WEBVTT 00:00:06.320 --> 00:00:16.100 in Psalm 106. Psalm 106. We concluded Psalm 105 00:00:16.100 --> 00:00:22.640 last week. Psalm 106. We've gotten to some longer 00:00:22.640 --> 00:00:25.800 psalms, way more than we could cover in a night. 00:00:25.879 --> 00:00:28.019 Especially, we probably are going to be pretty 00:00:28.019 --> 00:00:30.679 slow getting through Psalm 106. It's a lot of 00:00:30.679 --> 00:00:33.259 passages that are referenced in there that we'll 00:00:33.259 --> 00:00:36.090 probably go back and revisit some of those stories 00:00:36.090 --> 00:00:38.390 as we get to them. But tonight we're going to 00:00:38.390 --> 00:00:41.189 get a pretty good chunk. We're going to try to 00:00:41.189 --> 00:00:45.250 get through 13 verses. This is likely a Psalm 00:00:45.250 --> 00:00:48.950 of David. At least the beginning words of it 00:00:48.950 --> 00:00:51.609 are words that are written by David. And so it's 00:00:51.609 --> 00:00:54.090 possible he wrote the whole thing. It's possible 00:00:54.090 --> 00:00:57.170 somebody else wrote parts of it. We really don't 00:00:57.170 --> 00:00:59.829 know for sure. It doesn't matter too much. We 00:00:59.829 --> 00:01:02.789 can understand what's going on regardless of 00:01:02.789 --> 00:01:06.739 who wrote it. The last psalm we looked at was 00:01:06.739 --> 00:01:09.920 a psalm that really talked about God's faithfulness. 00:01:09.939 --> 00:01:13.219 Psalm 105 talked about how God was faithful to 00:01:13.219 --> 00:01:16.120 fulfill the promises that he had made to his 00:01:16.120 --> 00:01:18.420 people, that he promised to bless Abraham, and 00:01:18.420 --> 00:01:21.000 he did, and he created the nation of Israel, 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:23.579 and he promised to take them into the... a land 00:01:23.579 --> 00:01:26.760 that was their own, and he did. And he was faithful 00:01:26.760 --> 00:01:29.239 to bring them out of Egypt. He provided for them 00:01:29.239 --> 00:01:31.780 in the famine. And even when they got in Egypt 00:01:31.780 --> 00:01:34.079 and things got tough, he was faithful to deliver 00:01:34.079 --> 00:01:39.500 them. And so Psalm 105 tells us about the faithfulness 00:01:39.500 --> 00:01:43.719 of God. And then when we shift to Psalm 106, 00:01:44.000 --> 00:01:47.000 it's kind of just the opposite. It tells us about 00:01:47.000 --> 00:01:50.239 the unfaithfulness of God's people. and that's 00:01:50.239 --> 00:01:52.760 what we're going to see a little bit of tonight. 00:01:52.959 --> 00:01:56.040 So let's pray, and then we'll get started. God, 00:01:56.099 --> 00:01:58.000 we come to you. We thank you for your good word, 00:01:58.079 --> 00:02:00.439 and I pray that we would get something from it, 00:02:00.459 --> 00:02:03.840 that you would help us not to be worried or distracted 00:02:03.840 --> 00:02:06.480 thinking about things of the world, but just 00:02:06.480 --> 00:02:09.439 for a few moments we can think about you. I pray 00:02:09.439 --> 00:02:11.319 that you'd hide me behind the cross, that I'd 00:02:11.319 --> 00:02:14.199 preach and teach in a way that brings glory and 00:02:14.199 --> 00:02:16.319 honor to you, that this word would be a word 00:02:16.319 --> 00:02:20.780 that calls us to praise you. that causes us to 00:02:20.780 --> 00:02:24.659 examine our own life, dear Lord, that maybe we 00:02:24.659 --> 00:02:27.620 can learn something from the Israelites, dear 00:02:27.620 --> 00:02:30.400 Lord, that we're not much better than they are. 00:02:30.520 --> 00:02:33.060 And I pray, God, that we might see areas where 00:02:33.060 --> 00:02:35.599 we're not trusting you and praising you as we 00:02:35.599 --> 00:02:39.539 should and maybe start trusting you a little 00:02:39.539 --> 00:02:41.900 more. And I ask these things in Jesus' name. 00:02:42.300 --> 00:02:46.879 Amen. All right, this psalm starts off very similar 00:02:46.879 --> 00:02:50.000 to Psalm 105. It starts off with words of praise. 