Lessons From the Psalms - Psalm 78

[00:00:07] Welcome to Lessons From the Psalms. This is Bill Kelley and I'll be your host. On this podcast we will be going over the book of Psalms.

[00:00:22] Let's open in prayer. Father God, I thank you for anyone listening to this psalm today. Lord, I pray that you would reveal to everyone listening how much you truly love each and every one of them. I ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.

[00:00:38] Friends, Psalm 78 is a different psalm than a majority of psalms. This is the second longest psalm and it is attributed to Asaph who was a worship leader. So I'm going to do things a little bit differently today.

[00:00:57] Before we read the psalm, I would like to go over the commentary in my Bible for Psalm 78.

[00:01:05] It says,

[00:01:07] Psalm 78, a Wisdom Psalm, relates the early history of Israel in a dramatic poetic alteration between reports of the faithfulness of God to His people

[00:01:21] and of their periodic outbreaks of stubbornness, willfulness, and rebellion against Him. Only Psalm 119 is longer.

[00:01:34] With his great command of Scripture, Asaph expresses an intense desire that the present generation not repeat the failures of so many past generations.

[00:01:47] The structure of the poem is as follows.

[00:01:52] Now, friends, there's a lot here.

[00:01:56] So this is going over a lot of the history of Israel.

[00:02:01] So this is why I do want to go over this.

[00:02:04] In verses 1 through 4, they talk about the lesson of the past works of God.

[00:02:09] In verses 5 through 8, they talk about an exhortation for each generation to teach the next.

[00:02:20] In verses 9 through 11, the rebellion of the people of Ephraim.

[00:02:26] And whenever they talk about Ephraim, they're talking about all of Israel because Ephraim was such an influential tribe of the people of Israel.

[00:02:39] In verses 12 through 16, God's marvelous salvation of Israel in the Exodus.

[00:02:49] In verses 17 through 20, the people's complaints.

[00:02:54] In verses 21 through 25, God's anger against the ungrateful people.

[00:03:02] In verses 26 through 31, God's judgment through the quail.

[00:03:08] In verses 32 and 33, the continued unbelief of the people.

[00:03:16] In verses 34 through 39, the people's remembrance of God's true character and God's remembrance of the people's weaknesses.

[00:03:28] In verses 40 through 55, that's a lot.

[00:03:34] He talks about God's faithfulness and the people's unfaithfulness.

[00:03:40] In verses 56 through 64, Israel sins during the period of the judges.

[00:03:48] And this was a period in the history of Israel.

[00:03:53] And a couple people that are mentioned in the book of Judges is Gideon and Samson.

[00:04:00] So many of you are familiar with those two characters.

[00:04:05] Next, we go to verses 65 and 66.

[00:04:09] God's victory over Israel's enemies.

[00:04:12] And we close with verses 67 through 72.

[00:04:16] God's choice of Judah, Jerusalem, and David.

[00:04:21] So what I'd like to do now is if you have the opportunity to do so,

[00:04:26] I ask that you get comfortable and close your eyes as I read this.

[00:04:32] And basically, we're going to go through a history of the country of Israel.

[00:04:38] Give ear, O my people, to my law.

[00:04:42] Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.

[00:04:46] I will open my mouth in a parable.

[00:04:49] I will utter dark sayings of old, which we have heard and known,

[00:04:55] and our fathers have told us.

[00:04:58] We will not hide them from their children,

[00:05:01] telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord

[00:05:05] and his strength and his wonderful works that he has done.

[00:05:10] For he established a testimony in Jacob

[00:05:14] and appointed a law in Israel,

[00:05:18] which he commanded our fathers,

[00:05:20] that they should make them known to their children,

[00:05:24] that the generation to come might know them,

[00:05:28] the children who would be born,

[00:05:31] that they may arise and declare them to their children,

[00:05:35] that they may set their hope in God

[00:05:38] and not forget the works of God,

[00:05:41] but keep his commandments,

[00:05:45] and may not be like their fathers,

[00:05:47] a stubborn and rebellious generation,

[00:05:51] a generation that did not set its heart aright,

[00:05:55] and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

[00:05:59] The children of Ephraim,

[00:06:02] being armed and carrying bows,

[00:06:06] turned back in the day of battle.

[00:06:09] They did not keep the covenant of God.

[00:06:12] They refused to walk in his law

[00:06:15] and forgot his works and his wonders that he had shown them.

