Today as I was reading Psalm 106, God shined a light on verse 7. 

“Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; 
they did not remember Your abundant kindnesses; 
But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea.”  

It was sobering to me to see what God deemed “rebellion”.  Check this out.

The people didn’t “UNDERSTAND” God’s wonders.

The Hebrew word for understand (sakal) means to give attention to; to consider and to ponder.  That brings to mind Mark 4:12 where it says the people were “ever seeing but never perceiving, and ever hearing but never understanding”.  Seeing and hearing require more than the physical organs doing their things.  They require processing things, looking beyond the “what” to the “why”.  

The people didn’t “REMEMBER” God’s abundant kindnesses.

The Hebrew word for remember (zakar) means to mark, so as to be recognized; to recall to mind, usually as affecting feeling, thought, or action. Since my mom passed away in November, I have been going through my parent’s home and clearing it out.  As I am doing so, I have been “recalling to mind” different times when things were used, which in turn is affecting my feelings and thoughts as I process those memories.  I have been “zakar-ing”.  

God knew the importance of things that would jog our memories.  When God delivered the Ark safely to the other side of the Jordan River, He directed the leaders of each tribe to pick up a stone and carry it across with them.  Why?  Well, Joshua 4:6-7 explains the reason. “This shall be a sign among you; when your children ask later, saying, ‘what do these stones mean to you?’, then you shall say to them, ‘That the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord; when it crossed the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off.’ So these stones shall become a memorial to the sons of Israel forever.”  How important it is to place reminders around your home that help you remember times that God has ministered to you or delivered you through a rough patch in life.  Those reminders can become faith builders both to you and to others as they prompt sharing your God-stories with others.  

The people “REBELLED” by the sea, at the Red Sea.

The Hebrew word rebelled (mara) means to be bitter.  It was used figuratively to mean, to resist so as to show disobedience.  Let’s think through all that God had done to deliver the Israelites.  He freed them from slavery in Egypt.  When the Egyptian army pursued them, He parted the Red Sea so that they could go safely to the other side on dry ground.  He then returned the waters of the Sea to their place so that the enemy army was drowned.  But shortly thereafter they were grumbling and whining, as if God wasn’t going to take care of them on their wilderness journey.  They allowed their hardships in the wilderness to cause bitterness in their hearts and minds.  “There’s no water. (waaaaaa)”.  “We had such good food in Egypt. (waaaaa)”.  “We’re sick of this manna! (hrmph)”.  

It’s so vital to be in the Word, to meditate on it, and to apply it to your life.  We need to remember what God has done in the past so that when things get rough at any given time, we won’t become bitter and resentful, but we will have faith that if God did it before, He can do it again.  

Because this verse impacted me so much, I read some commentaries on it.  These two were really good.  

Matthew Henry wrote, “Quarreling with God’s providence, and questioning His power, goodness, and faithfulness, are as great provocations to Him as any whatsoever.” 

Spurgeon’s commentary was chilling to me. “A long sojourn among idolaters had blunted the perceptions of the chosen family, and cruel slavery had ground them down into mental sluggishness.”

THINK ABOUT THAT!! We can get so weary and discouraged with all that we see taking place in our country, in our government, in our society, that our focus on the horizontal can numb out our spiritual perception. I don’t want that to happen to me, so I have to proactively take steps to make sure it doesn’t. 

I will choose to “understand” that while I don’t like what I see going on around me, I know that this world is not my home and that what God is allowing in our country is a part of His divine plan. 

I will choose to “remember”, by placing things around me to prompt me to remember all that God has done for me and to look for God at work in my day. 

I will choose not to “rebel” by looking at the negative aspect of what I see taking place in the world around me.  God has a plan.  Nothing, good or bad, is escaping His attention.  

Take care that you don’t allow what’s going on around you to negatively impact what’s going on inside you.  Looking for God in your circumstances will take even the darkest of situations and make you better instead of bitter.