The Treason of Amnesia Text: Psalm 106:6-12
Introduction: Covenant History is Family History
We live in an age that has no memory. We are historical orphans by choice. Our culture is obsessed with the fleeting present, and it judges the past not with humility and gratitude, but with the arrogant condescension of a spoiled teenager. But a man who does not know what his grandfather did is a man who cannot know who he is. And a church that does not know its history is a church that cannot understand its present predicament or its future hope.
Psalm 106 is a national confession. It is a corporate prayer that rehearses the long, sad, and glorious history of Israel's relationship with God. It is not a detached, academic exercise. It is a prayer offered by those who understand that they are part of the story. The sins of the fathers are not just embarrassing anecdotes from a bygone era; they are the very sins that we find bubbling up in our own hearts. And the mercies of God shown to them are the only hope we have for ourselves.
This psalm teaches us a vital principle: we are to confess our sins corporately and generationally. We are not isolated individuals. We are part of a covenant family, a people, a nation. Daniel did this when he confessed the sins of his people as though they were his own, even though he was a righteous man (Daniel 9). We are to do the same. We must see ourselves in this story. The Israelites at the Red Sea are not "them." They are "us." Their rebellion is our rebellion. Their forgetfulness is our forgetfulness. And God's astonishing grace to them is His astonishing grace to us.
This passage is a case study in the anatomy of sin and the tenacity of grace. It shows us that the root of all rebellion is a failure to remember, a willful amnesia concerning the goodness of God. And it shows us that the foundation of all salvation is not our faithfulness, but God's jealous regard for the glory of His own name.
The Text
We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly. Our fathers in Egypt did not consider Your wondrous deeds; They did not remember Your abundant lovingkindnesses, But they rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His might known. Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness. So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left. Then they believed His words; They sang His praise.
(Psalm 106:6-12 LSB)
Generational Sin, Generational Grace (v. 6)
The confession begins by identifying completely with the sins of the past.
"We have sinned with our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have acted wickedly." (Psalm 106:6)
This is not an exercise in blaming our ancestors. It is the exact opposite. It is taking responsibility. It is acknowledging that the same corrupt seed that produced their rebellion is present and active in us. The psalmist piles up the words for sin, iniquity, and wickedness not to be dramatic, but to be thorough. This is a comprehensive confession. Sin is missing the mark. Iniquity is a twisting, a perversion. Wickedness is an active, malevolent rebellion. They are saying, "In every possible way, from every possible angle, we and our fathers have broken covenant with You."
This is the starting point of all true revival. We do not approach God with a list of our accomplishments, or by comparing ourselves favorably to the generations before us. We come acknowledging that we are cut from the same crooked timber. We are not intrinsically better than they were. We are just the current iteration of the same problem. This kind of corporate confession is a profoundly priestly act. We, as the church, are a royal priesthood, and we are called to stand in the gap and intercede not only for ourselves, but for our nation, for our culture, and for the sins of our fathers.
The Root of Rebellion: Bad Memory (v. 7)
Verse 7 diagnoses the spiritual disease that led to their sin. It was a disease of the memory.
"Our fathers in Egypt did not consider Your wondrous deeds; They did not remember Your abundant lovingkindnesses, But they rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea." (Psalm 106:7 LSB)
Notice the cause-and-effect relationship. Why did they rebel? Because they did not remember. They had just witnessed the ten plagues, the systematic dismantling of the most powerful empire on earth by the hand of God. They had seen water turn to blood, the sky go dark, and the firstborn of Egypt slain. These were not subtle hints of God's power; they were cosmic sledgehammer blows. Yet, the text says they "did not consider" them. The facts were in their heads, but they did not sink down into their hearts. They failed to meditate on what God had done.
And because they did not consider, they did not remember His "abundant lovingkindnesses." The Hebrew word is chesed, that steadfast, covenantal, loyal love of God. They forgot not just His power, but His goodness. And where did this spectacular failure of memory manifest itself? "At the sea, at the Red Sea." The very place where God was about to perform His most stupendous act of salvation for them. With Pharaoh's army at their backs and an impassable sea before them, their faith evaporated. All the evidence of God's power and love was forgotten in a moment of panic. This is us. How quickly we forget last week's deliverance when this week's trial appears. Amnesia is the native tongue of unbelief.
Salvation for His Own Sake (v. 8)
Now we come to the pivot point of the passage, and indeed, of all redemptive history. Given their rebellion, what was God's response?
