John Calvin Commentary Psalms 105:4

"Seek ye Jehovah and his strength; Seek his face evermore." — Psalms 105:4 (ASV)

Seek you Jehovah, and his strength. Although he had in the preceding verse characterized the faithful by the honorable designation, those who seek God, yet he again exhorts them to earnestness in seeking him, which is not an unnecessary exhortation. Seeking God, it is true, is the mark by which all genuine saints are particularly distinguished from the men of the world; but they come far short of seeking him with due ardor; and accordingly, they always need incitements to urge them on to this exercise, even though they run of their own accord.

Those whom the prophet here stirs up to seek God are not fickle persons, nor those who are altogether indolent and who cling to the impurities of earth, but those who with a prompt and ready mind already aim at doing this; and he thus stimulates them because he perceives that they are obstructed by many impediments from advancing in their course with sufficient rapidity.

However willing we may be, we still need such incitement to correct our slowness. The strength and the face of God, doubtless refer to that kind of manifestation by which God, accommodating himself to the simpler understanding of those times, then drew true believers to himself. The ark of the covenant is in many other places called both the strength and the face of God, because by that symbol the people were reminded that he was near them, and they also really experienced his power.

The more familiarly God then showed himself to them, with the more promptness and alacrity the prophet would have them apply their hearts in seeking him. The aid by which God relieves our weakness should prove an additional stimulus to our zeal. Modesty also is recommended to us, so that, mindful of our slowness in seeking God, we may keep to the way which he has prescribed for us and may not despise the rudiments through which he little by little leads us to himself.

It is added continually, so that no person may grow weary in this exercise, or, inflated with a foolish opinion of having reached perfection, may neglect the external aids to piety, as is done by many who, after having advanced a few degrees in the knowledge of God, exempt themselves from the common rank of others, as if they were elevated above the angels.

Again, the injunction is given to remember the marvelous works which God had performed, in the deliverance of his people from Egypt, when he displayed his power in new and unusual ways. By the judgments of his mouth, some understand the law. But as I interpret all three expressions, his marvelous works, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, as referring to one series of events, I prefer explaining this last phrase as referring to the miracles by which God subdued the pride of Pharaoh.

However, there is still some doubt as to the reason for this manner of speaking. Some believe that these miracles are called the judgments of God’s mouth because he had foretold them by Moses, which is highly probable. At the same time, the expression might be taken more simply, as denoting that the power of God was manifested in an extraordinary manner in these miracles, from which it would be easy to gather that they were performed by him.

I do not mean to exclude the ministry of Moses, whom God had raised up to be a prophet to the Egyptians, so that by denouncing what was to come to pass, he might show that nothing happened by chance. Yet I think there is an allusion to the manifest character of the miracles, as if it had been said: Although God had not uttered a word, the facts themselves evidently showed that he was the deliverer of his people.