Psalm 106:44-45

 

Nevertheless, he looked upon their distress,
    when he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant,
    and relented according to the abundance of his steadfast love.

Psalm 106, along with Psalms 78, 105, 135, and 136 are referred to as psalms of historic recital.  Some psalms, especially those written by David, tend to focus on personal sin, trials, and struggles.  The psalms that recite history detail the corporate unfaithfulness of Israel.  The writer doesn't blame it all on the past;  he says "Both we and our fathers have sinned." He recounts all the "big sins" that Israel is known for.  They praised God for parting the Red Sea, but soon forgot His works.  They craved meat other than what God provided; they were jealous of the leaders God put over them; they worshiped a golden calf.  (In verse 19 and 20, even the psalmist seems flabbergasted!)  They bound themselves to a false god, even eating offerings made to it. They served the idols of other nations; they sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons, to the idols in Canaan.  They despised the pleasant land; they were faithless, disobedient, complaining, awful people.  God's anger boiled over, and He gave them over to what they thought they wanted.  And there they found oppression and slavery.  But, God looked upon their distress and He remembered His covenant.  Because He was  stubbornly, unwaveringly, and ardently devoted to showing this undeserving people love, grace, and mercy, He relented.  He made even their captors, the enemies, have compassion on them.  💓

I get tired of hearing how terrible the Israelites were, don't you?  (I posted a meme about it yesterday on fb, and I felt it to my soul!!) But they must've needed to be reminded how quickly sin escalates.  And so do we.  If we heard our corporate history recited, would it sound much different?  Forgetting His works? Worshiping false idols? Complaining? Sacrificing our children for promises from idols? God can give us over to what we think we want, only for us to find the false idols are brutal masters. They are so much less than  our God; He is faithful, loving, and merciful.  In verse 23 we see a foreshadowing of Christ Jesus. "Therefore he said he would destroy them--had not Moses, his chosen one, stood in the breach before him, to turn away his wrath from destroying them."  Jesus is the true and better Moses, standing in the rift brought by our own sin, turning away the wrath of God. And again in verses 30-31--"Then Phinehas stood up and intervened, and the plague was stayed.  And that was counted to him as righteousness from generation to generation forever."  Jesus is the true and better Phinehas, stopping the plague of sin from wiping us from the face of the earth.  He is our Rescuer and our Savior.  He is the ultimate "Never The Less"--in spite of our sin, He is Never The Less loving; Never The Less faithful; Never The Less merciful.  Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from among the nations, that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise.