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Psalm 106:40-48

Today we conclude our long journey through this Psalm of confession.

‘’Many times he delivered them…’’ (43a). These words could be taken as a summary of Old Testament history in totality. Verses 40-43 refer not only to the period of the Judges (see the book of ‘Judges’), but also to the time of the monarchy (see the books of ‘1 and 2 Samuel’ and ‘1 and 2 Kings’.) For hundreds of years the Lord endured the Israelites’ recurring idolatry and rebellion. (There is a repetitive cycle in the Old Testament of sin leading to oppression leading to repentance leading to deliverance, and then more sin…and so on and so forth!!) Finally God’s longsuffering reached its limit and He ‘’handed them over to the nations (41) – especially Assyria and Babylon finally.

Like the Israelites, we too have a ‘’bent’’ toward rebellion by nature, and we need to learn from them the lesson that sin, unchecked, leads to wasting away (43). ‘’Over and over God rescued them, but they never learned – until finally their sins destroyed them.’’ That was their story. It could be ours, if we don’t heed the powerful lessons of Biblical history

But the captivity in foreign lands was not the end of the story! God preserved a remnant of His people, who, in their exile, sought Him and He heard them and remembered the covenant He had made with this people (44, 45). That doesn’t mean that God’s memory had been failing Him and He’d forgotten all about it for a time. He isn’t subject to our human frailties. Rather it means that He had regard to the covenant in what He did. So, some of the captives began to return (see the books of ‘Ezra’ and ‘Nehemiah’). ‘’ He remembered his Covenant with them, and, immense with love, took them by the hand. He poured out his mercy on them while their captors looked on, amazed.’’ The Message.

But there were others still exiled, like this psalmist (some think) and he cried out to God: ‘’Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations…’’ (47). (It’s important to say that not every commentator agrees that there is a reference to the great Assyrian/Babylonian captivity in verses 44-47)

‘’That is also our cry, the cry of the Church in our generation. We too stumble and sin and compromise. We too need to be continuously ‘’gathered from the nations’’ – consecrated, set apart – so that we might fulfil our calling to be Christ’s witnesses to the ends of the earth (Acts 1:8). Tom Hale: The Applied Old Testament Commentary, p.903.

‘’The psalm is best simply heard as the song of the church in the world, subject to its enticements, overcome by its powers, losing its identity by compromise, but longing and praying for a better day and praising the God who, amid the fluctuations of his people, is the same from everlasting to everlasting.’’ J.A. Motyer: The New Bibkle Commentary, p.557

Prayer: Lord God, have mercy on your wayward and compromised people. Please forgive our sins, break our chains and restore us to fulfil our God-given destiny.

Psalm 106:16-31

This is a psalm of confession. Confession is an important part of both personal and corporate worship. We need to be able to regularly admit that we’ve done wrong and receive forgiveness from God, and find renewal of peace. It’s hard to live with a guilty conscience. Here, in this long psalm, we have the confession of seven instances of Israel’s sin from the time of the exodus to the entrance into Canaan.

It is possible for people to become jealous of leaders for all kinds of subtle reasons, as well as the more obvious ones (16-18). We may not always fully understand ourselves and what is really going on in our hearts. Leaders can become ”envious” of other leaders. People in the congregation can feel similarly about those in authority. Perhaps some look at them and covet their roles. But we should learn from this incident (Nu.16:1-35) that it is a dangerous move to set yourselves against God’s appointed and anointed leadership. Here is one of God’s ‘Danger’ signs in the road telling us to beware. If you act in a way you shouldn’t towards a leader you may well find the ground give way beneath you. There is more than one way for this to happen!

On our pilgrimage we too can lose the vision of God. We can become forgetful of the wonderful things He has done for us. We can also all too easily turn to substitutes and look to them for deep satisfaction (19-23; see Ex.32:1-30/Ro.1:22, 23)). ”They traded the Glory for a cheap piece of sculpture – a grass-chewing bull! They forgot God, their very own Savior, who turned things around in Egypt, Who created a world of wonders in the land of Ham, who gave that stunning performance at the Red Sea.” The Message. You don’t have to literally erect a golden calf to become an idolater. Maybe you have become disappointed with God and your lot on the Christian journey, and in your heart you have drifted off to find fulfilment elsewhere. You now look for life in your hobby, which has assumed far too great an importance in your heart. Or perhaps your pursuit of happiness is in something (or someone else),but God has been dethroned in your life, even though you may still attend church. Your body is in a pew, but the best part of you is somewhere else. Verse 23 shows the power of intercessory prayer. Although these people had strayed so far from God, Moses’ prayers brought about a great deliverance (Ex.32:9-14, 31-35). Who do you need to ‘stand in the gap’ for today? (Moses here, is a foreshadowing of Jesus, who ultimately ”stood in the breach before him” at the cross, in order to rescue us from God’s wrath.) Note that in (28-31; see Nu.25:1-9) there is another similar instance of a spiritual leader having a massive impact for good on a sinning people. Church leaders have a huge task on their hands. They are engaged in a spiritual battle, as we saw yesterday. It is a battle for hearts and minds, to see every single thought taken a prisoner for Jesus. No human is sufficient for these things, so leaders have a great work to do in prayer. Let us ensure that we also pray for them in the burdens they carry. The prayers of leaders can rescue those who are turning away to ‘idols’. Your prayers can achieve the same results too!

It is dangerously possible for us to ‘despise’ what God has given to us, and even in the middle of our blessings to grumble and complain instead of praising God. We need to learn from these things. They were written for our help and instruction and warning. ”They went on to reject the Blessed Land, didn’t believe a word of what God promised. They found fault with the life they had and turned a deaf ear to GOD’s voice.” The Message. Determine to make it a habit to ”count your blessings.” Cultivate an ”attitude of gratitude”. We too may seriously lose out if we do these four things: a.) Despise our blessings; b.) become ‘unbelieving believers’; c.) grumble in our ‘tents’; and d.) fail to obey God (24-27; see also Nu.14:1-35; Hebs.3:12, 17-19, 4:1). If, as many think, the psalmist was himself an exile, he knew that his own generation had experienced the punishment written about in (27; see Lev.26:33). God’s Word is to be taken seriously. He never forgets what He has written. ”This is the privilege of possessing the word of God and the reason why it is our cardinal sin to ignore it: the word of God is the living voice of God.” J.A.Motyer: The New Bible Commentary,p.556.                

Prayer: Lord God, you have blessed me so abundantly and I thank you.