READ Psalm 106:13–18.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. 14 In the desert they gave in to their craving; in the wilderness they put God to the test. 15 So he gave them what they asked for, but sent a wasting disease upon them. 16 In the camp they grew envious of Moses and of Aaron, who was consecrated to the LORD. 17 The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it buried the company of Abiram. 18 Fire blazed among their followers; a flame consumed the wicked.
BUT THEY SOON FORGOT.
Every stanza of this poem makes the same point: Human beings fail at living as they should with God and their neighbors. No matter how many things God does for them, it doesn’t change their hearts—their ingratitude (verse 13), their endless craving (verse 14), their sense of superiority to God (verse 14), or their envy and selfishness (verse 16). We need something to be done in us to save and transform us, because we can’t do it ourselves. In the movie Superman Returns, Lois Lane says, “The world doesn’t need a savior. And neither do I.” That expresses the deep language of the natural human heart, and it is utterly, fatally wrong.
Prayer:
Lord, I praise you that you opened my heart to you, because I would never have done it myself. “My heart owns none before thee, for thy rich grace I thirst; this knowing—if I love thee, thou must have loved me first.”Amen
