No forgetting

DEVOTION

PSALMS

NO FORGETTING

Ps 78:1-8

O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. 2 I will open my mouth in parables, I will utter hidden things, things from of old — 3 what we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. 4 We will not hide them from their children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, his power, and the wonders he has done. 5 He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel, which he commanded our forefathers to teach their children, 6 so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. 7 Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands. 8 They would not be like their forefathers — a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him.

NIV

We are going to spend a couple of days on this song, as it is quite long. Again a song dealing with the relationship between the children of Israel and God. Most of it deals with this disobedience their refusal to live according to the covenant. There is going to be a lot of negative but as with most it will end with the positive. However, because all these songs are part of the canon, the bible, they are more than just history lesson about the people who lived and died. All the scripture is profitable for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, therefor including this song. It is more than about the Israelites relationship with God, it is revealing who God is. That is the story of all the Bible, revealing who God is, it is his story, so we may know him and in knowing him, serve him, being his people, living out his purpose. Sometimes it may take us years to accomplish his purpose for our life, years of study, years of working toward his plan for our life. Look at Moses, he did not get going on God’s purpose for him until he was eighty, Noah didn’t till he was five hundred, yet David was called as a youth. Although he was anointed as a youth by Samuel, it was not until years later that he actually became the king. Why are we always in such a hurry? Here in the beginning of this song we are told about telling our children about the goodness of God. We are told to hear his teaching, but not only hear it, listen to the words of his mouth. How many sermons have we sat through hearing but not listening? How many corrections have we heard, but pay little attention to them? How many times have we read through the bible, hearing the words, in a sense, but not really listening to them, absorbed them, digested them, incorporated them into our daily life, making them our life. God may speak in parable, Jesus did, and maybe this is about Jesus, but the point is God is not going to and has not hidden himself or his truth from us. Some would say all is a mystery, all the mysteries of God, but he has revealed them, not withholding himself from us, so we may know and understand who he is. He will keep on revealing himself to generation after generation. We have a responsibility to tell our children about God and his mighty deeds throughout generations. Although we know much of the history of Israel, certainly not all, for the world does not have enough room to contain all the books if every deed of God was recorded.

John 21:25

25 Jesus did many other things as well. If every one of them were written down, I suppose that even the whole world would not have room for the books that would be written.

NIV

And John is just speaking about Jesus, just think about all the things Yahweh, God did before sending Jesus. But we do have what we have and it is all that is needed to know him. He made sure it was recorded so that generation after generation would know him. Even through Israel was rebellious against him, even to this day, we, the next generation, the children of the children of the fathers before us, have what we need to know him. We are the children of many generations that followed. At the time of this writing we are the children yet to be born. We have put our trust in the Lord God and we have not forgotten his deeds. We have remembered all his deeds for the children of Israel and we have remembered all his deeds in our life. He has done great deeds in us, and for us and through us. He is working every day in us, perfecting us, making us to be more like Jesus. But are we rebellious? Do we rebel against his purpose for our life? Are we more interested in our wants then his, or him for that matter? Why are we here? What is the purpose of life anyway? Is it all about how much we can gather for ourselves? Is it about just living, enjoying what we can, accumulating as much as we can, and then dying leaving all behind for someone else? Why are we alive? Is it not for the purpose of God? Are we not here for his enjoyment, according to his plan. We merely have to look at the beginning when he first created man. He brought order to the cosmos, creating order, the earth and the universe it exists in. He made all the wonders of the earth, filled it with everything wonderful and then made a man to live in it and tend it. But the greatest purpose was so God would come and walk and talk with this man, Adam, his creation, in the cool of the day, to fellowship with him, to enjoy spending time with him. That is why we are here. Even if people before us were not loyal to him, that is not us, we are the children who have put our trust in him. We will not forget his deeds. We will remember, we will not forget!