Receiving God’s Favor (Psalm 106)

Receiving God’s Favor
Psalm 106

INTRODUCTION:
“Think of a kindergartner taking a calculus test. Because he’s only 5, the little tyke bombs the test and receives an ‘F’ atop his page. The teacher might show mercy, tear up his exam, and forgive his failure. But the lad will not rejoice when a fresh, identical test is placed in front of him for a second attempt. While some Mensa-in-waiting kindergartner might pass calculus, there’s zero chance a fallen human can pass the test of God’s law. As Scripture declares, ‘None is righteous, no, not one’ (Rom. 3:10). And since there’s zero chance humans will obey God perfectly, why would Christians spread news of a God of second chances? Is it good news to get a second chance at the impossible?” (Aaron Wilson, “He Is Not ‘The God of Second Chances,’” The Gospel Coalition, July 7, 2016

OT history is full of examples of Israel failing their exam given by God and the loving Father patiently and graciously giving them another chance after another chance. When you and I study the history of God in the OT, it should give us hope and encouragement that God is not a God of “second chances,” but a God of seventy-times seven chances.

GOD’S FAVOR - 106:1-3:
“Hallelujah” (ver. 1) or “Praise the Lord” is an imperative.
A second imperative is “praise” also translated “give thanks.” In other words, acknowledge His power, His goodness, and His blessings.
Here, the psalmist says to praise God “for He is good.”
Secondly, man should praise God because “forever [is] His loving kindness / steadfast love / loving loyalty. The word is used 245 times in the OT, 127 times in Psalms.

When you meditate on the nature of God, you cannot help but speak about Him! “Who speak of the mighty deeds of Jehovah?” He will proclaim all His praise. Who can? Actually, no one can fully tell of all of God’s wonderful works! He leaves you breathless.

Then the psalmist gives a beatitude: How blessed are those, reflecting their respect for Jehovah God, who keep justice, and who perform works of righteousness “at all times.” That’s the standard! Live like God - godliness - at all times!

REMEMBER ME O LORD - 106:4-5:
“Remember” is also another imperative. He wants God’s favor just as God has shown it toward His people. “Visit” is another imperative; he wants salvation.

It is a blessing if the psalmist gets to see God’s goodness exemplified among His “chosen ones.”

When we see, experience, and feel the goodness of God, you must rejoice in it with God’s other people. Faithfulness, neither in the OT, nor in the NT, is an individual matter. It is to be done with God’s people. Then he can “glory” with God’s inheritance, His people.

WE HAVE SINNED LIKE ISRAEL IN EGYPT - 106:6-12:
The psalmist reflects on his own sin and the sins of God’s people in the past. There are three synonyms for sin in verse 6: “sin,” “wickedness,” and “evil.”

In verse 7, he reflects on the sins of the Israelites in Egypt, which we have recorded in the early chapters of Exodus. Those forefathers did not “understand” God’s wonders. And by the time they got to the Red Sea, they had “forgotten” His loving loyalty so that at the Red Sea, they were afraid and rebelled against Jehovah God.

But how did God respond? He forgave them (ver. 8). Because He had a goal to accomplish and that was to get Israel to the Promised Land. So God rebuked the Red Sea and its waters dried up (ver. 9) and God led them through the Sea on dry land (Exodus 14). The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them was left. After that, they believed Moses’ words and they sang God’s praises (Exodus 15).

Thus it was that God “saved” them and He “redeemed” them from their haters and their enemies. Let it not be forgotten that we serve the same God!

WE HAVE SINNED LIKE ISRAEL IN THE WILDERNESS - 106:13-18:
It was not long after Israel crossed the Red Sea that they forgot God’s works (ver. 13). They did not “wait for His counsel,” but believed they could walk by sight instead of by faith. They “craved intensely,” that is, they lusted in the wilderness for what was not right and pure and holy. They tempted God in the wilderness, desiring food and water (ver. 14).

God gave them what they requested (ver. 15; see Numbers 11), but at the same time, He also sent a “wasting disease among them.”

Another example of their sinful behavior was that they became envious of Moses (ver. 16) and of Aaron, under the leadership of Korah (Numbers 16). The earth swallowed them, their families, and their tents (ver. 17), and God sent a fire to burn up 250 leaders among the rebels (ver. 18). We have sinned like them.

WE HAVE SINNED LIKE ISRAEL WITH THE GOLDEN CALF - 106:19-27:
Under the leadership of Aaron, Israel made a golden calf (ver. 19) and Israel worshipped it. They exchanged the image of the invisible God for the image of an ox that eats grass (ver. 20).

In short, they “forgot God” (ver. 21) who was their Savior, who brought them out of Egypt and across the Red Sea (ver. 22). God would have destroyed Israel if it had not been for the mediatorship of Moses who “stood in the breech” (ver. 23) and turned away God’s wrath from destroying Israel!