00:02:50.560 --> 00:02:55.360 Verse 1, Psalm 106, verse 1. Hallelujah, give 00:02:55.360 --> 00:02:58.979 thanks to the Lord, for he is good. His faithful 00:02:58.979 --> 00:03:03.539 love endures forever. Who can declare the Lord's 00:03:03.539 --> 00:03:07.659 mighty acts or proclaim all the praise due his 00:03:07.659 --> 00:03:11.360 name? How happy are those who uphold justice, 00:03:11.719 --> 00:03:15.870 who practice righteousness. At all times. Okay, 00:03:15.969 --> 00:03:19.780 so we're Pretty basic praise language here. Praise 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:21.879 the Lord, he's good. That's what the psalm is 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:23.840 telling us. Again, that's the same thing we saw 00:03:23.840 --> 00:03:26.860 at the beginning of Psalm 105. It's something 00:03:26.860 --> 00:03:30.219 that we see plenty of people do throughout Scripture, 00:03:30.460 --> 00:03:32.900 but it's a good reminder for us that we need 00:03:32.900 --> 00:03:36.219 to praise the Lord. Life gets hard, it gets stressful, 00:03:36.360 --> 00:03:39.280 things are really difficult, and sometime in 00:03:39.280 --> 00:03:42.180 the midst of our struggles and our pains and 00:03:42.180 --> 00:03:44.680 all the stuff that we're up against in this world, 00:03:45.210 --> 00:03:48.050 Sometimes we forget to praise the Lord, but we 00:03:48.050 --> 00:03:50.169 need to remember to do that, that even when things 00:03:50.169 --> 00:03:54.469 are tough, God's worthy of our praise. Continuing 00:03:54.469 --> 00:03:58.889 on in verse 4, Remember me, Lord, when you show 00:03:58.889 --> 00:04:02.129 favor to your people. Come to me with your salvation, 00:04:02.449 --> 00:04:06.430 so that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen 00:04:06.430 --> 00:04:10.870 ones. Rejoice in the joy of your nation, and 00:04:10.870 --> 00:04:15.599 boast about your heritage. Okay, a call to remembrance. 00:04:16.300 --> 00:04:19.279 Lord, remember me. Remember me, Lord. We want 00:04:19.279 --> 00:04:22.100 to remember the Lord to praise him. But there 00:04:22.100 --> 00:04:24.660 are plenty of times that we ask the Lord to remember 00:04:24.660 --> 00:04:28.360 us. Show me favor, Lord. Let me experience your 00:04:28.360 --> 00:04:31.160 salvation. That's a good prayer. That's a prayer 00:04:31.160 --> 00:04:33.420 that we all need. Okay, God, don't forget me. 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:36.220 I cannot do anything without you. I need your 00:04:36.220 --> 00:04:39.000 strength, God. I'm doomed without you. I need 00:04:39.000 --> 00:04:41.759 you to come to my rescue. I need you to be my 00:04:41.759 --> 00:04:45.920 salvation. Just good language of, God, I want 00:04:45.920 --> 00:04:48.899 to remember you, and God, I want to ask you that 00:04:48.899 --> 00:04:54.740 you remember me. All right? Verse 6. Both we 00:04:54.740 --> 00:04:58.920 and our fathers have sinned. We have done wrong 00:04:58.920 --> 00:05:03.620 and have acted wickedly. Okay, so now we see 00:05:03.620 --> 00:05:07.439 a shift. We see a praise of God, a call to God, 00:05:07.620 --> 00:05:10.439 hey, remember me, be my salvation. And why is 00:05:10.439 --> 00:05:12.810 that? Well, because we sin. And that's what's 00:05:12.810 --> 00:05:15.310 being acknowledged in the psalm. He says, look, 00:05:15.410 --> 00:05:18.850 I've sinned, we've sinned. As a nation, Israel 00:05:18.850 --> 00:05:22.149 has sinned. The ones that came before us sinned. 