"Who can utter the mighty deeds of the LORD, or declare his praise?...Both we and our fathers have sinned; we have committed iniquity; we have done wickedness...Save us, O LORD our God...that we may give thanks to your holy name and glory in your praise."
~ Psalm 106:2,6,47
This psalm continues to use an historical narrative summary (v.6-43), as found in psalms 104 & 105, to direct our hearts and minds to rightly consider ourselves and our God. We see here, a telling of God…of his righteous character (v.1), his mighty deeds (v.2) and wonderous works (v.7), and of his disobedient and wayward people (v.6-7, 13-14,19-21,24-25,28-29,39,43).
Lest we become lofty and aloof, casting judgment on the people described here, each one of our own ‘histories’ could be told similarly. The history of my life is a spiral of forgetting God, turning to my own ways, being disciplined in his love, repenting and turning again to him as he graciously hears my cry and looks upon my distress (v.44).
As he did to his people Israel, God in his gracious relationship as a covenant-keeping God (v.45), saves us and all those who call on him for his name sake…for the glory of his name (v.47). We are to give praise and thanks to God in these things. We know he is perfectly and eternally faithful to himself and to his Word (v.48).
Read this psalm with heart open to being humbled and overwhelmed both by the totality of your depravity and the immensity of God’s love and salvation!