But Israel did not learn. They despised the pleasant land (ver. 24) and did not believe God’s word in the Law of Moses so as to stay faithful to God. They grumbled in their tents (ver. 25) and did not listen to the voice of the Lord.

Thus, God swore in His wrath that He would leave them in the wilderness (ver. 26), which He did before they entered the Promised Land. And after they entered the Promised Land, because they continued in their disobedience, He cast their seed among the nations and scattered them among the lands of Assyria and Babylon among others.

WE HAVE SINNED LIKE ISRAEL AT BAAEL-PEOR - 106:28-31:
This account is told in Numbers 22-24. Israel joined themselves to Baal-peor under the leadership of Balaam (ver. 28) and ate sacrifices offered to the dead. That generation provoked God to anger with their works and a plague broke out among them (ver. 29).

That was when Phineas, the priest, rose up and speared through an Israel man from the tribe of Simeon and a Midianite woman (ver. 30). That account is found in Numbers 25. God blessed Phineas and his family with an indefinite covenant at that point. Faithfulness has its rewards.

WE HAVE SINNED LIKE MOSES AT MERIBAH - 106:32-33:
Not even the leader Moses was above reproach! When Israel provoked God at the waters of Meribah, it was a challenge for Moses to even stay faithful (ver. 32). Israel rebelled against the Spirit of God by refusing to be obedient and faithful. Moses spoke rashly with his lips and struck the rock when he should have spoken to the rock. This story is found in Numbers 20. He spoke rashly when he took credit for himself in giving water out of the rock.

WE HAVE SINNED LIKE ISRAEL IN THE TIME OF THE JUDGES - 106:34-39:
Israel was commanded in Deuteronomy 7:1-6 to destroy and kill the people who lived in Canaan, specifically so they would not tempt Israel into idolatry. But Israel refused to do as the Lord commanded (ver. 34). Instead, they “mingled” with the nations and learned their practices (ver. 35). They lived like the world around them. Isn’t there a lesson in this for us today?

Israel served the gods of the pagans (ver. 36) which became a trap for them. In fact, they went so far as to sacrifice their children (ver. 37)! They shed innocent blood (ver. 38), sacrificing their own children to Molech and the idols of Canaan. In doing so, they polluted the land with the blood of their children.

Through all this action, the Israelites became unclean and played spiritual adulterers in their actions (ver. 39).

WE HAVE SINNED LIKE ISRAEL IN THE CAPTIVITY - 106:40-43:
When Israel sinned - and we wonder if this has taken us into the time of the exiles in Assyria and Babylon - God was “angry” with His people. He “abhorred” (which is a very strong word) His inheritance. Why? Because they had become unfaithful and disobeyed (ver. 40).

So, God gave them into the hands of their enemies, the nations (ver. 41). So God’s people were ruled by nations who hated them and they were oppressed by their enemies and subdued under the power of unbelievers (ver. 42). It is also possible, of course, that the psalmist is thinking of the period of the judges.

God delivered them many times (ver. 43) but to what end? They were still “rebellious” in their counsel and sank deeper into their iniquity. Israel surely needed a Savior!

WE HAVE SINNED AND WE NEED LOVINGKINDNESS - 106:44-46:
Despite the persistent sins of Israel, God still “looked upon their distress” (ver. 44). He hard their cry. He remembered His covenant (ver. 45) - which is thematically related to the word “lovingkindness.” He relented consistent with His lovingkindness, His “loving loyalty,” His “steadfast love.”

Then God made them “objects of compassion” (ver. 46), in front of their captors. Perhaps this alludes to God bringing Israel out of exile into the Promised Land.

WE HAVE SINNED AND WE NEED TO BE GATHERED - 106:47-48:
Once again the psalmist directs an imperative at God: “Save us, O Lord our God.”
Secondly, “Gather us” from among the nations. Wherever God’s people have been scattered, they want to be brought back home; they want to be “gathered” into God’s hands, into His care.

So they can “give thanks” to His holy name and glory in praise from Him (ver. 47).

The psalmist ends blessing / praising / glorifying God forever and ever (ver. 48) and he calls on all people to say “amen” to that! “Praise the Lord!” Hallelujah!

WE HAVE SINNED:
You and I are blessed to live on this side of the cross. We have the forgiveness of our sins and we still have a God who is characterized by lovingkindness.

“If your brother sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. “And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.” Luke 17:3-4. Imagine Jesus saying this to His heavenly Father: “If your child sins, rebuke him; and if he repents, forgive him. And if he sins against you seven times a day, and returns to you seven times, saying, ‘I repent,’ forgive him.”

Take home message: Don't be weighed down by guilt. God longs to forgive you. Repent and experience His endless grace and forgiveness.