00:05:22.310 --> 00:05:25.930 And we've done all kinds of wrongs. And so here's 00:05:25.930 --> 00:05:28.910 the problem that we have too. That we pray to 00:05:28.910 --> 00:05:31.550 God, we praise God, but we have to come to God 00:05:31.550 --> 00:05:34.670 because we are sinners. We're not deserving of 00:05:34.670 --> 00:05:37.990 God's grace. And we have to acknowledge our sin. 00:05:38.149 --> 00:05:40.170 And that's exactly what the psalmist does here. 00:05:40.720 --> 00:05:43.300 He acknowledges not just his sin, but really 00:05:43.300 --> 00:05:46.259 the sin of the nation as a whole. That he acknowledges, 00:05:46.259 --> 00:05:49.680 look, God, I know we have not done right by you. 00:05:49.819 --> 00:05:52.660 And not just once or twice, but time and again, 00:05:52.740 --> 00:05:57.240 over a long period of time. Now, I believe that 00:05:57.240 --> 00:06:00.759 that's true of plenty of nations throughout the 00:06:00.759 --> 00:06:03.939 world. There are plenty of nations in this world. 00:06:04.670 --> 00:06:06.930 How many of them seek to serve the Lord and live 00:06:06.930 --> 00:06:09.970 according to his will? Well, not many. Maybe 00:06:09.970 --> 00:06:12.589 at one point we would say the United States did, 00:06:12.730 --> 00:06:14.829 but I don't even know that we can say that now. 00:06:14.910 --> 00:06:16.910 There's a lot of people in this country that 00:06:16.910 --> 00:06:18.970 don't seek the Lord, that don't seek his will, 00:06:19.110 --> 00:06:22.110 that don't care about his word in the least. 00:06:22.470 --> 00:06:26.370 And so when we pray not only over our sins, perhaps 00:06:26.370 --> 00:06:28.810 this is a good reminder for us to pray over the 00:06:28.810 --> 00:06:31.980 sins of our land. that God would have mercy on 00:06:31.980 --> 00:06:34.620 us because Lord knows we are deserving of God's 00:06:34.620 --> 00:06:37.680 wrath. And if God pulled out and said, hey, I'm 00:06:37.680 --> 00:06:40.060 going to take any protection or blessing off 00:06:40.060 --> 00:06:42.579 of you, then he'd be right to do so. And we see 00:06:42.579 --> 00:06:45.360 occasion in Scripture where he does that. And 00:06:45.360 --> 00:06:48.100 perhaps he will do that one day. He's been good 00:06:48.100 --> 00:06:51.279 to us. He's blessed us as a nation. But how long 00:06:51.279 --> 00:06:53.439 will God continue to bless us when we continue 00:06:53.439 --> 00:06:56.259 to promote sin and celebrate sin? I don't know 00:06:56.259 --> 00:06:59.769 the answer to that question. Here in this psalm, 00:06:59.769 --> 00:07:03.230 the psalmist recognizes not only that he was 00:07:03.230 --> 00:07:05.709 a sinner, but that the people were a sinner. 00:07:05.810 --> 00:07:08.050 And this is nothing new, that God's people had 00:07:08.050 --> 00:07:11.170 sinned for a long time before him and will continue 00:07:11.170 --> 00:07:14.310 to sin for a long time after. But he calls out 00:07:14.310 --> 00:07:17.449 and he acknowledges that sin. God, we've sinned 00:07:17.449 --> 00:07:20.670 against you. And I believe that we could all 00:07:20.670 --> 00:07:23.819 agree that... that that's the case for us here. 00:07:23.959 --> 00:07:26.000 And not just us. I mean, there's plenty of nations 00:07:26.000 --> 00:07:28.899 in the world that sinned against God. But I believe 00:07:28.899 --> 00:07:30.779 any people that would call out to God, wherever 00:07:30.779 --> 00:07:32.500 they are, that if they would call out to God 00:07:32.500 --> 00:07:34.699 and seek Him, that they would experience His 00:07:34.699 --> 00:07:37.500 blessings. Because when you take God out of everything, 00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:39.459 there's no good that's going to come from it. 00:07:39.680 --> 00:07:42.060 Because God is good, and when God is removed, 00:07:42.240 --> 00:07:46.040 all that's left is the bad. But any people, no 00:07:46.040 --> 00:07:48.300 matter how small or how large, that would seek 00:07:48.300 --> 00:07:51.600 God and call out to Him, You instantly experience 00:07:51.600 --> 00:07:53.819 the blessings of God. When you seek his wisdom 00:07:53.819 --> 00:07:56.040 and you begin to live according to his ways, 00:07:56.259 --> 00:07:59.699 then life gets better. We could probably all 00:07:59.699 --> 00:08:01.980 acknowledge that in our own life. When we're 00:08:01.980 --> 00:08:04.819 living in obedience to God, man, our life's going 00:08:04.819 --> 00:08:08.300 better. We feel better. Things just work better. 