READING: Psalms 106-107
TEXTS AND APPLICATION: These psalms (particularly Psalm 106) are reminders of the story of God’s people — and more specifically, God’s grace. The psalms reflect a pattern common to the scriptures:
- God’s people forget Him and turn from Him: They “have done wrong and acted wickedly” (v. 6), did not “remember Your mighty acts of faithful love” (v. 7), “soon forgot His works” (v. 13), “forgot God their Savior” (v. 21), “grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the Lord’s voice” (v. 25), “served their idols” (v. 36).
- God judges them, reminding them that sin is costly: He “gave them what they asked for” (v. 15), flames “consumed the wicked” (v. 18), He “raised His hand against them with an oath” (v. 26), His “anger burned against His people” (v. 40).
- The people cried out to the Lord in their pain, and the Lord heard them: Four times in Psalm 107, words similar to these occur — “Then they cried out to the Lord in their trouble; He rescued them from their distress” (vv. 6, 13, 19, 28).
- The people return to Him, but not always for long: They “believed His promises and sang His praises; they soon forgot His works” (vv. 12-13); He “rescued them many times, but they continued to rebel deliberately and were beaten down by their sin” (v. 43).
- God rescues His people NOT because they are worthy, but because of His supernatural lovingkindness and His desire to make His name known: “Yet He saved them because of His name, to make His power known” (106:8); “When He heard their cry, He took note of their distress, remembered His covenant with them, and relented according to the riches of His faithful love” (106:44-45); “He is good; His faithful love endures forever” (107:1). In fact, four times in Psalm 107 the psalmist calls people to “give thanks to the Lord for His faithful love” (vv. 8, 15, 21, 31).
PRAYER: Please pray that I will bask in the glory of God’s love and grace — and consequently always turn from sin when tempted.