A contrast with those who do praise God
Wow, Psalm 106 shows such a stark contrast between those who praise God and those who don’t. This Psalm so amazed me I decided to write about this contrast, especially since I wrote a post (a while back) about why we do praise God. I had written it as an answer to atheists who believe God is arrogant to “demand” his followers praise him. I showed how God gives us so much that we want to praise him. And in praising him, we remember all the great things God did for us. I also pointed out people who attend rock concerts and willingly praise their musical heroes. Yet many people do not want to do the same thing for the True God, who gives to us so much more than the musician who charges a fee just to hear him sing.
So let’s look at this Psalm and compare some of the verses that describe those who praise God with those who do not. Verses 1-2 say, “Praise the Lord! Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever. Who can list the glorious miracles of the Lord? Who can ever praise him enough?” This writer is eager to praise God and remember all God has done for his people, Israel. Now in verse 7A, he says, “Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the Lord’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness.” This is the complete opposite of what the Psalmist had just said. He so eagerly praised God and remembered God’s miracles. Yet these other Israelites were not impressed with those miracles at all. Instead of joyfully listing all the miracles God had done and then giving thanks for them, these other Israelites were not impressed with the miracles at all.
Next, let’s compare what people do when they DO praise God. Verse 3 says, “There is joy for those who deal justly with others and always do what is right.” These are the ones who praise, and they do what is right. Next we look at the second part of verse 7 (7b), “Instead, they rebelled against Him at the Red Sea.” By not being impressed with God’s miracles and then not praising and thanking him, the Israelites rebelled. They did not do what was just and right.
Next, look at what “forgetting to” (purposely choosing not to) praise God caused the Israelites to do, in verse 13, “Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel.” They would not be patient and wait until God told them what to do. Instead they did what they wanted, as quickly as they wanted. We would call this “rash” behavior, or acting without thinking. The next verse, 14, says, “In the wilderness their desires ran wild, testing God’s patience in that dry wasteland. So he gave them what they asked for, but he sent a plague along with it.” The people received the meat they craved (God sent quail to them) but then God also sent a plague.
Not appreciating what God did also meant people stopped enjoying what they already had, and who they were (their giftedness.) Instead they began to look at what others had, ignoring their giftedness and instead demanding they have the gifts of others. Look at verse 16, “The people in the camp were jealous of Moses and envious of Aaron, the Lord’s holy priest.” The Israelites had many skills and gifts, but instead they looked at what others had and wanted those gifts. How did God respond to this thankless and non-praising attitude? Verses 17-18 say, “Because of this, the earth opened up; it swallowed Dathan and buried Abiram and the other rebels. Fire fell upon their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.” Instead of being thankful for what God had given them, they let their greed take over, and God had to use extreme measures to warn the others not to follow this rebellion.
The people did not learn after this lesson. By not praising God, they gave their praises elsewhere. Look at verses 19-20, “The people made a calf at Mount Sinai; they bowed before an image made of gold. They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull.” How foolish—a grass-eating bull received their praise, even though this dumb animal had no ability to rescue anyone. And if we doubt why these people were so foolish, the very next verses confirm the reason, verses 21-22, “They forgot God, their Savior, who had done such great things in Egypt—such wonderful things in the land of Ham, such awesome deeds at the Red Sea.”
God had so many wonderful gifts for his people, but they refused to praise him and thus they refused to believe God could give the promised gifts. Verses 24-25 say, “The people refused to enter the pleasant land, for they wouldn’t believe his promise to care for them. Instead they grumbled in their tents and refused to obey the Lord.” Because the people would neither praise God, nor obey him, God could not bless them. Thus he said in verses 26-27, “Therefore, he solemnly swore that he would kill them in the wilderness, that he would scatter their descendants among the nations, exiling them to distant lands.” These refer to two situations. The second situation the Psalmist was describing in verses 26-27 explains times when the Israelites were exiled out of their nation.