00:08:08.759 --> 00:08:11.459 And when we start living for ourself and living 00:08:11.459 --> 00:08:14.680 in disobedience, things are not good. Our relationships 00:08:14.680 --> 00:08:17.720 aren't good. Our attitude's not good. The things 00:08:17.720 --> 00:08:20.709 we do aren't good. And so all that's a result 00:08:20.709 --> 00:08:24.389 of disobedience. And we see plenty of that, not 00:08:24.389 --> 00:08:26.550 only in our own lives sometimes, but we see it 00:08:26.550 --> 00:08:31.490 in our nation. And Lord willing, maybe there'll 00:08:31.490 --> 00:08:33.230 be a change. That should be our prayer, that 00:08:33.230 --> 00:08:35.570 God will pour out His Spirit on us, that there'd 00:08:35.570 --> 00:08:37.350 be a revival in the land, that people in this 00:08:37.350 --> 00:08:40.009 country would realize, hey, what we need more 00:08:40.009 --> 00:08:47.149 than anything is God. Verse 7. Our fathers in 00:08:47.149 --> 00:09:06.750 Egypt did not grasp, Isn't that something? He 00:09:06.750 --> 00:09:11.899 says that my descendants came before me. They 00:09:11.899 --> 00:09:14.259 didn't understand the wonderful works of God. 00:09:14.320 --> 00:09:16.159 They didn't appreciate all that God had done. 00:09:16.220 --> 00:09:18.480 God had come in, and he had delivered them and 00:09:18.480 --> 00:09:21.460 provided for them, and he had taken care of them 00:09:21.460 --> 00:09:24.980 in every way, and they failed to realize that. 00:09:25.700 --> 00:09:28.379 But what does it say in verse 8? Yet he saved 00:09:28.379 --> 00:09:31.259 them because of his name to make his power known. 00:09:32.179 --> 00:09:35.919 Now, we see that when God is bringing punishment 00:09:35.919 --> 00:09:39.519 on the Egyptians, he says, look. I'm doing this 00:09:39.519 --> 00:09:42.059 so that you'll know me, so that everybody will 00:09:42.059 --> 00:09:44.639 know me, so that his own people would know him, 00:09:44.679 --> 00:09:47.500 so the people of Egypt would know he is God. 00:09:47.679 --> 00:09:50.440 All those plagues he sent, it should have been 00:09:50.440 --> 00:09:53.299 abundantly clear to the Egyptians and to the 00:09:53.299 --> 00:09:56.360 people of God that he was God. And you would 00:09:56.360 --> 00:10:00.700 think, after seeing such amazing things with 00:10:00.700 --> 00:10:02.519 their own eyes, that they would have been like, 00:10:02.600 --> 00:10:05.200 holy smokes, whatever this God says, I ain't 00:10:05.200 --> 00:10:09.110 questioning him. But they didn't. They failed 00:10:09.110 --> 00:10:11.330 to really appreciate the wonders of his works. 00:10:11.450 --> 00:10:15.009 But even still, God was faithful. Now, God was 00:10:15.009 --> 00:10:16.809 ready after he delivered them out. They made 00:10:16.809 --> 00:10:19.129 the golden calf. He was ready to wipe them out. 00:10:19.190 --> 00:10:22.009 And Moses says, hold up, God. Have patience with 00:10:22.009 --> 00:10:25.009 them. Don't wipe them out or else the other nations 00:10:25.009 --> 00:10:27.009 will see you and they'll say, well, what kind 00:10:27.009 --> 00:10:28.850 of God is this that brought them out just to 00:10:28.850 --> 00:10:33.889 destroy them? And so God showed restraint and 00:10:33.889 --> 00:10:36.210 didn't give them the punishment that they deserved. 00:10:36.860 --> 00:10:38.820 And praise the Lord that He's a God of restraint. 00:10:39.440 --> 00:10:41.659 That He doesn't give us the punishment that we 00:10:41.659 --> 00:10:45.279 deserve. Because we're no better. Because we've 00:10:45.279 --> 00:10:48.220 experienced the works of God. We've seen His 00:10:48.220 --> 00:10:50.639 wonderful grace and we've seen how He's worked 00:10:50.639 --> 00:10:54.740 in our life. And sometimes we too, we just, we 00:10:54.740 --> 00:10:57.679 kind of think, we don't appreciate it, we don't 00:10:57.679 --> 00:11:00.039 think much about it, we don't celebrate it. We 00:11:00.039 --> 00:11:03.000 praise Him today and then tomorrow, the next 00:11:03.000 --> 00:11:06.200 day's troubles comes and we quickly... Forget 00:11:06.200 --> 00:11:09.179 about God, and that's exactly what Israel did, 00:11:09.360 --> 00:11:13.100 and that's what we do too sometimes. Verse 9. 00:11:14.179 --> 00:11:18.000 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up. He led 00:11:18.000 --> 00:11:20.740 them through the depths as through a desert. 00:11:21.100 --> 00:11:23.720 He saved them from the hand of the adversary. 00:11:23.779 --> 00:11:26.919 He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 00:11:27.919 --> 00:11:32.399 Water covered their foes. Not one of them remained. 00:11:34.279 --> 00:11:39.340 That had to have been a marvelous sight for them 00:11:39.340 --> 00:11:43.519 to have experienced. Now, they had already seen 00:11:43.519 --> 00:11:45.960 God do a lot of stuff while they were in Egypt. 00:11:46.139 --> 00:11:48.080 I mean, those plagues, that was no joke. And 00:11:48.080 --> 00:11:49.799 that God was able to protect them and deliver 00:11:49.799 --> 00:11:53.340 them, that was pretty phenomenal. But then a 00:11:53.340 --> 00:11:55.860 whole group of people, possibly a couple of million, 00:11:55.899 --> 00:11:57.679 it would have been a lot at this point in time. 00:11:57.740 --> 00:11:59.799 We don't know the exact number, but you have 00:11:59.799 --> 00:12:01.740 a lot of people that are standing there in front 00:12:01.740 --> 00:12:05.809 of a sea. And they're trapped. There is nowhere 00:12:05.809 --> 00:12:08.230 for them to go. They have been enslaved all these 00:12:08.230 --> 00:12:11.129 years. They finally get away from their enemy 00:12:11.129 --> 00:12:15.029 only to have their backs against the wall. Egyptians 00:12:15.029 --> 00:12:18.750 coming toward them on one side. The Red Sea is 00:12:18.750 --> 00:12:21.350 in front of them on the other side. There's really 00:12:21.350 --> 00:12:25.669 no hope for them except for God, who does a miraculous 00:12:25.669 --> 00:12:29.289 thing. He parts the Red Sea so that they cross 00:12:29.289 --> 00:12:32.269 on dry land. Now, how God did that, it's a... 00:12:32.559 --> 00:12:34.960 It's a miracle. It's unexplainable. I've seen 00:12:34.960 --> 00:12:37.600 people before say, oh, maybe he did this, and 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:39.700 maybe he sent this wind, and maybe he sent that. 00:12:39.820 --> 00:12:42.299 Well, I don't know that there's any ordinary 00:12:42.299 --> 00:12:44.740 explanation that God would have been able to 00:12:44.740 --> 00:12:49.639 dry up a sea rather quickly and there be dry 00:12:49.639 --> 00:12:52.639 ground to cross on. But yet that's the power 00:12:52.639 --> 00:12:55.759 of God, and the people of God got to witness 00:12:55.759 --> 00:12:57.960 that. They got to witness that. That's pretty 00:12:57.960 --> 00:13:00.600 phenomenal. that they got to see that, and they 00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:04.679 walked through the Red Sea on dry land, and as 00:13:04.679 --> 00:13:07.039 their enemies chased them, and they got into 00:13:07.039 --> 00:13:10.659 the Red Sea, as Israel was coming out of the 00:13:10.659 --> 00:13:15.259 other side, and God released the waters, and 00:13:15.259 --> 00:13:19.559 they covered up their enemies, boom, his people 00:13:19.559 --> 00:13:21.659 were delivered just that quick. That's a phenomenal 00:13:21.659 --> 00:13:25.559 thing for somebody to experience. And