Psalm 106:6-48

6We have sinned with our fathers,
We have committed iniquity,
We have done wickedly.
7Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders;
They did not remember the multitude of Your mercies,
But rebelled by the sea—the Red Sea.
8Nevertheless He saved them for His name’s sake,
That He might make His mighty power known.
9He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it dried up;
So He led them through the depths,
As through the wilderness.
10He saved them from the hand of him who hated them,
And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy.
11The waters covered their enemies;
There was not one of them left.
12Then they believed His words;
They sang His praise.
13They soon forgot His works;
They did not wait for His counsel,
14But lusted exceedingly in the wilderness,
And tested God in the desert.
15And He gave them their request,
But sent leanness into their soul.
16When they envied Moses in the camp,
And Aaron the saint of the Lord,
17The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan,
And covered the faction of Abiram.
18A fire was kindled in their company;
The flame burned up the wicked.
19They made a calf in Horeb,
And worshiped the molded image.
20Thus they changed their glory
Into the image of an ox that eats grass.
21They forgot God their Savior,
Who had done great things in Egypt,
22Wondrous works in the land of Ham,
Awesome things by the Red Sea.
23Therefore He said that He would destroy them,
Had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach,
To turn away His wrath, lest He destroy them.
24Then they despised the pleasant land;
They did not believe His word,
25But complained in their tents,
And did not heed the voice of the Lord.
26Therefore He raised up His hand in an oath against them,
To overthrow them in the wilderness,
27To overthrow their descendants among the nations,
And to scatter them in the lands.
28They joined themselves also to Baal of Peor,
And ate sacrifices made to the dead.
29Thus they provoked Him to anger with their deeds,
And the plague broke out among them.
30Then Phinehas stood up and intervened,
And the plague was stopped.
31And that was accounted to him for righteousness
To all generations forevermore.
32They angered Him also at the waters of strife,
So that it went ill with Moses on account of them;
33Because they rebelled against His Spirit,
So that he spoke rashly with his lips.
34They did not destroy the peoples,
Concerning whom the Lord had commanded them,
35But they mingled with the Gentiles
And learned their works;
36They served their idols,
Which became a snare to them.
37They even sacrificed their sons
And their daughters to demons,
38And shed innocent blood,
The blood of their sons and daughters,
Whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan;
And the land was polluted with blood.
39Thus they were defiled by their own works,
And played the harlot by their own deeds.
40Therefore the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people,
So that He abhorred His own inheritance.
41And He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles,
And those who hated them ruled over them.
42Their enemies also oppressed them,
And they were brought into subjection under their hand.
43Many times He delivered them;
But they rebelled in their counsel,
And were brought low for their iniquity.
44Nevertheless He regarded their affliction,
When He heard their cry;
45And for their sake He remembered His covenant,
And relented according to the multitude of His mercies.
46He also made them to be pitied
By all those who carried them away captive.
47Save us, O Lord our God,
And gather us from among the Gentiles,
To give thanks to Your holy name,
To triumph in Your praise.
48Blessed be the Lord God of Israel
From everlasting to everlasting!
And let all the people say, “Amen!”
Praise the Lord!
-Psalm 106:6-48


The downfall that Israel went through all began with one critical error. They forgot the Lord. They forgot what He had done. And so the descent began. We make a mistake when we think that the enemy's goal is to get us to worship him or some other false God. If only it were so simple. His goal is to get us to forget our God. By way of comforts, and little satisfactions here and there, he will lead us to a place where we simply do not consider the Lord. In paying no consideration to the Lord, we care little for the idea of pleasing Him. And so the descent begins. The affliction of the soul draws near and we are left destitute, just as with Israel.

This is not the end of the story. The Lord regarded the affliction of His people and heard their cry. Even after all that they had done and the depths that they had fallen into, the Lord had mercy. So the same for us. Even if you have lived distracted and hindered, return to the Lord and cry out that same prayer in vs. 47-48. The Lord is faithful and will save you out of it. Praise the Lord!
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