7a For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand.
All who claim that God is theirs must first prove that they are truly His; and they can prove it only if, as our verse states, they are always found in His pasture and they are led by His hand. It is nothing more than a phoney claim when those who would not sojourn with God or be led by Him make claims that God is theirs.
However, to all those who truly abide in God’s pasture and rejoice in His guidance and supervision, He is an eternal inheritance unto His people. In Exodus 20:2, the Lord told Israel, “I am the LORD thy God.” In Hebrews 11:16, we read that “wherefore God is not ashamed to be called their God”. In fact, He is our Emmanuel, God who is with us (Matthew 1:23). Oh, how wonderful it is to know that the Lord has given Himself to us, that He may be ours now and for ever! We have no reason to doubt whether He is our God. We can certainly affirm, as we read in Psalm 48:14, “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.”
Could we have ever asked a greater favour from God than to have Him for ourselves? Whatever we may think of asking God for ourselves, He wants us to remember that we have Him for ourselves. In Romans 8:32, Paul reminds us, “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?”
Since God is ours, His pasture is ours, and the guidance of His hand is also ours. Christ, the great and good Shepherd of His people, shall lead us by His hand into the green pastures, and He shall protect and provide for us. He told us in Matthew 6:31-33, “Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things. But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
Oh, what great privilege and blessing belong to those who can sincerely say that “He is our God”! Let our souls rejoice that we have the Lord as our God. Oh, let us gladly proclaim our joy of having Him as our God. Others may reject Him, but we must cheerfully and openly declare Him to be ours. Our confession of Him will glorify Him and strengthen our faith.