READING: Psalms 75-78
Psalm 78, which serves as a written record of the history of God’s people, is a psalm of contrasts. On one hand, the writing speaks of the fickle trust and blatant disobedience of the Hebrews. They were stubborn and rebellious. In fact, get a sense of their failure in this representative list of their actions from the psalm: they “did not keep God’s covenant and refused to live by his law,” “forgot what he had done,” “continued to sin against him,” “did not believe God or rely on his salvation,” “deceived him with their mouths [and] lied to him with their tongues,” “grieved him in the desert,” and “enraged him with their high places and provoked his jealousy with their carved images.” Honestly, it’s no wonder the psalm also echoes with words of God’s judgment on His people.
But—and this point reflects the incredibly gracious heart of God—the psalmist also emphasized these truths against the backdrop of rebellion and idolatry:
- “Yet he was compassionate; he atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them. He often turned his anger aside and did not unleash all his wrath. He remembered that they were only flesh, a wind that passes and does not return.” (Psa 78:38-39)
- “He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; he brought him from tending ewes to be shepherd over his people Jacob—over Israel, his inheritance.” (Psa 78:70-71)
This psalm is a contrast of idolatry vs. covenant, rebellion vs. reconciliation, fickleness vs. faithfulness. It’s the story of a loving, patient God we must tell our children about.
PERSONAL REFLECTION: Is your story today more about obedience or rebellion?
TODAY’S PRAYER: “God, You are faithful to us even when we are not faithful to You. Amen.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Psalms 79-82