[00:06:21] Marvelous things he did in the sight of their fathers,

[00:06:25] in the land of Egypt,

[00:06:27] in the field of Zon.

[00:06:29] He divided the sea and caused them to pass through,

[00:06:33] and he made the waters stand up like a heap.

[00:06:37] In the daytime also,

[00:06:40] he led them with a cloud,

[00:06:42] and all the night with a light of fire.

[00:06:45] He split the rocks in the wilderness

[00:06:48] and gave them drink in abundance like the depths.

[00:06:53] He also brought streams out of the rock

[00:06:56] and caused waters to run down like rivers.

[00:07:00] But they sinned even more against him

[00:07:04] by rebelling against the Most High in the wilderness,

[00:07:09] and they tested God in their heart

[00:07:12] by asking for the food of their fancy.

[00:07:16] Yes, they spoke against God.

[00:07:20] They said,

[00:07:21] Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?

[00:07:24] Behold, he struck the rock

[00:07:27] so that the waters gushed out

[00:07:30] and the streams overflowed.

[00:07:33] Can he give bread also?

[00:07:36] Can he provide meat for his people?

[00:07:39] Therefore, the Lord heard this and was furious.

[00:07:45] So a fire was kindled against Jacob,

[00:07:48] and anger also came up against Israel,

[00:07:53] because they did not believe in God

[00:07:56] and did not trust in his salvation.

[00:08:00] Yet he had commanded the clouds above

[00:08:03] and opened the doors of heaven,

[00:08:06] had rained down manna on them to eat

[00:08:09] and given them of the bread of heaven.

[00:08:13] Men ate angels' food.

[00:08:16] He sent them food to the full.

[00:08:19] He caused an east wind to blow in the heavens,

[00:08:23] and by his power he brought in the south wind.

[00:08:27] He also rained meat on them like the dust,

[00:08:32] feathered fowl like the sand of the seas,

[00:08:36] and he let them fall in the midst of their camp,

[00:08:40] all around their dwellings.

[00:08:43] So they ate and were well filled,

[00:08:46] for he gave them their own desire.

[00:08:50] They were not deprived of their craving,

[00:08:53] but while their food was still in their mouths,

[00:08:57] the wrath of God came against them

[00:09:01] and slew the stoutest of them

[00:09:04] and struck down the choice men of Israel.

[00:09:09] In spite of this, they still sinned

[00:09:12] and did not believe in his wondrous works.

[00:09:15] Therefore, their days he consumed in futility

[00:09:21] and their years in fear.

[00:09:24] When he slew them, then they sought him,

[00:09:28] and they returned and sought earnestly for God.

[00:09:32] Then they remembered that God was their rock

[00:09:35] and the Most High God their Redeemer.

[00:09:39] Nevertheless, they flattered him with their mouth,

[00:09:43] and they lied to him with their tongue.

[00:09:47] For their heart was not steadfast with him,

[00:09:52] nor were they faithful in his covenant.

[00:09:55] But he, being full of compassion,

[00:09:59] forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them.

[00:10:04] Yes, many a time he turned his anger away

[00:10:08] and did not stir up all his wrath.

[00:10:11] For he remembered that they were but flesh,

[00:10:15] a breath that passes away and does not come again.

[00:10:20] How often they provoked him in the wilderness

[00:10:24] and grieved him in the desert.

[00:10:27] Yes, again and again they tempted God

[00:10:31] and limited the Holy One of Israel.

[00:10:35] They did not remember his power.

[00:10:38] The day when he redeemed them from the enemy,

[00:10:42] when he worked his signs in Egypt

[00:10:44] and his wonders in the field of zone,

[00:10:47] turned their rivers into blood

[00:10:50] and their streams that they could not drink.

[00:10:53] He sent swarms of flies among them,

[00:10:58] which devoured them,

[00:10:59] and frogs which destroyed them.

[00:11:02] He also gave their crops to the caterpillar

[00:11:06] and their labor to the locust.

[00:11:08] He destroyed their vines with hail

[00:11:11] and their sycamore trees with frost.

[00:11:15] He also gave up their cattle to the hail

[00:11:18] and their flocks to fiery lightning.

[00:11:21] He cast on them the fierceness of his anger,

[00:11:26] wrath, indignation, and trouble

[00:11:29] by sending angels of destruction among them.

[00:11:33] He made a path for his anger.

