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In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to Your miracles; they did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for His name’s sake, to make His mighty power known. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert. He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy He redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. Then they believed His promises and sang His praise.
In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to Your miracles; they did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for His name’s sake, to make His mighty power known. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert. He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy He redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. Then they believed His promises and sang His praise.
But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His plan to unfold. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. So He gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.
In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram. Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked. At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So He said He would destroy them — had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to keep His wrath from destroying them.
Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord. So He swore to them with uplifted hand that He would make them fall in the wilderness, make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them. But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.
They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
Therefore the Lord was angry with His people and abhorred His inheritance. He gave them into the hands of the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times He delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. Yet He took note of their distress when He heard their cry; for their sake He remembered His covenant and out of His great love He relented. He caused all who held them captive to show them mercy.
Save us, Lord our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise.
Praise be to the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord.
Psalm 106:6-48
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As we have studied the psalms, we have discussed many times the importance of not losing sight how blessed we are. To capture the true extent of God’s goodness, I have mentioned an exercise where you sit down and make dedicated time to list every way that God has blessed you in your life. If you do it right, you will fully discover all that He has done for you and gain an even greater appreciation and sense of thanks for Him.
Today, I am going to ask you to do something similar but it won’t be as pleasant as writing down all your blessings. For I am suggesting that you sit down and write down a list of all your sins. I want you to think about every place where you have fallen short in being obedient to God and jot it down. It won’t be easy but it’s paramount that you be absolutely honest with yourself. I’ll explain why a little later.
Just in case you think this is a ridiculous proposition, know that it isn’t without biblical precedence. Take a look at the remainder of the 106th Psalm:
We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to Your miracles; they did not remember Your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for His name’s sake, to make His mighty power known. He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert. He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy He redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. Then they believed His promises and sang His praise.
But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His plan to unfold. In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. So He gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease among them.
In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the Lord. The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram. Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked. At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal. They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt, miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. So He said He would destroy them — had not Moses, His chosen one, stood in the breach before Him to keep His wrath from destroying them.
Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord. So He swore to them with uplifted hand that He would make them fall in the wilderness, make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods; they aroused the Lord’s anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them. But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked. This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. By the waters of Meribah they angered the Lord, and trouble came to Moses because of them; for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.
They did not destroy the peoples as the Lord had commanded them, but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to false gods. They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood. They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
Therefore the Lord was angry with His people and abhorred His inheritance. He gave them into the hands of the nations, and their foes ruled over them. Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power. Many times He delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. Yet He took note of their distress when He heard their cry; for their sake He remembered His covenant and out of His great love He relented. He caused all who held them captive to show them mercy.
The psalmist went to great lengths to document all the places where Israel had run afoul of their Father and His will for them. And he didn’t include EVERY sin that Israel committed. The psalm would end up being the longest chapter in the Bible if he had!
Look at some of the specifics indictments against Israel. They had done the following:
- Gave no thought to God’s miracles.
- Did not remember His many kindnesses and forgot what He had done.
- Rebelled by the Red Sea.
- Did not wait for God’s plan to unfold.
- Gave into their cravings.
- Put God to the test.
- Grew envious of others.
- Made a metal calf and worshiped it, exchanging God for an idol.
- Despised the pleasant land.
- Did not believe God’s promises.
- Grumbled in their tents.
- Disobeyed God.
- Yoked themselves to false gods like Baal.
- Ate sacrifices to lifeless gods.
- Did not destroy the people who inhabited Canaan as they took possession of the Promised Land.
- Mingled with other nations and adopted their customs and godless culture.
- Sacrificed their sons and daughters to false gods, shedding innocent blood and desecrating the land.
- Defiled and prostituted themselves by their deeds.
That’s quite a list right? So what would yours look like? And why go through all the trouble anyways? After all, it’s a no brainer that we are sinners. Why go to all the trouble of micro-processing our transgressions?
The answer can also be found in this scripture passage. For as much as we read about all the sins of the people of Israel, look at what else we learn:
1. God saved His people despite their rebellious attitude (v 10).
2. God provided their needs, even when they weren’t satisfied with what He had given them (v 15).
3. God withheld His wrath when His appointed leader interceded on behalf of the Israelites (vv 23, 30).
4. God delivered His people many times (v 43).
5. God took note of the distressed cries of His people when they were in the midst of His discipline (v 44).
6. God remembered His covenant He had made with His people (v 45).
7. God loved His people so much that He relented from punishing them (v 45).
8. God influenced the Israelite captors toward showing mercy (V 46).
Friends, we need to look closely at the magnitude of our sinfulness to best understand and appreciate the depth of God’s mercy, grace, forgiveness, and love to us, His beloved children. For only when we realize how very evil and sinful we are before God, will we see how much we need saved and can cry out to God like the psalmist, “Save us Lord our God.” The good news is that we know He will answer that cry and did so for all eternity through Jesus Christ, His Son and our Savior.
Amen
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
Mark
PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.
Send any prayer requests to OurChristianWalk@aol.com
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