God called Moses to lead His people from slavery to the Promised Land.  The sad thing is that no one from that generation, except Joshua and Caleb, made it to the Promised Land.  Even Moses failed!  What went wrong? What lessons can we learn as we move from salvation to promise under Jesus?

Psalm 106 gives great insight into the mistakes of Israel.  On reading the Psalm it struck me how deadly “forgetfulness” is to salvation.  Let me share some verses.

Some people forgot God simply by not giving His kindness a second thought.  These people were happy to have God as Saviour but not as Lord.

they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea (v.7)

Others forgot their past with God.  So when God did not work to their present timetable, they lost patience in waiting for His plans for the future.  God was too slow in bringing about His plans; they had their own plans and desires to fulfil.

Then they believed his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what he had done and did not wait for his plan to unfold. (v.13)

Finally, all except Moses decided what God should look like because they forgot his Word.

They exchanged their glorious God for an image of a bull, which eats grass. They forgot the God who saved them. (v.19-21)

Christians are blessed because we have the image of God in Jesus.  If we remember His kindness, His deeds, His plans and His Word, we will not lose our way as Israel did.

Denis Oliver