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Psalm 106

This song expresses sorrow for sin. The leader's role is to lead the people in repentance and in prayer for mercy from their merciful covenant God.

He begins on a note of hope.  He all but shouts, "Hallelujah!  Oh give thanks to the Lord for He is good!  For His mercy endures forever!"  It's as much as to say, "We should thank so merciful a God; we should thank Him that we can always come to Him, that He'll still hear us!"

And He's not only a merciful God, a God Who will still hear their prayers even after repeated sin. It needs to be remembered that He's also the majestic and the holy God.  That's why the leader goes on to sing, "Who can utter the mighty acts of the Lord?. . . Blessed are those who keep justice, and he who do righteousness at all times!"  The thought is that, considering how great God is, those who do right are wise indeed!  It is always better to avoid sin against so great a God than to have to repent of it!  The people need very much to be reminded of this as they begin their confession and repentance.

So the leader continues by singing a prayer for mercy, with the hope that the people will join in with all their hearts.  He sings, "Remember me, O Lord with the favor You have toward Your people.  Oh visit me with Your salvation, that I may see the benefit of Your chosen ones, that I may rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, that I may glory with Your inheritance."

If the hearts of the people have really been with him this far, then they're ready for the next words.  In them they confess, "We have sinned with our fathers, we have committed iniquity, we have done wickedly."  They sing sorrowfully of the sins of the fathers, sins these people must also feel a part of.  They'fe referring specifically, of course, to their unbelief and rebellion as a people - even before the red sea was miraculously parted for them to pass through on dry land.  They  must remember that their merciful God saved them in spite of their rebellious attitude of unbelief. 

They're further reminded that they were full of praise immediately after the miracle, but, just as quickly, they forgot what He had done.  They have to sing, "They soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel, but lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tested God in the desert."  In these words they're once again referring specifically to their complaint about lack of meat, about their jealousy toward Moses - and about the awful penalty they suffered for these attitudes. 

Continuing to recall their sins as a people, they remember the incident of the idolatry of the golden calf, after which, if Moses hadn't interceded for them, they would all have perished. They also necessarily recall their unbelief when they were to have entered the promised land - and the resulting 40-year sojourn in the desert while the unbelieving generation perished.  But there's even more! They have to recall further incidents of going after foreign gods such as the Baals of the Canaanites.  And they have to recall that, once again, they needed an intercessor - or they would justly have been destroyed.  They recall that they argued with God at the waters of Meribah, that they didn't utterly destroy the peoples as they were commanded to do, that they joined their sons and daughters to the sons and daughters of idolators, and  that they even practiced the awful sacrifice of children that was then being practiced in the land.

The worship leader finds it necessary to help them recall the results of all this rebellion.  He has to remind them that "the wrath of the Lord was kindled against His people, so that He abhorred His own inheritance, and He gave them into the hand of the Gentiles, and those who hated them ruled over them.  Their enemies also oppressed them, and they were brought into subjection under their hand"  But they also recall that "Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity." Yet, again, they're reminded that God was so merciful that, "Nevertheless He regarded their afflliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies.  He also moved their captors to pity when they were carried away into a foreign land!"

It's a sordid tale of rebellion upon rebellion, unbelief upon unbelief, but yet also mercy upon mercy, - then followed by even more rebellion!  The leader sings their sorrow.  He hopes the people will join him from their hearts, and will all realize their own sin - that they are just like their fathers. 

Our present worship Leader, our Lord Jesus Christ, must similarly lead us in songs of repentance.  Oh join Him, then, and sing, "Save us, O Lord our God, and gather us from among the Gentiles (all the unbelieving people of this world) to give thanks to Your holy Name (for -present mercy after our persistent rebellions), to triumph in Your praise."  And may we, seeing His continual mercy in the face of our undeservedness, finish by singing with all our might, "Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to everlasting!  And let ALL the people say, 'Amen!'"  "Hallelujah!"

Typo, Al...  "They'fe referring to their unbelief and rebellion – as a people -" 

"Nevertheless He regarded their afflliction, when He heard their cry; "

Should "Songleader" be two words?

(Just so you can change your master copy)

Thanks again, Pat.  You may or may not notice that I made a few other changes in this one as well. (I just can't leave them alone)