42 They have not remembered His hand The day He ransomed them from the adversary. 43 When He set His signs in Egypt, And His wonders in the field of Zoan, 44 And He turneth to blood their streams, And their floods they drink not. 45 He sendeth among them the beetle, and it consumeth them, And the frog, and it destroyeth them, 46 And giveth to the caterpillar their increase, And their labour to the locust. 47 He destroyeth with hail their vine, And their sycamores with frost, 48 And delivereth up to the hail their beasts, And their cattle to the burning flames. 49 He sendeth on them the fury of His anger, Wrath, and indignation, and distress—A discharge of evil messengers. 50 He pondereth a path for His anger, He kept not back their soul from death, Yea, their life to the pestilence He delivered up. 51 And He smiteth every first-born in Egypt, The first-fruit of the strong in tents of Ham. 52 And causeth His people to journey as a flock, And guideth them as a drove in a wilderness, 53 And He leadeth them confidently, And they have not been afraid, And their enemies hath the sea covered.
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.