The first situation was described in the OT book of Numbers, when ten of twelve spies came back and told the Israelites to fear the Canaanites, instead of encouraging the people to go and fight the Canaanites. Numbers chapter 13 shows the foolish ten spies and their fear stories. Numbers chapter 14 shows God’s anger in response to this foolish behavior. They were not content with what God had given them, and so they had no peace. Instead those ten spies filled the Israelites with fear. Look at what the ten spies said in Numbers 13: 31-33, “But the men who had gone up with him {Caleb} replied, ‘We cannot go up against the people, for they are stronger than we are!’ So they gave the Israelites a bad report about the land that they had spied out: ‘The land we explored devours its inhabitants, and all the people we saw there are great in stature. We even saw the Nephilim there—the descendants of Anak that come from the Nephilim! We seemed like grasshoppers in our own sight, and we must have seemed the same to them!’”
Contrast this lack of praise, thanks and trust with Joshua and Caleb’s response in Numbers 14: 6-9, “Joshua, son of Nun and Caleb son of Jephunneh, who were among those who had spied out the land, tore their clothes and said to the whole congregation of Israel, ‘The land we passed through and explored is an exceedingly good land. If the Lord delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us. Only do not rebel against the Lord, and do not be afraid of the people of the land, for they will be like bread for us. Their protection has been removed, and the Lord is with us. Do not be afraid of them!”
Rebellion and pagan worship marked the lives of many Israelites. Those who refused to worship and praise God rebelled against him, not believing his promises. As the verses of Psalm 106 continue, the Israelites who would not praise God became so depraved, the Psalmist says (in verse 38), “They shed innocent blood, the blood of their sons and daughters. By sacrificing them to the idols of Canaan, they polluted the land with murder.” It is a terrifying thought that as people refused to thank and praise God, they went from fear, to grumbling, to idol worship, to murder. All these terrible things happened when the people would not praise God. They would not consider all the great things God had done for them nor give thanks and praise to God.
Yet those olden day Israelites are not so different from people today who also refuse to praise God. We see people who are not thankful. They demand more than God has given them. They do not look at their life and consider all the great things God has already done for them. Many people grumble and say God gave them a bad life. Others come up with reasons to walk away from the faith they professed and say that since God did not do what they demanded, they not longer believe in God. Some people destroy relationships, and hurt others, because they envy what others have instead of enjoying what God gave them. Some people push a woman to have an abortion instead of helping her to keep the baby (hence an innocent child dies.) The list can go on, about the thankless, greedy, jealous world we live in, where some people do not ponder the many good things God has done for them and then do not thank him and praise him.
I am amazed by this wonderful Psalm 106. The author did such a good job of contrasting what happens to people when they do not praise God. It also gives me more incentive to praise God. I memorized some of the verses from this Psalm, to warn myself to not forget God’s blessings and to remind me to not grumble and complain. I want to slow down and be patient with God and wait for his counsel. I want to do what he asks. And I want to enjoy praising him. I want to join the Psalmist of 112 who said in verse one, “Praise the Lord! How joyful are those who fear the Lord and delight in obeying his commands.” I fight my urge to grumble and complain (but the desire to grumble is very strong, ugh.) Instead, I want to find joy in obeying God and delighting in him, so I have memorized many different passages of the Old and New Testaments that remind me to give thanks, in times of difficulty as well as in times of plenty. I see the dangers in the lives of those who do not praise God, and I also see the confidence and joy in the lives of those who do praise God. I want to be like Caleb and Joshua, who praise God in good times and bad.
I pray this post has brought you joy in your journey of praising God. Never let fear grip your heart, because God does care for you! But also don’t be too hard on yourself if you find yourself grumbling. Just pick yourself up and turn your grumbles back to praise to God. I do that, since I do still catch myself grumbling. I tell God I’m sorry and then thank him. We are so frail and imperfect, so we have to be kind to ourselves as we grow in our faith. But I pray we encouraged you and strengthened you in your fight against our flesh and the devil. Thanks for joining us in this post.