“They Forgot God their Savior”
Psalm 106:12-23
12 Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.
13 They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel,
14 But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, And tested God in the desert.
15 And He gave them their request, But sent leanness into their soul.
16 When they envied Moses in the camp, And Aaron the saint of the LORD,
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan, And covered the faction of Abiram.
18 A fire was kindled in their company; The flame burned up the wicked.
19 They made a calf in Horeb, And worshiped the molded image.
20 Thus they changed their glory Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
21 They forgot God their Savior, Who had done great things in Egypt,
22 Wondrous works in the land of Ham, Awesome things by the Red Sea.
23 Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach, To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
In Psalm 106:12-23, we see the dangerous decline of the people of Israel soon after they were delivered out of their bondage in Egypt. It started with, “they soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel” (v. 13). Then notice in verse 21, the next thing they did was, “They forgot God their Savior”. This same thing can happen to us very quickly in our Christian experience! When we start enjoying the blessings of being saved from our sins, (peace, joy, forgiveness), so much that we don’t take the time to remember the great work of our salvation, our suffering Savior on the cross and His resurrection, with grateful and thankful hearts, it won’t be long that we tend to “forget God” too!
I try to wake up every morning quietly singing, (at least to myself), a little chorus I learned years ago. “Thank You Lord for saving my soul, thank You Lord for making me whole, thank You Lord for giving to me Thy great salvation so rich and so free.” Before I even get out of bed, I want to be reminded of how Jesus saved me from my sins and will continue to take care of me throughout the coming day! Romans 8:31-32 reminds us: “What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things?”
If we will take the time to daily remember our “great salvation through Jesus Christ”, maybe we will also be confident that the same God Who saved us, is willing and ready to give us everything we need to face the giants we might encounter throughout the coming day! When you think of this and our passage in Psalms 106 today, these verses in Hebrews 2:1-4 will come alive! “Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proved steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation, which at the first began to be spoken by the Lord, and was confirmed to us by those who heard Him, God also bearing witness both with signs and wonders, with various miracles, and gifts of the Holy Spirit, according to His own will?”
The seeds of unbelief buried in the hearts of the Jewish people took root and bore bitter fruit in the years to come. I have often said, "The Lord took Israel out of Egypt in one night, but it took Him forty years to take Egypt out of Israel." The people were slow to remember God's past deeds but quick to rush ahead and ignore His desires. However, they did not hesitate to make known their own desires, for they craved water (Ex. 15:22-27), food (Ex. 16), and meat (Num. 11:4-15, 31-35). "What shall we eat? What shall we drink?" (See Matt. 6:25) God provided daily manna, water at an oasis and then from the rock (Ex. 17), and enough fowl to give meat to the whole nation. People who grumble and complain are people not walking by faith in the promises of God (Phil. 2:14-15). We must resist the temptation to yield to our fleshly cravings (1 Cor. 10:1-13).
The rebellion of Korah (Num. 16-17) followed soon after Israel's apostasy at Kadesh Barnea when the nation refused to enter the Promised Land. Pride and selfish ambition have always brought trouble to God's people (Phil. 2:1-11; James 4:1-10). Then for forty days, Moses had been on Sinai with the Lord, and the Jewish people were nervous without their leader, and In spite of what the Lord had taught them at Sinai, they wanted a god they could see (Deut. 4:12-19). They rejected the eternal God ("their Glory"—Rom. 1:26) for a manmade piece of gold that could not see, hear, speak, or act! Once again, Israel forgot what the Lord had done for them.
If we are not careful, we might quickly do the same!
God bless!
Comments