"Yet He saved them for the sake of His name, That He might make His might known." (Psalm 106:8 LSB)
This is one of the most important verses in the Bible for understanding the grace of God. God did not save them because they were worthy. They were not. He did not save them because they had such great faith. They did not. He did not save them because He saw some latent potential in them. He saved them for His own sake. He saved them "for the sake of His name."
God's name represents His character, His reputation, His glory. God has invested His own honor in His covenant people. If He were to abandon them to Pharaoh, it would look as though the gods of Egypt were stronger than Yahweh. God's primary motivation in all that He does is the magnification of His own glory. And this is our greatest security. If our salvation depended on us, on our memory, on our faithfulness, we would all be lost. But because it depends on God's unshakeable commitment to His own glory, it is absolutely secure. He will not let His name be profaned. He saves ingrates and rebels, like them and like us, in order to put His own power and glory on display for the world to see.
Sovereign Power Over Creation (v. 9-11)
The psalmist then recounts how God demonstrated this power for the sake of His name.
"Thus He rebuked the Red Sea and it dried up, And He led them through the deeps, as through the wilderness. So He saved them from the hand of the one who hated them, And redeemed them from the hand of the enemy. The waters covered their adversaries; Not one of them was left." (Psalm 106:9-11 LSB)
God's power is absolute. He speaks to the Red Sea as one would speak to a disobedient dog: "He rebuked the Red Sea." Creation obeys its Master's voice. The chaotic deep, that ancient symbol of terror and disorder, becomes a dry highway. He leads them through the abyss as though it were a flat, dry wilderness. This is not just a miracle; it is a de-creation and a re-creation. God is showing that He is the sovereign Lord over the most powerful and terrifying forces in the created order.
And this act of power was an act of salvation and redemption. He "saved them" and "redeemed them." He snatched them from the hand of Pharaoh, the hater, the enemy. And then, in a glorious and terrible act of judgment, the very waters that had been their path to freedom became the instrument of their enemies' destruction. The salvation of God's people and the judgment of God's enemies are two sides of the same coin. The cross is the ultimate display of this: it is the place of salvation for all who believe, and the place of judgment for the powers of darkness. The victory was total: "Not one of them was left." God does not do things by halves.
The Fleeting Nature of Foxhole Faith (v. 12)
The immediate result of this overwhelming display of power and grace was, predictably, a religious experience.
"Then they believed His words; They sang His praise." (Psalm 106:12 LSB)
With their enemies drowned and their feet on dry land, faith suddenly became easy. Of course they believed His words. Of course they sang His praise. Miriam led the women in dancing and singing the first great song of redemption recorded in Scripture (Exodus 15). It was a high moment of worship and celebration. And it was genuine, as far as it went.
But the tragedy, as the rest of the psalm goes on to detail, is that this faith was shallow. It was a faith born of sight, not of deep-rooted trust. It was a faith that depended on the immediate, overwhelming evidence of a miracle. As soon as the circumstances changed, as soon as the water in the wilderness was bitter, this faith would evaporate, and the singing would turn to grumbling. This is a sober warning to us. It is easy to sing praise to God on the far side of the Red Sea. It is easy to believe when the cancer is in remission, when the job comes through, when the conflict is resolved. But true, saving faith is the kind that remembers God's character even when it is standing on the near side of the sea, with the chariots closing in. It is a faith that trusts God's Word, not just His visible works.
Conclusion: Saved for His Name's Sake
This passage is our story. We are the people who have seen God's wonders in the gospel. We have seen the plagues of sin and death defeated by the cross of Christ. We have been delivered from the tyranny of Satan, an enemy far more powerful than Pharaoh. We have been led through the waters of baptism, our own Red Sea, and brought out into a new life.
And yet, how often do we stand on the shores of some new difficulty and, like our fathers, forget? How often do we fail to consider His wondrous deeds and remember His abundant lovingkindness? Our hearts are just as prone to the treason of amnesia as theirs were.
But our hope is not in the strength of our memory. Our hope is in the strength of His name. He has saved us, not because we are good, but because He is glorious. He has tied His reputation to our salvation. He redeemed us for the sake of His name, that He might make His might known through the weakness and foolishness of a people saved by grace alone.
Therefore, our response should be twofold. First, a deep and humble confession. We must own the sins of our fathers and see them in ourselves. Second, a robust and joyful praise. Not the fleeting praise of the Israelites on the shore, but a praise rooted in the unshakable reality of verse 8. We praise Him because He is a God who saves rebels for His own glory. And because that is true, our salvation is more secure than the foundations of the earth.