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Psalm 106 is instructive for our time. We would do well to learn how to view history from the Lord's hymnbook.
It begins with praise and thanksgiving, and a blessing for justice and righteousness.
It follows with a prayer for favor, salvation, and prosperity for God's chosen people.
It proceeds, for nearly forty verses, to list out the many grave and evil sins of God's people, His chosen nation, His people.
It catalogs their stupidity and their stubbornness, their idolatry, their lusts, their grumbling, their unbelief, their whoring after false gods.
And it speaks of God's righteous judgments against them: burning people up, the earth swallowing crowds alive, plagues, national defeats, scattering, enslavement.
And it speaks of God's compassion and turning from His anger in every case; His mercies when the righteous would call on Him. God always remembered His covenant.
The Psalm ends with a prayer of salvation so that His people might give Him praise, and a blessing to the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting.
Why would God put the rotten history of His people in their hymnbook? Why would He want them to sing about that? Is it as an example? Is He saying, "Be careful not to be like that?"
The answer, I believe, is in verse six.
My favorite version says "We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly."
My favorite version says "We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly."
So yup, we're sinners too. We all knew that, right?
But there's a footnote.
Next to "like," the footnote says [literally, "with"].
Next to "like," the footnote says [literally, "with"].
We have sinned with our fathers. And so as we rehearse the sins of our fathers (it's easy to despise them and their foolishness), we, right as we begin to tell the stories, have to confess that we're right there with them.
The judgments that were on them belong on us. We are not better.
Our history is fraught with sin and error. It is thick with wickedness and unfaithfulness. And generations hence will see our sin, error, wickedness, and unfaithfulness.
But there is hope in humility. There is hope in confession. We have sinned with our fathers. But God is faithful in His deliverance. He remembers His covenant. He will save His people who turn to Him in faith. He will not forget us forever.
Blessed be the Lord, our God
From everlasting to everlasting
And let all the people say, "Amen."
Praise the Lord!
From everlasting to everlasting
And let all the people say, "Amen."
Praise the Lord!
