~ Checklist of 25 Items
~
Psalm
78 displays the kindness of God towards His rebellious people (in this specific
case Israel in the wilderness). Israel had developed a pattern of habitual sin,
and many of us know that a pattern of sin is easy to develop. In this psalm
Asaph identifies 25 problems which led to Israel continuing in a habitual
pattern of sin.
(Psalm 78:1-8) Give ear, O my people, to my law; incline your ears to the words
of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings of
old, which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not
hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of
the Lord, and His strength and His
wonderful works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and
appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should
make them known to their children; that the generation to come might know them,
the children who would be born, that they may arise and declare them to their
children, that they may set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God,
but keep His commandments; and may not be like their fathers, a [1] stubborn and [2] rebellious generation, a generation that [3] did not set its heart aright, and [4] whose spirit was not faithful to God.
(9-16) The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, [5] turned back in the day of battle. They [6]
did not keep the covenant of God; they
[7] refused to walk in His law, and [8]
forgot His works and His wonders that
He had shown them. Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers, in
the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused them to
pass through; and He made the waters stand up like a heap. In the daytime also
He led them with the cloud, and all the night with a light of fire. He split
the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink in abundance like the depths.
He also brought streams out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like
rivers.
(17-31) But [9] they sinned even
more against Him by [10] rebelling
against the Most High in the wilderness. And [11] they tested God in their heart by asking for the food of their
fancy. Yes, [12] they spoke against God:
they said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? Behold, He struck the
rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give
bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?” Therefore the Lord heard this and was furious; so a
fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, because [13]
they did not believe in God, and [14]
did not trust in His salvation. Yet
He had commanded the clouds above, and opened the doors of heaven, had rained
down manna on them to eat, and given them of the bread of heaven. Men ate
angels’ food; He sent them food to the full. He caused an east wind to blow in
the heavens; and by His power He brought in the south wind. He also rained meat
on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the sand of the seas; and He let
them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their dwellings. So they ate
and were well filled, for He gave them their own desire. They were [15] not deprived of their craving; but while
their food was still in their mouths, the wrath of God came against them, and
slew the stoutest of them, and struck down the choice men of Israel.
(32-39) In spite of this [16] they
still sinned, and did not believe in His wondrous works. Therefore their
days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear. When He slew them, then
they sought Him; and they returned and sought earnestly for God. Then they
remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer. Nevertheless
they flattered Him with their mouth, and [17] they lied to Him with their tongue; for [18] their heart was not steadfast with Him, [19] nor were they faithful in His covenant. But He, being full of
compassion, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many a time
He turned His anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath; for He remembered
that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again.
(40-55) How often [20] they
provoked Him in the wilderness, and [21] grieved Him in the desert! Yes, they [22] turned back and [23] tempted
God, and [24] limited the Holy One
of Israel. They [25] did not remember His
power: the day when He redeemed them from the enemy, when He worked His
signs in Egypt, and His wonders in the field of Zoan; turned their rivers into
blood, and their streams, that they could not drink. He sent swarms of flies
among them, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. He also gave
their crops to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust. He destroyed
their vines with hail, and their sycamore trees with frost. He also gave up
their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to fiery lightning. He cast on them
the fierceness of His anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, by sending angels
of destruction among them. He made a path for His anger; He did not spare their
soul from death, but gave their life over to the plague, and destroyed all the
firstborn in Egypt, the first of their strength in the tents of Ham. But He
made His own people go forth like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like
a flock; and He led them on safely, so that they did not fear; but the sea
overwhelmed their enemies. And He brought them to His holy border, this
mountain which His right hand had acquired. He also drove out the nations before
them, allotted them an inheritance by survey, and made the tribes of Israel
dwell in their tents.
(56-64) Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep
His testimonies, but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they
were turned aside like a deceitful bow. For they provoked Him to anger with
their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images. When God
heard this, He was furious, and greatly abhorred Israel, so that He forsook the
tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent He had placed among men, and delivered His
strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy’s hand. He also gave His
people over to the sword, and was furious with His inheritance. The fire
consumed their young men, and their maidens were not given in marriage. Their
priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
(65-72) Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty man who shouts
because of wine. And He beat back His enemies; He put them to a perpetual
reproach. Moreover He rejected the tent of Joseph, and did not choose the tribe
of Ephraim, but chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which He loved. And He
built His sanctuary like the heights, like the earth which He has established
forever. He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from
following the ewes that had young He brought him, to shepherd Jacob His people,
and Israel His inheritance. So he shepherded them according to the integrity of
his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.
~ Robert Lloyd Russell, ABUNDANT LIFE NOW
