God Speaks
Praise the LORD God Who Redeems and Rescues Rebellious People Who Cry Out in Repentance and Faith
Verse of the Day: Many times He delivered them, but they were bent on rebellion and they wasted away in their sin. . . . Save us, LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name and glory in Your praise. Praise be to the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Praise the LORD. (Psalm 106:43, 47-48 NIV 2011)
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We Respond
Reflection
Consider the following questions regarding Psalms 106-107
> 1. What does this chapter tell me about God?
> 2. What does this chapter tell me about the human beings He created?
Here is one possible answer to each of these questions. Ask the Holy Spirit if there are any others for you personally to ponder.
Psalms 106
1. God’s everlasting love has continually miraculously ransomed, rescued and redeemed His rebellous people.
2. Throughout their history, God’s people have resisted, rebelled, disrespected and disobeyed Him.
Psalms 107
1. The LORD God provides for all those people who cry out to Him in repentance and faith.
2. In any kind of trouble, people should cry out to the LORD God. When He rescues them, let them give thanks to Him for His unfailing love and His wonderful deeds for mankind.
Prayer
> 3. How might I pray regarding Psalms 106-107?
Dear Father God, who deserves our trust and expects our obedience, I praise and thank You for Your goodness and faithful, everlasting love. No one can grasp or count all the miracles You have performed for Your chosen ones. The most important one is the perfect life, crucifixion, and resurrection of Your beloved Son, Jesus. The next is Your forgiveness and Your grace extended to rebellious sinners like me. We continually do wrong and act wickedly! We are ungrateful like the Israelites You freed from slavery in Egypt. Instead, we forget to thank You for Your many acts of kindness. We bring disgrace instead of honor to Your name or discount the mighty power You demonstrated in rescuing us. One example of Your power is the parting of the Red Sea so that Your people could go through on dry land. We should be singing Your praises every day. Instead, we continually try Your tremendous patience. We are jealous of the leaders You have placed over us. We put other people, objects, or ideologies ahead of You. We, like the Israelites of old, trade our gracious, incorruptible God for corruptible baubles. You sent the Savior, Jesus, to give His life in our place so that You would not to destroy us for our sins. We often refuse to do what You have commanded us to do. We fear everything but You, the only one worthy of our awestruck wonder. We need courageous men like Phinehas to intervene and show what righteousness looks like. We get so frustrated that we lose our God-empowered patience and our temper and speak or act foolishly. We have been inattentive and surrendered our children to extremely anti-God ideologies. We have defined ourselves by our evil deeds, and our love for God-substitutes is adultery in Your sight, O LORD. You have every reason and right to destroy us, Your special possession. We have chosen to rebel against You; thus, we are being destroyed by our own sin. Please take pity on us, listen to our cries for mercy, and relent because of Your unfailing love. Save us, O LORD our God! Draw people back to You from every tongue and tribe, people group and nation. Then, by the power of Your grace, we will rejoice, thank, and praise Your holy name. And all God’s people will say, “AMEN!” Dear Awesome Father God, thank You for how You respond to people who cry out to You in reverence and repentance. I hereby cry out to You on behalf of myself, my family, my community, my congregation, my county, my state, and my nation. I confess that we have sinned by not turning to You, by turning away from You instead, and/or by outright rebelling against You. Whether our troubles have been brought about by our own sins, those of others, or the sin-filled condition of the world, You still hear us when we cry out to You in repentance and faith. Thank You for hearing and responding to the concerns of the people mentioned in Psalm 107 (and many more not mentioned). Please do the same in this day and time. Then those who are godly and/or wise will thank and praise You with all their heart, soul, mind, and strength, and out of gratitude to You, treat their neighbor in love as they would wish to be treated. I know that this will bring joy to Your heart and glory to You forever, LORD. AMEN
Action (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)
> 4. What action does the LORD want me to take in response to Psalms 106-107?
With the help of God’s Holy Spirit:
- I will make a list of the ways God has demonstrated His love and goodness to me.
- I will research and then tell the next generations how God has performed miraculous acts of mercy and love throughout the history of my nation (USA).
- I will cry out to the LORD, wait for His answers, and thank and praise Him for His response, daily.
- I will write down a history of how the LORD has rescued me and blessed me to be shared with future generations to point them to faith in Him alone.
Share
I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.