Psalms

Psalms 106: Mercy remembered through confessed rebellion

Begin in prayer

Before we hear this confession of repeated rebellion, let us remember the Lord whose goodness endures forever. Ask Him to bring us to Jesus and teach us to own our sins while seeking His saving mercy.

You shall know that I am Yahweh, when I have dealt with you for my name’s sake, not according to your evil ways, nor according to your corrupt doings, you house of Israel,” says the Lord Yahweh.’”

Ezekiel 20:44

Father in heaven, please open our eyes as we read Your Word, and help us to see Christ. Show us that the Lord judges rebellion and hears His people's cry because He remembers His covenant. Make us more like Jesus. And please bless our family as we worship You together. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

The singer praises God's lasting goodness, asks to share His people's salvation and confesses the sins they have committed with their fathers. God rescued rebels at the Red Sea, yet they forgot His works, craved food and envied Moses and Aaron. Earth and fire judged their rebellion, and Moses stood before God's wrath when they worshipped a calf at Horeb. They refused the pleasant land, joined Baal Peor and provoked God until Phinehas executed judgment and the plague stopped. At Meribah their rebellion drew rash words from Moses, and in Canaan they served idols and sacrificed their children to demons. God gave them to oppressors, yet heard their distress, remembered His covenant and made their captors show pity. The prayer asks Him to save and gather them from the nations for thanksgiving, then calls everyone to bless Him forever.

As you read Psalms 106, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

The LORD judges rebellion, yet remembers His covenant and hears His people's cry for saving mercy.

God's lasting goodness gives the singer reason to confess, as he asks for saving favour while owning his people's wickedness. Blessing belongs to the one who does right at all times, and Israel's history exposes repeated failure before that holy standard. God saved the rebels at the sea for His name's sake, then judged craving and envy with inward leanness, opened earth and fire. Moses stood in the breach when the calf replaced their Saviour, turning away the wrath that would have destroyed them. Their unbelief about the pleasant land brought God's oath of overthrow in the wilderness and scattering among nations. At Peor, Phinehas executed judgment that stopped the plague, and his faithful deed was credited to him for righteousness through coming generations. Meribah's rebellion brought rash speech from Moses, while disobedience in Canaan led to ensnaring idols and the sacrifice of innocent children to demons. God abhorred His defiled inheritance and gave them to oppressive nations, yet remembered His covenant when He heard their cry. His pity reaching captors gives the prayer for gathering its hope, so that confessed sinners may again thank His holy name together.

How does Psalm 106 show us that the LORD judges rebellion, yet remembers His covenant and hears His people's cry for saving mercy?

God's lasting goodness calls His people to confess their rebellion.

The singer asks for the favour God shows His people and owns the wickedness committed with their fathers. Praise and confession belong together before the God who blesses righteousness at all times. Israel's rebellion at the sea already exposed its need for saving mercy.

God judges forgetful rebellion and preserves His people through His chosen servant's prayer.

The God who drowned Israel's enemies later judged the people's craving and envy with leanness, opened earth and fire. At Horeb they exchanged their glory for a grass eating bull's image. Moses stood before God in the breach, and his prayer turned away the wrath that threatened their destruction.

God's righteous anger answers unbelief, idolatry and the harm His people do.

Refusing the land brought an oath of wilderness judgment and scattering. At Peor, Phinehas stopped the plague by executing judgment, and God counted his faithful deed righteous. Meribah brought rash speech from Moses. Israel failed to destroy the peoples as God commanded, then served idols and killed innocent children. These deeds defiled God's inheritance and provoked His burning anger.

God remembers His covenant and hears the cry of people brought low by sin.

God gave His people to oppressive enemies, and repeated rescue still met repeated rebellion. He heard their distress and relented according to His abundant loving kindness. Pity in their captors' hearts encourages the final plea for gathering, thanksgiving and the praise of the whole people.

Memorise

Praise Yahweh! Give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever.

Psalm 106:1

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, what rebellion am I excusing while I ask the Lord Jesus for mercy?

The confession begins, “We have sinned with our fathers.” Israel's remembered history puts the singer among the guilty. Even Moses standing in the breach shows how desperately they needed mercy before God's righteous anger.

We also have forgotten God's kindness and refused His Word. First Timothy 2 verse 5 names Jesus as the one Mediator between God and men. He carried His people's sins to the cross and died beneath God's anger, reconciling those rebels to the God they had resisted. He rose again. His completed sacrifice is enough for their forgiveness, answering the whole debt that confession alone could never remove.

Turn from your rebellion and trust the Lord Jesus. Every sinner who comes to Him receives pardon. Confess the sins you have repeated and ask Him for a heart that remembers His works. God's covenant faithfulness gives His people mercy they never deserved, teaching those trusting Christ to seek pardon and learn grateful obedience.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God judged idolatry, including the sacrifice of innocent children to demons in verses 37 and 38. Keep the confession and the judgment together with His remembered mercy. Call each child to repent and trust Jesus, and ask God for a new heart. A Christian home cannot make a child saved.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Confess forgotten kindness and repeated rebellion, and ask God to gather His people in thankful praise. Bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so let each one say a short prayer if they want to.

Not for these only do I pray, but for those also who believe in me through their word, that they may all be one; even as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be one in us; that the world may believe that you sent me.

John 17:20-21

Good and faithful Lord, we confess our repeated rebellion and the kindness we have forgotten. Please bring us to Jesus for the pardon His completed sacrifice secures. Give our children hearts that hear Your Word and turn from idols. Show mercy to Your troubled people, gather those who have wandered, and teach us to thank Your holy name together. Amen.