Recognizing the ways God’s people have turned their backs on God

Psalm 106 (Selected Verses)

1 Praise the Lord!
    O give thanks to the Lord, for he is good;
    for his steadfast love endures for ever.
2 Who can utter the mighty doings of the Lord,
    or declare all his praise?
3 Happy are those who observe justice,
    who do righteousness at all times….

6 Both we and our ancestors have sinned;
    we have committed iniquity, have done wickedly.
7 Our ancestors, when they were in Egypt,
    did not consider your wonderful works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
    but rebelled against the Most High at the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
    so that he might make known his mighty power….
12 Then they believed his words;
    they sang his praise.

13 But they soon forgot his works; they did not wait for his counsel….
19 They made a calf at Horeb and worshipped a cast image.
20 They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.

24 Then they despised the pleasant land,
    having no faith in his promise.
25 They grumbled in their tents,
    and did not obey the voice of the Lord….

40 Then the anger of the Lord was kindled against his people,
    and he abhorred his heritage;
41 he gave them into the hand of the nations,
    so that those who hated them ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them,
    and they were brought into subjection under their power.
43 Many times he delivered them,
    but they were rebellious in their purposes,
    and were brought low through their iniquity.
44 Nevertheless, he regarded their distress
    when he heard their cry.

45 For their sake he remembered his covenant,
    and showed compassion according to the abundance of his steadfast love.
46 He caused them to be pitied by all who held them captive.

47 Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the nations,
that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.

48 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
And let all the people say, ‘Amen.’ Praise the Lord!

The reading has been shortened due to the length of the psalm.

Psalm 104 provided a description of why God should be praised for God’s work in creation. Psalm 105 provided an account of why the faithful God should be praised for God’s work in keeping God’s promises.

Now Psalm 106 describes the ways in which the people of Israel disobeyed, grumbled, turned their backs on, and disrespected God. The ways in which they talked down the good God did for them, the ways in which they rejected God’s hopes that they would choose to follow his pattern in response to God’s acts of grace and love.

In this the people of Israel were like all human beings who in the face of God’s love, care, grace and goodness, choose again and again to turn our backs in God, choose to disrespect God, choose to downplay the good God has done. All of this in an effort to justify our not obeying God’s pattern in our lives.

The psalm ends with the only possible answer – a cry to God for mercy from the judgement that is so richly deserved. A cry for salvation from the punishment that should be meted out on us. A cry for mercy, even as it affirms anew that God is worthy of our praise even as we are disciplined. A shout of praise, blessing God, even as we face the difficult consequences of our failure to follow God.

God is the Creator and God is the faithful Covenant-keeper – and he is worthy of our praise, no matter what our circumstance may be.

PRAYER:

O Lord, we confess that we have disrespected you – we have minimized your gifts to us, we have presumed on your forgiveness, and we have chosen to ignore the ways you envisioned for people to live. We are unworthy of your grace, mercy, and love. But without them we are lost and without hope. We plead for mercy even as we praise your might, majesty, and justice. In Jesus’ name. Amen.