Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God And
did not keep His testimonies,
Insights: Like yesterday’s Thoughts by Scott, today’s verse encompass more than just verse 56. For the full context and insight you need to
read verses 56-67. The synopsis of those
verses is that the last thing we noticed yesterday was God granted mercy and
grace to the people in the midst of their rebellion. In His love, God stayed His wrath. Then you move to the verses mentioned a moment
ago and what you end up discovering is the people were sorry they got caught
for their rebellious activity, but were not really repentant of the fact they
were rebellious from the beginning. In
other words, their lips said, “I am sorry,” but their hearts said, “No I am
not.” God read the heart response and
had today’s verse written about them.
When you get to verses 59-67 what you find is that God dispenses even
more judgment on the people because of their long-term rebellion to the
instructions of the Lord. What a tragic picture this psalm portrays of the
people of Israel in the midst of their exodus from Egypt. Beloved, my fear is that we are standing
aloft from a historical stand point and looking down on them with eyes of
judgment, but the entire time our hearts are no different. If there were true biblical repentance taking
place in the church of America would it look the way it presently does? I believe the answer is a resounding,
“NO!” We must climb down from our
pharisaical white towers and identify ourselves with the tax collector and cry
out, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner!”
If we continue to walk down this path of rebellion, we will end up like
these Israelites. We will give lip
service only to our faith and not walk it out before a watching world.
Questions:
- Are you foolish enough to keep testing the grace of the
Lord God as the children of Israel did?
- To what extent does the Lord need to show His grace to you for repentance to take place?
Prayer: Father, as much
as yesterday’s verses troubled me these verses today disturb me even more. For Your grace was given and in modern
vernacular, the spit on Your mercy.
Protect me from my own foolish ways. Amen.
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