God's Kindness to Rebellious Israel, part 1 of 3

Psalms 78:1-20

A Contemplation of Asaph.

1 Give ear, O my people, to my law;
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings of old,
3 Which we have heard and known,
And our fathers have told us.

4 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.

5 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;

6 That the generation to come might know them,
The children who would be born,
That they may arise and declare them to their children,
7 That they may set their hope in God,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments;

8 And may not be like their fathers,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not set its heart aright,
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.

9 The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
Turned back in the day of battle.
10 They did not keep the covenant of God;
They refused to walk in His law,
11 And forgot His works
And His wonders that He had shown them.

12 Marvelous things He did in the sight of their fathers,
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and caused them to pass through;
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.

14 In the daytime also He led them with the cloud,
And all the night with a light of fire.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness,
And gave them drink in abundance like the depths.
16 He also brought streams out of the rock,
And caused waters to run down like rivers.

17 But they sinned even more against Him
By rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness.
18 And they tested God in their heart
By asking for the food of their fancy.

19 Yes, they spoke against God:
They said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
20 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?"

The ingratitude of God’s people led to ignoring His word and spiritual rebellion.  May we learn from this psalm telling the story of how a lack of contentment leads to rebellious sin and further disobedience to His word.  This psalm opens with a call to hear and heed the call of His voice through the word, to listen to the “dark sayings of old,” which are parables, hidden gems of wisdom as Jesus told later.  We must consider what God tells us and seek Him for the understanding in both cases from His word.  Like Israel of old, we then must teach them to our children, physical and spiritual, all the wondrous works, words, and powerful works which He has done for His children for His praise.  God established His word in a written record for our reference to live accordingly, and as a promise of our inheritance by covenant, the old of works which is impossible to keep, and the new covenant which is kept by Christ through faith in His work on our behalf.  As verse 7 instructs us, we then are to teach our children to remember God’s works, work to keep His commands, and hope in God alone for life and a right standing in His righteousness.  We are to exhort to warn our spiritual children who are disciples of Him (Matthew 28:19-20, 1 Thessalonians 5:14, 2 Timothy 4:2, Hebrews 3:13, 10:24-25) to set their hearts right and be spiritually faithful to the Lord God, being led and corrected by His word (2 Timothy 3:16-17).  Remember and bring to remembrance the rebellion of Israel as our warning that we are not hardened by the deceitfulness of sin which leads to our own rebellion and hardening of our hearts.  We can learn from these examples (1 Corinthians 10:11) in order to avoid repeating the same errors lying latent in our fallen nature.  Remember how God led His people out of bondage through the Red Sea, how He led them faithfully by a pillar of cloud and fire through their journey, how He provided water and food out of the desert, and then how their lack of contentment brought great loss when their satisfaction would have given great gain instead (1 Timothy 6:6), an apt lesson for us all.  Discontentment only breeds sin because we no longer are trusting God, not living by faith in His good providence and provision, and that hardens our hearts to make us unfruitful.  May we not repeat that error in asking or even demanding more to satisfy our desires instead of being content with His good and needed provision each day, our daily bread.  May we not question that provision by wanting bread and meat because He gave us weather from the Rock as in the wilderness.  Our prayers, therefore, should not be demanding more bit thankful for all the abundance given each day already.  God’s kindness to His people should keep us from such rebellion.