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Psalm 78

When we become truly aware of them, the wonderful things that God has done on our behalf should bring a response every time. Such meditation should certainly never be unproductive!  We certainly shouldn't be silent!  At the very least our response should be thanksgiving for the past and trust for the future.  Israel should have responded that way, and so should we.  That's the message of this psalm.

Over and over again, though, Israel exhibited only faithlessness and a rebellious heart in response to the gracious works God had done.  He delivered them from Egypt by spectacular miracles such as the punishing of Pharoh, the dividing of the Red Sea, the fiery and cloudy pillar, and His provision of Manna for them in the wilderness.  So what was their response?  Complaint!  They complained that they didn't have meat, and they complained that they didn't have water.  Even when He supplied all that, yet they still didn't "believe in God or trust in His salvation."

They even complained because they didn't have the specific kind of meat they'd been used to, so God sent thousands of feathered fowl and had them drop right in the midst of the camp – but at the same time He also chastised them severely as well, hopefully to awaken them.  Yet they "still sinned and did not believe in His wondrous works."  Over and over again He compassionately "forgave their iniquity and did not destroy them . . . for He remembered that they were but flesh, a breath that passes away and does not come again."

In fact, even after finally entering the promised land, after they conquering enemies they never could have conquered without the miraculous power of God, after settling in a "land flowing with milk and honey," yet still they "tested and provoked the Most High God and did not keep His testimonies, turning back and acting unfaithfully like their fathers."  And so the cycle continued - unfaithfulness, punishment, partial repentance, mercy on God's part - over and over again.  Finally, He cast off ten of the tribes (here called "Joseph" and "Ephraim), but continued gracious even yet to Judah and built His sanctuary on Mount Zion.

What's the lesson for us in all of this?  It must be pretty obvious.  God is often gracious to us just as He was to Israel.  Then we aren't satisfied, or we pursue some object of our fancy, something God hasn't given us.  He disciplines us, we hurt, and so we call on Him for mercy, even confessing our sin to Him - and He forgives us because Christ, already knowing all our iniquities gave Himself on our behalf long ago.  Then we turn again to sin, are chastised, turn again to God through Christ, and so the cycle goes on.

The reason God remains with us and continues gracious to us - even unto glory - is declared at the end of this psalm when the people are led to sing, "He also chose David His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; from following the ewes that had young He brought him to shepherd Jacob His people, and Israel His inheritance.  So he shepherded them according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands." Under the inspiration of God, though, the psalmist is referring not only to David, but also to David's greater Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.  He's the Reason for God's patience with us.

That's just to say that the atonement of Jesus Christ is sufficient for ALL our sins, even until we at last stand before Him to praise Him eternally!  His love doesn't depend upon our faith, our obedience, our strength and ability – our anything! Oh let us give thanks to Him Whose salvation is UNFAILING!