Scripture
Who can declare the Lord’s mighty acts or proclaim all the praise due Him?
~ Psalms 106:2 (CSB)
Quote
Depression is usually connected to our insolent refusal to offer praise to the LORD for His infinite goodness.
~Image Quotes
I attempted to teach on humility last Wednesday night but did not demonstrate humility is my attempt to teach it. I got no affirmation from the LORD which is very important to me. I seem to make the same dumb mistakes over and over. I keep asking myself, “Jack, when will you learn?” Then Thursday morning, I opened my bible to Psalm 106. As I began reading, I was awe-struck. The word was speaking directly to me. I’ve read this Psalm a hundred times but it was I though I had never read it before. As a nation, Israel was not grateful to God for all of His mighty deeds in their behalf. He literally saved them from a tyrants hand, then lead them through the depths of a sea on dry land; then through a desert where rattlesnakes have a hard time surviving and yet three days into their journey, they began to doubt, complain and even rebel. This first act of rebellion is a problem but the greater problem is that they establish a pattern of rebelling. They didn’t rebel just once, they did it over and over. Moses got so aggravated at them he became embittered in spirit and spoke rashly to them. This cost Moses a trip to the holy land. God got so aggravated with them that He threatened to wipe them out but Moses stood before the LORD as a breach. Verse 43 tells the entire story…God rescued them many times, but they continued to rebel deliberately and were beaten down by their iniquity. (Psalms 106:43, CSB) I’m going to make a brief list of Israel’s sins and you see if there is a parallel between then and now.
- They did not grasp the significance of what God had done for them [v.7]
- They soon forgot God’s miraculous works [v.13]
- They became obsessed with cravings of the flesh [v.14]
- They made an idol and worshiped it [v.20]
- They despised the land God was giving them [v.24]
- They grumbled and complained rather than praising God and giving thanks [v.25]
- They tempted the LORD with their evil deeds [v.29]
- They adopted the ways of the pagan culture around them [v.35]
- They sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons: they shed the innocent blood of their own children by sacrificing them to pagan gods [v.36-38]
- They rebelled against God time and time again [v.43]
I don’t see a lot of difference between the ancient Israelites and present day America. We aren’t giving God any credit for the founding of this great Republic; we have taken Him out of American History. Our fore fathered acknowledged readily that it was God who enabled us to gain our freedom. Americans are obsessed with the cravings of the flesh and we worship created things rather than the Creator. I never thought I would hear Americans despising our country but we hear it all the time these days. Andrew Cuomo said on August 16, “Trump can’t make America great again, it was never that great in the first place.” The man should be given a free airline ticket to North Korea. Even professed Christians are bad about grumbling and complaining. I don’t think there is any question that we are tempting the LORD with our rebellion and defiance. We have most certainly adopted the ways of the pagan culture even to the point of killing our babies which is still a form of demon worship–we just don’t have the sense to understand it. Even I myself keep making the same dumb mistakes over and over. Yes, unfortunately, I see a lot of parallels.
- Avery has been a blast! Get it?
- Good news sun lovers: you are suppose to see it today!
- Very busy weekend coming up: Wedding Rehearsal tonight; wedding tomorrow and Sunday…two in a row, ho, ho, ho!
- Luke 14 this Sunday night, PTL. I think this makes 30 in a row. We started Luke 14 in the late 80’s. I can’t remember if we did one or two on the old campus.
- I heard on talk Radio that Roy Clark passed away.