Israel’s Rebelliousness and the Lord’s Deliverances.
106 [a]Praise [b]the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for He is good;
For His lovingkindness is everlasting.
2 Who can speak of the mighty deeds of the Lord,
Or can show forth all His praise?
3 How blessed are those who keep [c]justice,
[d]Who practice righteousness at all times!4 Remember me, O Lord, in Your favor [e]toward Your people;
Visit me with Your salvation,
5 That I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones,
That I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation,
That I may glory with Your [f]inheritance.6 We have sinned [g]like our fathers,
We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly.
7 Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your [h]wonders;
They did not remember [i]Your abundant kindnesses,
But rebelled by the sea, at the [j]Red Sea.
8 Nevertheless He saved them for the sake of His name,
That He might make His power known.
9 Thus He rebuked the [k]Red Sea and it dried up,
And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness.
10 So He saved them from the [l]hand of the one who hated them,
And redeemed them from the [m]hand of the enemy.
11 The waters covered their adversaries;
Not one of them was left.
12 Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
A couple things in this portion of Psalm 106 remind me of something Jesus would say centuries later. In the first few verses, the psalmist implores us to give thanks to God and praise Him. He then says something that seems obvious in v. 3: “Blessed are those who keep justice… and practice righteousness at all times!”
Yet as this psalm continues, we see that his ancestors did not do so, they behaved wickedly. Even in Egypt, after being delivered by God from slavery, they rebelled days later at the Red Sea. Once might excuse them, after all, they hadn’t seen a miracle in 400 years. Instead, they likely felt abandoned by God, suffering in Egypt for so long.
However, they had all just witnessed ten plagues of increasing power and severity, and still they rebelled. Yet God did save them in the end, and then, then they believed His words and sang His praise! So indeed, blessed are those who keep justice and practice righteousness at all times–despite circumstances and hard times, they keep doing what is right. When the going gets tough, they still praise God because their faith has is stronger.
And what did Jesus say? “Blessed are they who did not see, and yet believed.” We aren’t going to see the Red Sea parted every day, nor anything so shocking as the ten plagues. We may not hear God speak audibly, and at times it might feel like He has stopped speaking altogether. But is that where you put your faith? Is it only for miracles that we believe? Jesus didn’t have very nice things to say about such “faith”.
It’s not really faith if we have to see it to believe it. Rather, real faith is “the assurance of what we hope for, and the conviction of things not seen.” Truthfully, it doesn’t take much to look around and see that a divine hand created us and this world we live in. But to believe in and trust God, that “He is good” and not some malevolent deity waiting to strike us down, that’s more difficult.
The evidence is still there though, whether you find it in His words, or see it in your own life. His blessings are there, when we stop to count them, and the price He paid to rescue us is immeasurable. For all the things we remember, we have such inept memories when it comes to remembering good things. We remember long the wrongs done, but it is real work to recall and to focus on, the good in our lives–the good that is a gift from God himself.
Don’t be shallow like those who escaped Egypt, only to balk at the first obstacle. Our God is big enough and great enough to handle it all. Put on some spiritual muscle, and put your faith to work, every day. In spite of the wrong you see, look for the good, look for His hand. Praise Him always and practice justice and righteousness each new day.