A ‘Te Deum’ to the master of creation, who delivers the people he has chosen. Egypt felt his power, Sihon of the Transjordanian mountains, and Og of the farther north. By their defeat, God made Israel’s name feared in Canaan (Jos 2:10), the land that became her ‘inheritance.’ However, military conquest was only an early step in God’s plan for the rest of his world. We, who have seen this plan unfold, are less moved by the psalmist’s lesser joy. ‘Inheritance of the land,’ a classic expression of Israel’s ideal, was a hope gradually refined and spiritualized by national hardship; taken into our Lord’s hands, it was blessed and transformed forever. ‘The meek shall possess the land,’ not the warlike; the Kingdom is not of this world. Nor is conquest: Pharaoh, Og, and Sihon are foes within us, for our true war is against the rulers of this darkness. Our armor is the clothing of the Spirit (Eph 6:12ff). Thank God for his victorious grace and for ‘the inheritance that does not spoil, which is kept in heaven for you’ (1 P 1:4). This psalm must be gradually completed with fresh proofs of divine love.
The psalmist encourages us to thank the Lord, who is good; his kindness lasts forever. Like him, St. Paul encourages us in 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 to ‘Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, and give thanks to God at every moment. This is the will of God, your vocation as Christians.’ Indeed, Christians especially should thank God for Jesus Christ, who has shown us the way to eternal salvation.