Shalom,
Psalm 106 begins with rejoicing, thanksgiving and praise! We should begin EVERY day with the same! The rest of the Psalm testifies to the goodness, mercy and loving-kindness of the LORD in forgiving and delivering the nation of Israel for all of their iniquity and rebellion against Him and His Word. The praise in verses 1-2:
1 PRAISE THE LORD! (Hallelujah!) O give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; for His mercy and loving-kindness endure forever! 2 Who can put into words and tell the mighty deeds of the LORD? Or who can show forth all the praise [that is due Him]?
Verses 6-8 tell of just SOME of the reasons for the thankfulness!
6 We have sinned, as did also our fathers; we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. 7 Our fathers in Egypt understood not nor appreciated Your miracles; they did not [earnestly] remember the multitude of Your mercies nor imprint on Your loving-kindness [on their hearts], but they were rebellious and provoked the LORD at the sea, even at the Red Sea. 8 Nevertheless He saved them for His Name's sake [to prove the righteousness of the divine character], that He might make His mighty power known.
The rest of the Psalm recounts the numerous times that the nation and the individual people of it rebelled against the LORD. The psalmist always said "we" in acknowledging the sin of the people! He wasn't judging any individual or exempting himself from the judgement due the nation. He was grateful for the mercy of God! God ALWAYS delivered them WHEN they repented and called on Him again! Verse 47 shows a prayer of the psalmist that has been answered in our generation! Hallelujah!
47 Deliver us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in praising You.
Since 1948 the people of the nation of Israel have been able to give praise, thanksgiving and worship to the LORD their God for making them a nation IN THE LAND again, AND forever! What shall WE say then? Verse 48:
48 Blessed (affectionately and gratefully praised) be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting! And let all the people say, Amen! Praise the LORD! (Hallelujah!)
Did you realize that WE are included in "all the people"? Glory to God for the priceless privilege to be alive at this very time in the history of the world!
In Luke 18, when the disciples tried to stop the little people from bringing their children to Jesus, He said this in verses 16-17:
16 But Jesus called them to Him, saying, Allow the little children to come to Me, and do not hinder them, for to such [as these] belongs the kingdom of God. 17 Truly I say to you, whoever does not accept and receive and welcome the kingdom of God like a little child [does] shall not in any way enter it [at all].
How DOES a little child accept and receive and welcome Him? With openness, enthusiasm, joy, trust, confidence, lightheartedness, and ... I think you get the picture! WE must do LIKEWISE! Whenever you are tempted to doubt the Word, or get trapped into worry, fear, guilt, doubt, unbelief or any other negative thought pattern, just cast all those thoughts aside and BE a little kid again! How? Put on your favorite praise music, then sing, shout, laugh, jump for joy, dance, leap, twirl and just have a great GOOD time! God will LOVE it, you will be set free and the enemy will be DEFEATED all over again! AMEN! We sang (and danced!) to this song last night at The Spoken Word Church Friday Night Advanced Intercessory Prayer service! Enjoy AND participate! You'll be glad you did!
Deuteronomy 19-20 cover more of the instructions by Moses for the people BEFORE they actually possessed all of the land so that WHEN they did, they could remember and obey. IF they had, they would have been continually blessed through all of the years up to now and the world would look a whole lot different! Don't you wish they had? How about you and your life? The same holds true for US! IF we will obey the Word of the Lord our God, WE will be able to walk in all of the blessing, authority, power and dominion that Jesus of Nazareth walked in throughout His ministry on the earth! The responsibility is OURS to find out what the Word of God says about US and to put it into practice! Let's be DOERS and not hearers only! The great and Godly results are just waiting to happen! AMEN!
Shalom in Him!
