READ Psalm 106:6–12.
6 We have sinned, even as our ancestors did; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. 7 When our ancestors were in Egypt, they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses, and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea. 8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known. 9 He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; he led them through the depths as through a desert. 10 He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. 11 The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. 12 Then they believed his promises and sang his praise.
THE SIN OF INGRATITUDE. This psalm is about ingratitude. “They did not remember your many kindnesses” (verse 7). It is the root of all human sin: “They neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him” (Romans 1:21). That may not at first sound serious, but consider the crime of plagiarism. It is both theft and lie. It robs others of their due and creates the illusion that you are more able than you are. Sin is cosmic ingratitude. It gives you the delusion that you have the ability to conduct and hold your life together. Actually every day that your heart keeps pumping, your country is not invaded, and your brain keeps functioning is wholly an undeserved gift of God. We ought to live simple, normal, uneventful days full of amazed, thankful joy.
Prayer: Lord, I thank you for my routine mercies. I thank you for sustaining my life daily, for being endlessly patient with me, for shielding me from so many consequences of my foolish behavior, for the ways you have walked with me in trials, and for all my answered prayers. Amen.