A Thought On Remembering
[Based on Israel’s history in Psalm 104-107]
I read these chapters, and then I stopped for a couple of days. I couldn’t move on, because there was something dancing around the edges of my brain from these chapters that I wanted to get on paper. So as I read it the next time, I noticed something else, and kind of filed that away for the moment. But today, when I read it again, it clicked. I noticed that there is a progression of sin in our lives when we simply do not remember how good God is to us. And the miracles He does for us.
Yesterday Danny and I were talking, and I said, “if you’re ever tempted to doubt God, just remember what a miracle the human body is! It’s humbling and it reminds me of God’s goodness to me.” For example, I am sitting in a chair, and those muscles and joints are working perfectly for that. And I’m typing on a computer using fingers that are responding to messages sent to them from my brain. It’s literally amazing. But,……..WE FORGET. We forget everything that’s good in our lives when we decide to focus on something we don’t have right now. Some inconvenience. Maybe some real, legitimate problem. But to focus on it, to worry about it, to complain about it, to frantically try to fix it…. These are all signs of one thing. Not remembering how good God is and how worthy of our trust He is.
So this is what I noticed in these chapters when the Israelites didn’t trust God enough to be thankful for the good things He gave them, but also for the good things he had planned for them.
They rebelled against Him by the Red Sea. (Psalms 106:7,8). This is a big one. Rebellion is as the sin of divination- which is consulting a medium or a witch instead of God!! (I Samuel 15;23) God had literally just saved them from the plagues in Egypt, drawing a line between the land of Goshen (where they were) and the rest of Egypt. The last of these plagues was the death of the firstborn son in every household. Unless you spread the blood of a lamb over the door where you lived. This was a message to the destroying angel to pass over that house. And that’s why the Jews celebrate the Passover. Even Jesus celebrated the Passover with His disciples. Why? Because God really wanted them (and us too) to remember the miraculous way He delivered an entire nation from the Egyptians. Instead, at the Red Sea they rebelled in anger against Moses. But even then, God saved them by parting the sea so they could cross. And so, he saved them from the enemy who was chasing them. Only then did they believe His promises and sing His praise- but they quickly forgot that.
They did not wait for his counsel, and instead gave in to their craving. (Psalm 106:13) This is another one that I notice I mentioned over and over in the OT…. “they did not inquire of the Lord.” We can be sure of trouble, hassle, extra problems if we do things based on what we think alone. God longs for us to ask Him what He thinks!!! And He longs to be gracious to us and give us good things. It so often US and OUR CHOICES that get in the way of the good God wants to give us. (Isaiah 30:18) One of the consequences of doing our own thing, is that God will give us what we asked for, but He will also give a “wasting disease” to go along with it. In my own life, when I wandered away from God and did things on my own, it was either physical sickness, or anxiety, or negative thinking that was consuming my mind.
Envy. Because they weren’t focused on God and humbly grateful for the blessings, and the freedom they were experiencing! They weren’t slaves anymore!!! But they already forgot that and are looking around at Moses and Aaron with envy. They paid with their lives for this. God wants us to respect those who are in authority, especially in the church.
Idolatry. While Moses was on the mountain with God for 40 days and 40 nights, the people grew tired of waiting. And with the help of Aaron they made a calf out of metal. “they exchanged their Glory for the image of a bull, WHICH EATS GRASS.” (Psalms 106:19,20) they have already forgotten God who just saved them and done great things for them. They were literally experiencing one miracle after another.
They despised the pleasant land: they did not believe his promise. (Psalms 106:24,25) The Promised Land. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord. Because they didn’t trust God, they didn’t listen to Him or believe Him to be good.
Idolatry again. They worshiped their idols, WHICH BECAME A SNARE TO THEM. (Psalms 106:36) now they are not only worshiping these idols, they are sacrificing their sons and daughters in the fire! Think about it…they are murderers now. But that’s how sin is…it’s never satisfied with a certain level “I’ll become so wicked, but no more than that.” (which is comical in itself). No, it takes over your life until the lines between right and wrong are blurred over in your mind.
They were BENT ON REBELLION. (Psalms 106:43) This is a dangerous place to be. They were determined to go their own way. God delivered them many times, but they kept going back to their sin, and so they wasted away in it.
So the end result in all of this is that they “became fools through their rebellious ways and they suffered affliction because of their iniquities. They loathed all food and drew near to the gates of death” (Psalms 107:17,18) BUT that doesn’t have to be the end of our stories!! God is so gracious and so good, that even then, if we cry out to God, that he will save us from our distress, and by His word He heals us! He will rescue us from the grave. That’s what happened to me. When I was at my lowest and really hating what my life had turned into, because of my own choices, I cried out to God. And He answered me. Not instantly, but in a day or two I started noticing the miracles around me! It was so cool how God was so kind to me!! And that’s when I decided to follow Him with my whole heart. I truly believe that anything God has for me is better than anything that I would chase outside of His Word. And these things are written as examples for us!!! How awesome is it that God has given us real stories so that we can see the difference between following God and going our own ways. (I Cor 10:11)
