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They Believed - They Believed Not - Psalm 106
They Believed - They Believed Not - Psalm 106
God saved Israel from Pharaoh and the Egyptian bondage. God saved them for the sake of HIS name and to make His power known. He 'rebuked the Red Sea and dried it up, leading them through the deeps. He caused the water to return and cover their adversaries so that 'none was left'. The result? "Then they believed His words; They sang His praise" (Psalm 106:12). To this Moses wrote:
31When Israel saw the great power which the Lord had used against the Egyptians, the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and in His servant Moses" (Exodus 14:31). They not only believe THAT God existed, nor just WHAT God said, but they believe IN THE LORD. Moses earlier wrote that "So the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped" (Exodus 4:31).
We should see then that faith is simply not a 'once and done' concept. Once a believer does NOT imply that one will ALWAYS be a believer. We simply cannot argue here that these NEVER believed for the divine record says they DID. The problem:
· They quickly forgot His works -13
· They did not wait for His counsel -13
· They craved intensely in the wilderness - 14
· They tempted God in the desert - 14
· They made a calf in Horeb - 19
· They worshiped a molten image - 19
· They forgot God their Savior - 21
And THEN it states: "They did not believe in His word... they did not listen to the voice of the LORD" (Ps. 106:24-25). Those who had once believed in the LORD, NOW did not believe in His word. They became the generation who did not enter God's rest because of unbelief (Heb. 3:19).
It was in fact this generation of Israel that served as the warning in Hebrews: "Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, “Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness, Where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, And saw My works for forty years. “Therefore I was angry with this generation, And said, ‘They always go astray in their heart, And they did not know My ways’; As I swore in My wrath, ‘They shall not enter My rest.’ ” Take care, brethren, that there not be in any one of you an evil, unbelieving heart that falls away from the living God" (Hebrews 3:7–12).
We are saved by faith, but that does not imply that our faith if steadfast forever. Life is a testing of our faith (James 1:3, 1 Pet. 1:7). One's faith can fail (Luke 23:32). Some will make shipwreck of their faith (1 Tim. 1:19). Some cast off their first faith (1 Tim. 5:11-12). Some will have their faith overthrown (2 Tim. 2:16-18). Some will, by their refusal to obey, deny the faith (1 Tim. 5:1). Some will believe for awhile, but then fall away (Luke 8: ).
Having believed in the Lord, we are to walk by faith (2 Cor. 5:7). We must feed our faith so it can grow strong. What have you been doing to guard and protect your faith? Hugh DeLong
