendants to occupy the land, and that would take many generations before they would be large enough to occupy and hold it successfully. Why was God giving them the land that belonged to other nations? Because those nations worshipped false gods and were ungrateful to the true God Who had allowed them to settle there.
In our country today, we are told that we stole this land from the natives who lived here. But did we really steal it or was it given to us by God? The natives who lived here were much like the people Israel replaced. They partially occupied the land never thanking the real God who gave them the desire to leave their original homeland.
Many of the settlers who moved here were Christians fleeing persecution in their native lands. Like everyone who left their native land in search of something better, our ancestors were flawed people, what the Bible calls sinners, looking for a new beginning. If you think this isn’t true, you should read Our Oriental Heritage by Will Durant.