Psalm 106
1Hallelujah! Give thanks to the LORD, for He is good; His loving devotion endures forever. 2Who can describe the mighty acts of the LORD or fully proclaim His praise? 3Blessed are those who uphold justice, who practice righteousness at all times. 4Remember me, O LORD, in Your favor to Your people; visit me with Your salvation, 5that I may see the prosperity of Your chosen ones, and rejoice in the gladness of Your nation, and give glory with Your inheritance. 6We have sinned like our fathers; we have done wrong and acted wickedly. 7Our fathers in Egypt did not grasp Your wonders or remember Your abundant kindness; but they rebelled by the sea, there at the Red Sea. 8Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, to make His power known. 9He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up; He led them through the depths as through a desert. 10He saved them from the hand that hated them; He redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. 11The waters covered their foes; not one of them remained. 12Then they believed His promises and sang His praise. 13Yet they soon forgot His works and failed to wait for His counsel. 14They craved intensely in the wilderness and tested God in the desert. 15So He granted their request, but sent a wasting disease upon them. 16In the camp they envied Moses, as well as Aaron, the holy one of the LORD. 17The earth opened up and swallowed Dathan; it covered the assembly of Abiram. 18Then fire blazed through their company; flames consumed the wicked. 19At Horeb they made a calf and worshiped a molten image. 20They exchanged their Glory for the image of a grass-eating ox. 21They forgot God their Savior, who did great things in Egypt, 22wondrous works in the land of Ham, and awesome deeds by the Red Sea. 23So He said He would destroy them— had not Moses His chosen one stood before Him in the breach to divert His wrath from destroying them. 24They despised the pleasant land; they did not believe His promise. 25They grumbled in their tents and did not listen to the voice of the LORD. 26So He raised His hand and swore to cast them down in the wilderness, 27to disperse their offspring among the nations and scatter them throughout the lands. 28They yoked themselves to Baal of Peor and ate sacrifices offered to lifeless gods. 29So they provoked the LORD to anger with their deeds, and a plague broke out among them. 30But Phinehas stood and intervened, and the plague was restrained. 31It was credited to him as righteousness for endless generations to come. 32At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them. 33For they rebelled against His Spirit, and Moses spoke rashly with his lips. 34They did not destroy the peoples as the LORD had commanded them, 35but they mingled with the nations and adopted their customs. 36They worshiped their idols, which became a snare to them. 37They sacrificed their sons and their daughters to demons. 38They shed innocent blood— the blood of their sons and daughters, whom they sacrificed to the idols of Canaan, and the land was polluted with blood. 39They defiled themselves by their actions and prostituted themselves by their deeds. 40So the anger of the LORD burned against His people, and He abhorred His own inheritance. 41He delivered them into the hand of the nations, and those who hated them ruled over them. 42Their enemies oppressed them, and subdued them under their hand. 43Many times He rescued them, but they were bent on rebellion and sank down in their iniquity. 44Nevertheless He heard their cry; He took note of their distress. 45And He remembered His covenant with them, and relented by the abundance of His loving devotion. 46He made them objects of compassion to all who held them captive. 47Save us, O LORD our God, and gather us from the nations, that we may give thanks to Your holy name, that we may glory in Your praise. 48Blessed be the LORD, the God of Israel, from everlasting to everlasting. Let all the people say, “Amen!” Hallelujah!
Life is short. Where are you going?
You just read God’s own words, and one day every one of us will stand before Him. “What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes” (James 4:14). This life will be over sooner than you think — do you know where you are going when it is?
The Bible says, “Man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment” (Hebrews 9:27). If you died today, would you be ready?
Are you a good person?
Most of us think we are. But God doesn’t measure us against other people — He measures us by His Law. Look honestly at the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:3–17):
- You shall have no other gods before Me.
- You shall not make for yourself an idol.
- You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain.
- Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.
- Honor your father and mother.
- You shall not murder.
- You shall not commit adultery.
- You shall not steal.
- You shall not bear false witness.
- You shall not covet.
Have you ever told a lie — even a small one? Have you ever taken something that wasn’t yours? Have you ever used God’s name as a curse word? Have you ever wanted what belongs to someone else? Jesus said that anyone who looks with lust “has already committed adultery … in his heart” (Matthew 5:28), and the Bible says “everyone who hates his brother is a murderer” (1 John 3:15).
If we’re honest, we have all broken God’s Law — and “whoever keeps the whole law but stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it” (James 2:10). “There is no one righteous, not even one … there is no one who does good, not even one” (Romans 3:10–12).
That leaves every one of us guilty before a holy God. “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), and “whoever rejects the Son will not see life. Instead, the wrath of God remains on him” (John 3:36). This is why our world is full of tragedy — and without Christ, every life ends in the greatest tragedy of all.
But God made a way
“God proves His love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). Jesus lived the perfect life we never could, and on the cross He took the punishment we deserved: “God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Corinthians 5:21). Three days later He rose from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:3–4).
It’s like standing guilty in court when the judge steps down and pays your fine himself. Forgiveness is a free gift — you can’t earn it: “It is by grace you have been saved through faith … it is the gift of God, not by works” (Ephesians 2:8–9). “The gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23).
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it in all its fullness.” Jesus — John 10:10
What will you do with Jesus?
“Repent and believe in the gospel!” (Mark 1:15). Turn from your sin, and put your trust in Jesus alone — “if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved” (Romans 10:9). Don’t put it off — “now is the time of favor; now is the day of salvation!” (2 Corinthians 6:2).
And when you turn to Him, you won’t be met with a frown — you’ll be met with a celebration. Jesus said, “there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents” (Luke 15:10). God says, “I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked should turn from their ways and live” (Ezekiel 33:11). He is “mighty to save. He will rejoice over you with gladness … He will rejoice over you with singing” (Zephaniah 3:17). Like the father who ran to embrace his lost son, He is waiting with open arms — and heaven throws a party when you come home (Luke 15:20–24).
If you died today, where would you spend eternity? Today you can be forgiven, made new, and have real, abundant life — now and forever.
Scripture quotations are from the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), which is in the public domain.