42 They remembered not his hand, the day when he delivered them from the oppressor, 43 How he set his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the field of Zoan; 44 And turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, that they could not drink; 45 He sent dog-flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them; 46 And he gave their increase unto the caterpillar, and their labour unto the locust; 47 He killed their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with hail-stones; 48 And he delivered up their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts. 49 He cast upon them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, and indignation, and distress,—a mission of angels of woes. 50 He made a way for his anger; he spared not their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence; 51 And he smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first-fruits of their vigour in the tents of Ham. 52 And he made his own people to go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; 53 And he led them safely, so that they were without fear; and the sea covered their enemies.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Psalm 78:42-53
Commentary on Psalm 78:40-55.
(Read Psalm 78:40-55.)
Let not those that receive mercy from God, be thereby made bold to sin, for the mercies they receive will hasten its punishment; yet let not those who are under Divine rebukes for sin, be discouraged from repentance. The Holy One of Israel will do what is most for his own glory, and what is most for their good. Their forgetting former favours, led them to limit God for the future. God made his own people to go forth like sheep; and guided them in the wilderness, as a shepherd his flock, with all care and tenderness. Thus the true Joshua, even Jesus, brings his church out of the wilderness; but no earthly Canaan, no worldly advantages, should make us forget that the church is in the wilderness while in this world, and that there remaineth a far more glorious rest for the people of God.