so what 00:13:25.559 --> 00:13:28.000 did they do? What we see when we go back and 00:13:28.000 --> 00:13:31.000 read in Exodus, I believe chapter 15, that there's 00:13:31.000 --> 00:13:33.879 a song of praise, that they are praising the 00:13:33.879 --> 00:13:36.080 Lord. Listen to what it says we see in the next 00:13:36.080 --> 00:13:39.899 verse, verse 12. Then they believed his promises 00:13:39.899 --> 00:13:44.070 and sang his praise. Well, praise the Lord. Shouldn't 00:13:44.070 --> 00:13:46.470 we do that? When we have seen the Lord work and 00:13:46.470 --> 00:13:49.509 experienced how he loves us and has given us 00:13:49.509 --> 00:13:52.490 grace and we see even miracles today, maybe not 00:13:52.490 --> 00:13:55.669 see his part, but I believe we see God heal people 00:13:55.669 --> 00:13:58.490 and I believe we see God work and work things 00:13:58.490 --> 00:14:01.269 together in ways that we just know that it's 00:14:01.269 --> 00:14:04.629 God looking out for us. And shouldn't we rejoice 00:14:04.629 --> 00:14:07.950 and praise the Lord? And that's exactly what 00:14:07.950 --> 00:14:11.120 they do. What a beautiful example. I believe 00:14:11.120 --> 00:14:14.139 it's in verse 21 that they are praising the Lord 00:14:14.139 --> 00:14:17.440 in Exodus chapter 15. And then you go and you 00:14:17.440 --> 00:14:20.600 flip down to verse 24. And guess what they're 00:14:20.600 --> 00:14:23.580 doing by verse 23 verses. They just saw him part 00:14:23.580 --> 00:14:27.460 a sea. And then they say, we ain't got no water 00:14:27.460 --> 00:14:29.100 to drink. I don't know what we're going to do. 00:14:30.220 --> 00:14:32.740 Now they should have just said, hey, we just 00:14:32.740 --> 00:14:35.960 saw God part a red sea. We ain't got no water, 00:14:36.000 --> 00:14:38.049 but it doesn't matter. Well, he probably got 00:14:38.049 --> 00:14:40.669 some Coca -Colas over there for us under a rock. 00:14:40.789 --> 00:14:43.230 Whatever it is, we're not going to worry. But 00:14:43.230 --> 00:14:46.649 instead, they complain because I don't know what 00:14:46.649 --> 00:14:49.070 we're going to do now. We was in Egypt. Things 00:14:49.070 --> 00:14:50.950 were really good. Now look at us. We're over 00:14:50.950 --> 00:14:53.470 this sea. We ain't got nothing to drink. And 00:14:53.470 --> 00:14:55.789 they're praising God one minute, and it doesn't 00:14:55.789 --> 00:14:58.009 take very long, and they start to complain. And 00:14:58.009 --> 00:15:01.649 we see that shift here in this passage too in 00:15:01.649 --> 00:15:04.570 verse 12. Then they believed his promises and 00:15:04.570 --> 00:15:07.259 sang his praise. And then what's the next verse 00:15:07.259 --> 00:15:10.980 say? They soon forgot his works and would not 00:15:10.980 --> 00:15:16.200 wait for his counsel. Now, holy smokes. Now, 00:15:16.220 --> 00:15:18.019 we look at that and we think about what they 00:15:18.019 --> 00:15:22.659 did and we laugh and it would be funny if we 00:15:22.659 --> 00:15:25.740 didn't do the same thing. But the fact of the 00:15:25.740 --> 00:15:27.980 matter is, are we not guilty of that sometimes? 00:15:29.080 --> 00:15:33.580 Maybe we are. Maybe we sang God's praises today. 00:15:34.429 --> 00:15:36.470 And then something happens in our life tomorrow 00:15:36.470 --> 00:15:38.870 and all of a sudden we start fretting. Like we 00:15:38.870 --> 00:15:42.330 just, we get amnesia. Like we get, we get like 00:15:42.330 --> 00:15:44.909 blessing amnesia. Like we forget how much God 00:15:44.909 --> 00:15:46.429 has blessed us and all of a sudden it's like, 00:15:46.529 --> 00:15:50.009 I don't know what I'm going to do. And we got 00:15:50.009 --> 00:15:52.309 a lifetime full of ways that God has delivered 00:15:52.309 --> 00:15:57.549 us. But oh how quickly we forget. And that's 00:15:57.549 --> 00:16:01.850 exactly what God's people Israel did. It says 00:16:01.850 --> 00:16:05.240 that they soon forgot his works. and would not 00:16:05.240 --> 00:16:07.759 wait on his counsel. They were so impatient. 