Devotions / Ps 77:13-15

For my family, related or not, near or far / five minutes!

Rick McNally / Wednesday, July 30, 2025

Psalm 77:13-15 / The Revealer of Himself to Others

Psalm 77:13-15

Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God?
You are the God who works wonders;
you have made known your might among the peoples.
You with your arm redeemed your people,
the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

From the Book of Exodus

While the entirety of this psalm revolves around the exodus of Egypt and the story of the crossing of the Red Sea, this stanza echos very closely Exodus 15:11.

“Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders?

Your way, O God, is holy.

God’s very conduct is holiness. It is behavior that is set apart by being unlike any other entity in the universe. God’s way is holy. Thrice holy. Holiness means to be set apart, to be unique, to be different. All the people we have ever met have faults and sins inherent in their being; they will and do let us down just as we will and do let down others at times (hopefully with repentance that should follow). But God is always above board and righteous. He is different.

What god is great like our God?

In the experience of the Israelites, there were other “gods.” Usually idols or deities that the countries around Israel (and often Israel itself) worshipped along with or instead of God. They were shown to be powerless on many occasions in the pages of the Old Testament.

This happened through Moses in the Exodus (Exodus).
This happened through Elijah on Mount Carmel (1 Kings).
This happened through Daniel in Ovens and Lion’s Dens (Daniel).
This happened through David before Goliath (1 Samuel).

Other gods could not match the power of the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

You are the God who works wonders;

God throughout the Old Testament and the New does wonders. They don’t happen every five minutes, sometimes they don’t happen at all, but at other junctures they are prevalent. The Hebrew word for wonder here means “unusual” or “wonderful” or “amazing.” It is something unexpected and stands out like a bright light in the darkness.

Not only does God do wonders (sprinkled throughout the pages of scripture), the word itself is described with this same word. It is an unusual, wonderworking thing. Delve into it and find God to be true.

I will now list for you all the miracles found in life; no, that list would be ponderous and take too long. There are many.

You have made known your might among the peoples

God is the revealer of himself to the people of the world. God speaks in two distinct ways: general revelation and special revelation.

In general revelation we see that God makes known his “invisible attributes” through the things that he has created. The heavens declare his glory, his “eternal power” and even his “divine nature.” They speak daily and by the hour of his glory. They show his creativity and his ability to develop complex beings and systems — and those with but a spoken word. All of humanity sees his glory on a moment-by-moment basis.

In special revelation we see God making himself known through his interactions with mankind, particularly through his Word and through the workings of his Spirit in mankind. God speaks in a unique and powerful way through the Living Word of God into our hearts. If we have come to faith in him we have the Holy Spirit dwelling in us to help us understand that word. This is precious to me.

You with your arm redeemed your people.

Another recall to the book of Exodus is this phrase: we can take a look at the Exodus for a moment and compare.

I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgement. Exodus 6:6

God’s arm was “stretched out” and did the work of redemption for Israel and changed their fates. God intervened. We started this passage in the early verses of Psalm 77 with the cry. It was the cry of Israel that encouraged and started the Exodus.

Exodus 2:23 / During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

Exodus 3:7-9 / Then the Lord said, “I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters. I know their sufferings, and I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. And now, behold, the cry of the people of Israel has come to me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

God heard their cry — God did something about it. God hears your cry — and will do something about it. To believe that is to have faith.

Faith is sometimes very hard. But that is nothing new.

The children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah.

This phrase is a subtle reminder of who was crying and who was saved during the time of the Exodus. God saved these people by bringing them to Egypt. God saved these people from Egypt when help became abuse. God now can save other “children” of Jacob and Joseph.

The end “Selah” is likely a call to pause and might be a musical equivalent of a “rest” note, and encourages us to stop and think about it.

We have been reminded of the Exodus, and in the next verses we will be put into the wondrous deed of the Exodus; placed among the waves and the abnormal weather patterns that God used to save them.

Application / People’s past actions can help us predict what they will do in the future. If you find a faithful friend, you can be more sure they will be so in the future. If you have a friend who is less consistent in one way or another, you might assume they would be so in the future too. But if we can find a God who is utterly faithful in the things of the past, we can trust he will be so for us too. God is a faithful one. He—alone—can be trusted 100%, because that is who he is.