Alleluia!
O give thanks to the Lord for he is good;
for his love endures for ever.
Who can tell the Lord’s mighty deeds?
Who can recount all his praise?
They are happy who do what is right,
who at all times do what is just.
O Lord, remember me
out of the love you have for your people.
Come to me, Lord, with your help
that I may see the joy of your chosen ones
and may rejoice in the gladness of your nation
and share the glory of your people.
Our sin is the sin of our forebears;
we have done wrong, our deeds have been evil.
Our forebears when they were in Egypt
paid no heed to your wonderful deeds.
They forgot the greatness of your love,
at the Red Sea defied the Most High.
Yet he saved them for the sake of his name,
in order to make known his power.
He threatened the Red Sea; it dried up
and he led them through the deep as through the desert.
He saved them from the hand of the foe;
he saved them from the grip of the enemy.
The waters covered their oppressors;
not one of them was left alive.
Then they believed in his words:
then they sang his praises.
But they soon forgot his deeds
and would not wait upon his will.
They yielded to their cravings in the desert
and put God to the test in the wilderness.
He granted them the favour they asked
and sent disease among them.
Then they rebelled, envious of Moses and
of Aaron, who was holy to the Lord.
The earth opened and swallowed up Dathan
and buried the clan of Abiram.
Fire blazed up against their clan
and flames devoured the rebels.
They fashioned a calf at Horeb
and worshipped an image of metal,
exchanging the God who was their glory
for the image of a bull that eats grass.
They forgot the God who was their saviour,
who had done such great things in Egypt,
such portents in the land of Ham,
such marvels at the Red Sea.
For this he said he would destroy them,
but Moses, the man he had chosen,
stood in the breach before him,
to turn back his anger from destruction.
Then they scorned the land of promise;
they had no faith in his word.
They complained inside their tents
and would not listen to the voice of the Lord.
So he raised his hand to swear an oath
that he would lay them low in the desert;
would scatter their sons among the nations
and disperse them throughout the lands.
They bowed before the Baal of Peor;
ate offerings made to lifeless gods.
They roused him to anger with their deeds
and plague broke out among them.
Then Phinehas stood up and intervened.
Thus the plague was ended
and this was counted in his favour
from age to age for ever.
They provoked him at the waters of Meribah.
Through their fault it went ill with Moses;
for they made his heart grow bitter
and he uttered words that were rash.
They failed to destroy the peoples
as the Lord had given command,
but instead they mingled with the nations
and learned to act as they did.
They worshipped the idols of the nations
and these became a snare to entrap them.
They even offered their own sons
and their daughters in sacrifice to demons.
They shed the blood of the innocent,
the blood of their sons and daughters
whom they offered to the idols of Canaan.
The land was polluted with blood.
So they defiled themselves by their deeds
and broke their marriage bond with the Lord
till his anger blazed against his people;
he was filled with horror at his chosen ones.
So he gave them into the hand of the nations
and their foes became their rulers.
Their enemies became their oppressors;
they were subdued beneath their hand.
Time after time God rescued them,
but in their malice they dared to defy him
and sank low through their guilt.
In spite of this he paid heed to their distress,
so often as he heard their cry.
For their sake he remembered his covenant.
In the greatness of his love he relented
and he let them be treated with mercy
by all who held them captive.
O Lord, our God, save us!
Bring us together from among the nations
that we may thank your holy name
and make it our glory to praise you.
Blessed be the Lord, God of Israel,
for ever, from age to age.
Let all the people cry out:
“Amen! Amen! Alleluia!”
Reflection
Drawing on the Pentateuch and Deuteronomy, the Psalmist constructs a lengthy meditation about how God has kept faith with his people. They may have followed one rebellion with another but, despite putting themselves in danger, God can be relied on to deliver them.
The Psalmist reminds us that rebellion has consequences. When God’s people broke the first commandment and worshipped the idols of other nations, these became a snare to entrap them. Sons and daughters suffered as they were offered as human sacrifice. Whenever Israel mixed the worship of other gods with the worship of the Lord, then the outcome would be suffering.
The human tendency towards unfaithfulness continues and will always have consequences: whenever people of faith put our trust in something other than the living God, someone will suffer.
When we worship wealth, we will fail to see and respond to our neighbour’s needs. When we pursue power for its own sake, we will do so at the expense of our neighbour. When we make gods of our career, our family, or our country then concern for the widow, the orphan, and the outsider will be pushed to one side.
The Psalmist sets us an example when they plead to the Lord to come to them so that, with the Lord’s help, they may see the joy of his chosen ones. The request is both a confession that they themselves have not been among those who have kept justice and maintained righteousness and also an implicit confession of faith that the psalmist is among those who are dependent on the Lord’s mercy.
If we are to take our place in the community of faith, we need to recognise that we too are compromised and we too have rebelled. In doing so, we can trust that we too will be forgiven – again and again – by the Lord. May we recognise our dependence on the gracious forgiveness of God, whose love really does last forever.
Prayer
Lord,
We give thanks that you are good
and that your love endures forever.
Forgive us when we forget your generosity
and fail to wait upon your will,
preferring to put you to the test
as we pursue our own desires.
Do not let us forget that
when we turn our backs on you
there are consequences.
Bring us together
as part of your great community of faith.
May we praise your holy name.
Amen