00:16:08.919 --> 00:16:10.700 Moses goes up the mountain. They say, where's 00:16:10.700 --> 00:16:12.279 he at? He's not coming back. Well, I guess we 00:16:12.279 --> 00:16:14.700 need to make a god. Boom. Get all their gold 00:16:14.700 --> 00:16:16.519 jewelry. They make a gold calf. They say, here 00:16:16.519 --> 00:16:18.240 it is. This is the god that brought us out of 00:16:18.240 --> 00:16:21.000 Egypt. Oh, really? Well, where was that gold 00:16:21.000 --> 00:16:24.080 calf when the water split? He was non -existent. 00:16:24.679 --> 00:16:28.100 And how quickly they got impatient because God 00:16:28.100 --> 00:16:30.080 wasn't doing things the way that they wanted 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:32.139 him to do it. You read through the story of them 00:16:32.139 --> 00:16:34.779 as they come out of Egypt. Well, they ain't got 00:16:34.779 --> 00:16:37.340 water to drink. Well, they get tired of the food 00:16:37.340 --> 00:16:39.220 that they're eating. Oh, Moses is taking too 00:16:39.220 --> 00:16:41.740 long on the mountain. Everything. We want it 00:16:41.740 --> 00:16:43.840 now. We want it now. We want it now. We want 00:16:43.840 --> 00:16:46.899 it now. And see, we think that's the result of 00:16:46.899 --> 00:16:48.940 having smartphones and fast internet that we 00:16:48.940 --> 00:16:50.600 just get used to having and wanting everything 00:16:50.600 --> 00:16:53.259 now. But they didn't have a single smartphone 00:16:53.259 --> 00:16:55.820 or a single internet. And guess what? They were 00:16:55.820 --> 00:16:57.700 impatient and didn't want to wait on anything. 00:17:00.840 --> 00:17:03.940 And we need to learn from that. Because maybe 00:17:03.940 --> 00:17:06.000 we say, I do the same thing. Okay, well, it's 00:17:06.000 --> 00:17:09.000 good for us to acknowledge that. But we don't 00:17:09.000 --> 00:17:10.779 ever want to be okay with that. We want to look 00:17:10.779 --> 00:17:13.019 at this and we want to say, okay, I need you 00:17:13.019 --> 00:17:15.640 to check me, dear Lord. I need you to look at 00:17:15.640 --> 00:17:17.539 my heart. I need you to help me to look at my 00:17:17.539 --> 00:17:20.119 heart and at my actions. And God, if that's in 00:17:20.119 --> 00:17:21.980 my life, I don't want to be that way. And help 00:17:21.980 --> 00:17:25.599 me to remember. And I think that's why stories 00:17:25.599 --> 00:17:29.609 like this and psalms like this are good. It's 00:17:29.609 --> 00:17:32.650 just a reminder of past events that we can learn 00:17:32.650 --> 00:17:35.049 from, good or bad sometimes in the Bible. It's 00:17:35.049 --> 00:17:38.470 a reminder sometimes of good things that God 00:17:38.470 --> 00:17:41.630 has praised for and then a reminder of bad things 00:17:41.630 --> 00:17:44.250 that God's people do. And that's what we see 00:17:44.250 --> 00:17:48.609 here is that they too quickly forgot of God's 00:17:48.609 --> 00:17:53.470 power, of his work, and they didn't wait for 00:17:53.470 --> 00:17:57.960 his counsel. Now maybe there's... Just that one 00:17:57.960 --> 00:18:00.140 little thing right there, that one little last 00:18:00.140 --> 00:18:02.859 part of that verse, that might be enough for 00:18:02.859 --> 00:18:04.980 us to chew on this week and really think about. 