Psalm 106:6-8

"We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly. Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red Sea. Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake, that he might make his mighty power to be known."

Almost everyone has heard the story of God’s dividing the Red Sea for Israel. It certainly must have been a spectacular sight. Then, He brought it crashing down on the Egyptian army, which had pursued them, intent on Israel’s destruction. What is so incredible, then, is the fact that not thirty days later Israel was grumbling against God, desiring to return to Egypt and slavery.

Their apparent inability to remember what God had done is a human trait. Or maybe, it was not an inability to remember but rather a selfish "What have You done for us recently?" attitude. Or, probably more to the point, perhaps they gathered from the Red Sea experience that God could handle that, but now things were different.

If it is a lack of remembering that caused them to grumble against God then the thing they needed was a memory jogger. They should have considered the awesome might needed to do such a thing as divide the Red Sea. Surely, if God were capable of that then He would be capable of a great many other things, wouldn’t He? One might stretch his imagination a great way to conceive of something that this incredibly powerful God could not do. Along with this one, other stories of His might in the Bible add up to the fact that there is nothing that is outside of God’s ability to do (except lie). He is omnipotent, all-powerful. For us, to be forgetful is easy. But we ought never to forget the greatness of God. This may be why God often tells us to remember.

At the heart of the attitude, "What have You done for us recently", is the sin of greed, or selfishness. It is incredible to think that, having once seen what the awesome God could do, folks would have the audacity to expect it of Him, to demand it of Him. And to be upset if He didn’t deliver. Or even to think that He is at their beck and call, waiting in the wings to bless because they have demanded it. It is the height of self-centeredness to think that Almighty God exists only to make us comfortable. If this was the cause of Israel’s grumbling then this is indeed sad. He is almighty, and also all-knowing. His plans are of far greater wisdom than ours. In a sense, we ought to be amazed that He even gives consideration to us. But He does, and we ought to be humbled, not induced to greed.

Then, there is the idea that God only handles the big things, and the rest is up to us. Having seen God work as they had the Israelites would surely have been impressed. But thirty days later the problem was they were out of water and they were in the middle of the desert. Incredibly, God lead them by the pillar of cloud and fire to exactly this place of need. Perhaps they thought that they could trust God for getting them through the Red Sea and taking care of their enemies, but when it came to food and water it was up to them. So there they stood with no water, 600,000 of them, with their wives and children and animals. Again, God provided for them in a miraculous way. At God’s command Moses struck the rock, and out gushed enough water for them all.

Since the Israelites are part of the human race, it is appropriate to generalize their attitudes to the rest of mankind. We, too, forget, are self-centered, or consider ourselves to masters of our situation, failing to trust God. Our attitudes toward God are the same as theirs. Notice that in these verses from Psalm 106 God refers to their behavior, no matter its genesis, as provocation. He is not pleased with it. The author of the psalm refers to it as sin, iniquity and wickedness. With their grumbling, no matter what they might have been thinking, they were showing a lack of trust in God. And it says in the book of Hebrews that without faith it is impossible to please Him. As said before, our attitudes are no different, neither is God’s feelings about them.

All of this is overshadowed with the final sentence in the verses above. In the final analysis God seeks to glorify His name, to make His name known. He wants His might and power to be displayed. Israel had been called God’s people by God Himself. He even refers to Himself as Israel’s husband. He had invested His own reputation in them. He called them by His name. He would not let their behavior to take away from His glory. Neither will He let ours. So He worked at the Red Sea for the simple reason of bringing glory to His own name. The things that He did primarily were because of His reputation. Forty years later, in the book of Joshua, Rahab the harlot said, "I know that the LORD hath given you the land, and that your terror is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land faint because of you. For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you, when ye came out of Egypt ..." In the land they were to inherit the people knew about what God had done. They knew that God was God. They knew He was mighty.

The scriptures tell us that the church is His people. We, too, are called by His name. We, too, are referred to as His bride. Again God has staked His reputation on His people. This brings us face to face with two things. First, God’s great mercy and grace are in evidence in us. Daily we disobey Him and choose our own ways. Daily we fail to trust Him. Daily He works in our lives to bring glory to His name. How great is our God toward us! Second, we carry His name. We are His people. And that being so, we find ourselves in an eternal family, a great family. We carry a great name. We should be careful about how we represent that great name. But, He saved us for His great name’s sake, that His mighty power might be made known.

As noted earlier, the fact that He works on our behalf ought to humble us. We should be giving Him thanks. Taking in the immensity of His name, and reputation, that He has given us, we ought to be humbled all the more. We have a great name on us. We ought to seek to glorify Him in all things.

There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel’s veins;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.
Lose all their guilty stains, lose all their guilty stains;
And sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stains.

The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.
Washed all my sins away, washed all my sins away;
And there have I, though vile as he, washed all my sins away.

HJK