[00:11:36] He did not spare their soul from death,

[00:11:40] but gave their life over to the plague

[00:11:43] and destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,

[00:11:48] the first of their strength in the tents of Ham.

[00:11:51] But he made his own people go forth like sheep

[00:11:56] and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.

[00:12:00] And he led them on safely,

[00:12:03] so that they did not fear.

[00:12:05] But the sea overwhelmed their enemies,

[00:12:08] and he brought them to his holy border,

[00:12:12] this mountain which his right hand had acquired.

[00:12:15] He also drove out the nations before them,

[00:12:19] allotted them an inheritance by survey,

[00:12:23] and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.

[00:12:28] Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God

[00:12:33] and did not keep his testimonies,

[00:12:36] but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers.

[00:12:42] They were turned aside like a deceitful bow,

[00:12:46] for they provoked him to anger with their high places,

[00:12:51] and moved him to jealousy with their carved images.

[00:12:55] When God heard this,

[00:12:58] he was furious and greatly abhorred Israel,

[00:13:02] so that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,

[00:13:07] the tent he had placed among them,

[00:13:10] and delivered his strength into captivity,

[00:13:13] and his glory into the enemy's hand.

[00:13:17] He also gave his people over to the sword,

[00:13:21] and was furious with his inheritance.

[00:13:25] The fire consumed their young men,

[00:13:28] and their maidens were not given in marriage.

[00:13:32] Their priests fell by the sword,

[00:13:35] and their widows made no lamentation.

[00:13:39] Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,

[00:13:44] like a mighty man who shouts because of wine,

[00:13:47] and he beat back his enemies.

[00:13:50] He put them to a perpetual reproach.

[00:13:55] Moreover, he rejected the tent of Joseph,

[00:13:58] and did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,

[00:14:02] but chose the tribe of Judah,

[00:14:06] Mount Zion which he loved,

[00:14:08] and he built his sanctuary like the heights,

[00:14:13] like the earth which he has established forever.

[00:14:16] He also chose David his servant,

[00:14:19] and took him from the sheepfolds.

[00:14:22] From following the ooze that had young,

[00:14:26] he brought him,

[00:14:27] to shepherd Jacob his people,

[00:14:30] and Israel his inheritance.

[00:14:34] So he shepherded them

[00:14:35] according to the integrity of his heart,

[00:14:39] and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.

[00:14:44] Now friends, what I'd like to do

[00:14:47] is just go over three points.

[00:14:50] So let's go back to verses 5 and 6.

[00:14:55] And verses 5 and 6 tell us,

[00:14:58] For he established a testimony in Jacob,

[00:15:02] and appointed a law in Israel,

[00:15:05] which he commanded his fathers,

[00:15:07] that they should make them known to their children,

[00:15:11] that the generation to come might know them,

[00:15:14] the children who would be born,

[00:15:17] that they may arise and declare them to their children.

[00:15:21] So friends, my first point of today's lesson,

[00:15:25] it is important to teach your children,

[00:15:29] and I added grandchildren,

[00:15:32] the importance of God in your life,

[00:15:36] and also of reading the Bible.

[00:15:39] Now let's go to verses 24 and 25.

[00:15:44] It says,

[00:15:45] Had rained down manna on them to eat,

[00:15:49] and given them of the bread of heaven.

[00:15:52] Men ate angels' food,

[00:15:55] he sent them food to the full.

[00:15:58] Now friends, the second point is,

[00:16:01] God will always meet your needs

[00:16:04] if you turn to him.

[00:16:07] And these two verses are talking about the Israelites

[00:16:11] when they had escaped from Egypt.

[00:16:16] Okay, Pharaoh and his army came after him,

[00:16:19] but they were all killed by the Red Sea.

[00:16:23] But there were maybe a million and a half people,

[00:16:27] and they were in the middle of the desert,

[00:16:30] and God provided food for them

[00:16:33] called manna in the desert for 40 years.

[00:16:39] That is awesome.

[00:16:41] And the third one I'd like to do is verse 66,

[00:16:45] And he beat back his enemies.

[00:16:48] He put them to a perpetual reproach.

[00:16:53] So friends, my third and final point of today's lesson,

[00:16:57] God will help you overcome anything in life

[00:17:02] that comes your way.

[00:17:04] Such an awesome promise.

[00:17:07] Friends, please join me again soon

[00:17:10] as we take a closer look at Psalm 79.