Psalm 78: Learn from History

Today’s reading is Psalm 78.

We started a second cycle of Asaph psalms last week. In Psalm 77:11-12, the Asaphite author declared:

I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
yes, I will remember your wonders of old.
I will ponder all your work,
and meditate on your mighty deeds (ESV).

That is precisely what Psalm 78 does. It rehearses the history of Israel “From Zoan to Zion” as Derek Kidner subtitles the psalm (see vss. 12, 68). Over and again, we read the history of rebellion from God’s people and yet patience, forgiveness, and atonement from God. We are reminded of the plagues in Egypt. We are reminded of the time the ark was captured by the Philistines. We are told about God choosing David. All of this so we will remember and not forget the works of God (Psalm 78:7).

Why rehearse these things? Because as the more modern historians tell us, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it.” And as the parodyists claim, “Those who remember history are doomed to watch others doom us all by repeating it.”

The stories of God’s intervention in history need to be our shared stories. We need to repeat them over and over again. We need to know them. We need to pass them on. We can learn from our ancestors. We can avoid their mistakes. We can repeat their victories. But only when the stories are in our hearts and minds. We don’t have to learn everything from experience. We don’t have to go to the school of hard knocks for every important lesson. We are wise to learn from the experience of others. Learn from history.

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 78.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 78 prompt or improve your trust in God?

Psalm 64: Enemies

Today’s reading is Psalm 64.

Kidner points out Psalm 63 has God at the center with enemies on the periphery. Then he explains Psalm 64 gives the reverse perspective. The end result is the same, but the perspective is slightly different.

Either way you look at it, the Psalms and especially here in Psalm 64, we come face to face with enemies. Last week, we gave a great deal of attention to the dry times, times we simply don’t feel the love and presence of God so we take it on faith. Akin to those dry times are times of attack. In fact, the end of our last psalm showed they are often the same times. When enemies attack, we can feel dry, like we’re running on empty.

Through many of the psalms this concept of enemies comes up. Let’s hit it head on.

Enemies.

We have them.

In some instances, they are merely competitive enemies. That is, we and our enemies are competing for the same ground, same goal, same something. The fight is on. We both want the promotion. We both want some property. We both want our competing rights fulfilled. A co-worker may stab you in the back because he/she wants the promotion, but that is not about your faith in God. Other times, the enemies are against our faith and against our King. That is a completely different story.

As powerful and loving as our God is, you’d think we wouldn’t have any enemies. However, we do. And the ultimate enemy will use that against us. Like the dry times, Satan will use our enemies both directly and indirectly. He will use the enemies themselves directly as weapons to attack us. But he will also use them indirectly to discourage us so we get angry with God for letting us have enemies.

Don’t. Don’t let him discourage you. Yes. God’s people have enemies. You will have enemies. Even Jesus had enemies. Are enemies attacking you now? Don’t quit. Don’t give up. David hung on. You can hang on.

In the end, remember, the enemies aren’t actually fighting against you, they are fighting against God. And God always wins. Praise the Lord!

Tomorrow’s reading is Psalm 64.

PODCAST!!!

Click here to take about 15 minutes to listen to the Text Talk conversation between Andrew Roberts and Edwin Crozier sparked by this post.

PATHS:
Discuss Today’s Meditation with Your Family

How does Psalm 64 prompt and provoke you to praise God?