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Let’s Trust in the Word of the Lord and Sing His Praise
psalm 106
Andy Nagahara
A. What is the reason we have been brought together? (1-5, 47, 48)
This Psalm, like Psam 106 is long; but I will discuss it by introducing relevant verses that you can read each day of the week.
However, don’t feel guilty if you find yourself too busy to do the daily reading or end up skipping some parts. Let’s first read through verse 5 and then verses 47 and 48.
1 Praise the LORD. Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever.
2 Who can proclaim the mighty acts of the LORD or fully declare his praise?
3 Blessed are they who maintain justice, who constantly do what is right.
4 Remember me, O LORD, when you show favor to your people, come to my aid when you save them,
5 that I may enjoy the prosperity of your chosen ones, that I may share in the joy of your nation and join your inheritance in giving praise.
47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
48 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the LORD.
Like Psalms 105, the 106th Psalm is a song of remembrance of the Lord’s grace in the past. This psalm covers the period from the events of the Exodus to the time of the Babylonian captivity when the leaders were abducted by the powerful nation of Babylon until their release from captivity.
The repeated disobedience of God by the people, and God’s mercy in reaching out His hand of salvation to them, is sung.
In each of these episodes, our sinful character is recorded as an event that grieved the God of the Israelites.
The scope of the song ends with praising God, remembering that He had still rescued His people many times, asking Him to bring back the people who had been captured and scattered to the surrounding countries, and believing that this would come to fruition.
We have also been scattered by the Corona (Covid-19) virus. The least, we are able to do is worship together using streaming services. We are, however, not at our best as a family.
For us, the first thing is that we have been brought together from different backgrounds to become the family of God, which is called to worship the Lord with one voice and one heart, and we have answered to that call!
Let us look forward to the time when we will be gathered here again to worship the Lord together, and let us praise and worship the Lord, even when we are currently having many restrictions.
B. Our identity
1. Monday: We forget the great mercies of God (6-12, Exodus 14:11-15:21)
6 We have sinned, even as our fathers did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
7 When our fathers were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea.
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known.
9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert.
10 He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
11 The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.
Tomorrow is for verses 6-12 and Exodus 14:11-15:21
The most visually striking part of the event called the Exodus is the picture in last week’s message note, where the waters of the sea split in two and the people went through the gap to the Sinai Peninsula.
The people of Israel, who were marching with joy and enthusiasm after being freed, were confused and their trust in God was blown away when the Pharaoh, who had changed his mind, came up behind them to capture and take them back.
The people complained that they should have stayed in Egypt instead of going through those difficulties. This characteristic is not unique to the Israelites.
Even after experiencing, thanking, and praising the Lord for His great grace and mercy, we keep making the same kind of mistakes again and again!
But here’s the thing: God will still help us without giving up on us.
2. Tuesday: Our desires can lead to corruption (13-18, Numbers 11,16:12-35)
13 But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his counsel.
14 In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wasteland they put God to the test.
15 So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them.
16 In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD.
17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram.
18 Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.
Tuesday is for verses 13 -18 and Numbers 11, 16:12-35. This part is about the events of chapters 11 and 15 of the book of Numbers.
Our material desires and envy of others can easily pull our hearts away from the Lord.
And once that happens, the vicious cycle accelerates, and our souls become thin and emaciated.
3. Wednesday: We are prone to idol worship (19-23, Exodus 32)
19 At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped an idol cast from metal.
20 They exchanged their Glory for an image of a bull, which eats grass.
21 They forgot the God who saved them, who had done great things in Egypt,
22 miracles in the land of Ham and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.
23 So he said he would destroy them– had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him to keep his wrath from destroying them.
Wednesday is for verses 19-23 and Exodus 32. The Old Testament strictly forbids idol worship. What does this mean for us today?
Some people forbid participation in Buddhist rituals, thinking that it refers to visible acts such as participating in religious ceremonies of other religions or going to shrines and temples.
It may sound funny, but there was even a missionary who said that the Japanese way of greeting (bowing) should be stopped because it was mutual idol worship. What do you think?
Idol worship is the worship of something other than God as a God. I think it is putting something that is not God above God.
I believe that money, people, and even the Bible can become objects of idol worship.
4. Thursday: We struggle with listening and obeying (24-31, Numbers 14:1-35, 25:1-3)
24 Then they despised the pleasant land; they did not believe his promise.
25 They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the LORD.
26 So he swore to them with uplifted hand that he would make them fall in the desert,
27 make their descendants fall among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands.
28 They yoked themselves to the Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods;
29 they provoked the LORD to anger by their wicked deeds, and a plague broke out among them.
30 But Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was checked.
31 This was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come.
Thursday is for verses 23-24 and Genesis chapter 47. In the land of Israel, God allowed his people to prosper, but it is easy to imagine that (prospering) as a big threat to
Thursday is for verses 24-31 and Numbers 14:1-35, 25:1-13. The people cried out because the situation they saw before them was hopeless (read Numbers 13 to find out how that happened).
They begin to blame Moses for taking them out to their places, and even complain to God.
Don’t get me wrong. It’s okay to complain to God in prayer. The problem is wishing you didn’t believe in God. And the thought of not believing.
For the Israelites, the result is seen in the events of verses 28-31 based on Numbers 25.
5. Friday: In our anxiety, we complain (32-39, Numbers 20)
32 By the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them;
33 for they rebelled against the Spirit of God, and rash words came from Moses’ lips.
34 They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them,35 but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs.
36 They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them.
37 They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons.
38 They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was desecrated by their blood.
39 They defiled themselves by what they did; by their deeds they prostituted themselves.
Friday is for verses 32-39 and Numbers 20. Verses 32-33 is the section that corresponds to Numbers 20. Difficulties and uncertainties have prevented not only the people but Moses as well from trusting God.
The most important strength to overcome the Corona time is trusting in God.
By the way, verse 34 and the verses that follow are based on Deuteronomy 7. It is a passage that leaves us wondering what to make of it. The God that we know is full of compassion is saying that we should not have compassion on the people around us. He is telling us that we must destroy them all.
A misunderstanding arises over the question of how the Bible is the Word of God.
The words of the Bible are not just a voice from heaven that was heard and written down, but a written text that is a confirmed version of what was passed down through the ages and regions.
This is what Jesus says about the Bible:
You diligently study the Scriptures because you think that by them you possess eternal life. These are the Scriptures that testify about me, （ヨハネ 5:39 ）
Here is the Bible as the Holy Spirit worked in people’s hearts and guided the process of oral transmission, writing, editing, canonization, and translation into various languages.
In other words. The Bible is the Word of God in the sense that we can receive God’s will with the help of the Holy Spirit, even if the text is mixed with things that were not originally God’s intention, or selfish misunderstandings on the part of human beings that even genocide was commanded by God.
6. Saturday: We fail time and time again (40-48, Ezra 9:1-9)
40 Therefore the LORD was angry with his people and abhorred his inheritance.
41 He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them.
42 Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power.
43 Many times he delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin.
44 But he took note of their distress when he heard their cry;
45 for their sake he remembered his covenant and out of his great love he relented.
46 He caused them to be pitied by all who held them captive.
47 Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.
48 Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the LORD.
Saturday is for verses 40-48 and Ezra. Repeatedly failing many times and despite being saved by His mercy, we instead repeat other failures. And this pattern continues to this day.
We are often told that we should read the Bible literally; but As I have said before, this is not true. The Bible was handed down orally over a long period of history, edited, and then translated so that we can read it again. There is a wide range of interpretation.
If you take the words of the Bible out of context and connect them like a patchwork, you can say that the Bible says whatever you want it to say.
In the past, it was claimed that the Bible supported slavery, discrimination against women, and racism.
However, instead of such a violent reading of the Bible, Christianity has overcome the discriminatory nature of biblical writings in racism and sexism by seeking inspiration in the words of Jesus, and by judging right from wrong in accordance with his love.
But even now, there are people being hurt by a superficial reading of the Bible.
LGBTQ = sexual minorities in terms of gender identity and sexual orientation.
No matter what our gender identity or sexual orientation, let us not be prejudiced, but let us love each other and walk in search of God’s love, remembering that God sees us as a people who are precious and valuable in his eyes.
(Prayer)
God, you are well aware of our weaknesses and our tendency to grieve you. We can’t hide anything from You.
We worship and thank you for your love and compassion and we are grateful that you invited us to come around you as your children even when we are not fit to ask for your mercy.
At this moment, please have compassion and help those around us and around the world who are suffering from illnesses, hunger and thirst, poverty, and discrimination.
Give us the strength we need so that we may become Your hands, Your feet, and be part of Your works.
Summary
The Old Testament was not written with us in mind as the audience so there are passages that don’t apply directly to our circumstance. There are even passages that contradict the teachings of Jesus. God gave us this text as a way to reveal and introduce himself to us. As we read the Old Testament through the lens of our society and through the life and teachings of Jesus, it offers guidance to our lives in the 21st century.
For Discussion
- What did you learn from the Israelites’ attitude toward God?
- How do you interpret the command to destroy the people of the surrounding lands?
For the children
Read the episode of the waters of Meribah (Numbers 20:1-13) with the children and ask them what they think. You do not have to lead them to a single conclusion, but please share your own thoughts with them in a way that they can easily understand!