00:18:05.700 --> 00:18:07.779 Like, is there something going on in our life 00:18:07.779 --> 00:18:11.680 right now that maybe we need to wait on the counsel 00:18:11.680 --> 00:18:15.319 of the Lord? It seems like every decision in 00:18:15.319 --> 00:18:17.319 my life, it's like you've got to make it right 00:18:17.319 --> 00:18:20.720 now. This deal's not going to be here if you 00:18:20.720 --> 00:18:22.960 don't get it now, if you don't do this thing 00:18:22.960 --> 00:18:25.400 now. The decision has to be made today. It's 00:18:25.400 --> 00:18:28.799 like... So many decisions in our life, we feel 00:18:28.799 --> 00:18:30.779 like they have to be right now, and maybe sometimes 00:18:30.779 --> 00:18:35.619 they do. But maybe sometimes we just need to 00:18:35.619 --> 00:18:40.160 say, okay, have I sought the counsel of the Lord 00:18:40.160 --> 00:18:44.160 in this? And we really don't want to do that 00:18:44.160 --> 00:18:46.859 because sometimes it takes a while. Because we 00:18:46.859 --> 00:18:50.019 like to just say, okay, God, should I do X, Y, 00:18:50.019 --> 00:18:53.960 and Z? Amen. And we want within five seconds 00:18:53.960 --> 00:18:58.589 God to say, Yes or no. Like either one, we just 00:18:58.589 --> 00:19:02.009 want to know. But it usually doesn't work that 00:19:02.009 --> 00:19:05.049 quick. It's usually some waiting, some seeking 00:19:05.049 --> 00:19:08.849 of the Lord's counsel. And God's people, Israel, 00:19:08.970 --> 00:19:11.890 didn't do that. They didn't wait on the counsel 00:19:11.890 --> 00:19:14.390 of the Lord. Instead, they did it their way. 00:19:15.109 --> 00:19:20.269 And doing it our way usually fails. I will say 00:19:20.269 --> 00:19:24.140 it always fails, I suppose. So maybe today we 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:26.019 need to pause for a second and we need to say, 00:19:26.039 --> 00:19:29.940 okay, even in these first few verses, we have 00:19:29.940 --> 00:19:32.640 some great reminders here, some great example 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:36.619 here to praise the Lord, to seek His forgiveness 00:19:36.619 --> 00:19:40.200 in our life and seek His mercy for us as a people, 00:19:40.339 --> 00:19:43.559 for us to recall the ways that He's worked in 00:19:43.559 --> 00:19:47.119 our life and for us not to be so quick to forget 00:19:47.119 --> 00:19:50.400 those ways but to continue to seek His counsel 00:19:50.400 --> 00:19:54.599 in everything. Let's pray. God, we come to you. 00:19:54.619 --> 00:19:56.579 We thank you for your word. I pray that you would 00:19:56.579 --> 00:20:01.140 help us to listen to this word and take it to 00:20:01.140 --> 00:20:03.940 heart, dear Lord, that we would live by it. We 00:20:03.940 --> 00:20:06.559 thank you today, dear Lord, that we can praise 00:20:06.559 --> 00:20:08.680 you, that you are worthy of our praise, dear 00:20:08.680 --> 00:20:12.839 Lord, that you have blessed us and taken care 00:20:12.839 --> 00:20:16.079 of us in so many ways. And the greatest way is 00:20:16.079 --> 00:20:17.920 through Jesus Christ, that you've sent Jesus 00:20:17.920 --> 00:20:20.970 Christ to... Be our Savior to die on the cross 00:20:20.970 --> 00:20:23.130 for the forgiveness of our sins, dear Lord, that 00:20:23.130 --> 00:20:26.630 we can have grace and we can have mercy. And 00:20:26.630 --> 00:20:30.609 that alone, dear Lord, is worthy of praise. But 00:20:30.609 --> 00:20:33.250 dear Lord, you do so much more. Not only do you 00:20:33.250 --> 00:20:35.529 give us salvation for eternity, but you just, 00:20:35.569 --> 00:20:38.630 you bless us in so many ways in this life and 00:20:38.630 --> 00:20:41.029 you take care of us and I pray that you help 00:20:41.029 --> 00:20:43.450 us not to miss those ways and to praise you in 00:20:43.450 --> 00:20:46.890 those ways and not to be quick to forget how 00:20:46.890 --> 00:20:49.480 you've worked and what you've done. And God, 00:20:49.519 --> 00:20:52.099 help us to be patient and to wait on your counsel. 00:20:52.220 --> 00:20:55.079 And that's hard to do, dear Lord. And I pray 00:20:55.079 --> 00:20:57.640 that you'd help me to do that and help each one 00:20:57.640 --> 00:21:00.400 of us to do that. And I ask these things in Jesus' 00:21:00.539 --> 00:21:01.720 name. Amen.