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Psalm 78 is a history lesson of Israel. How does this Psalm portray Israel?
They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel (v. 41, ESV).
I believe this history lesson is for the church today—all of us who follow Jesus. As one historian wrote, “The one thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.”
The Apostle Paul reflects on the lesson of Psalm 78 when he writes . . .
Now these things happened to them [the Israelites] as an example, but they were written down for our instruction, on whom the end of the ages has come (1 Corinthians 10:11).
Psalm 78 says two things: First, our obligation to teach our children the ways of God, and second, why we fail to do this.
Let’s teach our children.
He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them (vv. 5-6a).
Psalm 78 warns what happens when successive generations don’t hear of God.
Tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God (vv. 6b-7a).
Quite the warning as despair sweeps through the younger generations, and the Bible says a cause is parents’ failure to teach children about the God of hope.
Why we fail to teach our children.
- Unfaithfulness to God
A generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God (v. 8b).
- Forgetting God’s miracles
They forgot his works and the wonders that he had shown them (v. 11).
- Testing God by making demands
They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved (v. 18).
Let’s ask these questions:
- Are we faithful to God by giving our lives as a holy sacrifice? (Romans 12:1)
- Do we have a disciplined method of instruction for our children? (Deuteronomy 6:4-8)
- Are we testing God by complaining about unanswered prayers or unfulfilled expectations of His goodness? (Romans 8:28)
Psalm 78 says that the ultimate problem in our world, our country, and our lives is—a lack of belief.
Because they did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power (v. 22).
Reflecting on our faith, we realize the ultimate benefit of belief is experiencing the presence of God. Doubt, self-condemnation, anger, and addiction flee from the light of God.
Unlike the Israelites, our lives of following Jesus should be a testimony of a light shining from a hill dispelling the darkness surrounding us.