Humility

DEVOTION

PSALMS

HUMILITY

Ps 78:56-72

56 But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. 57 Like their fathers they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. 58 They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. 59 When God heard them, he was very angry; he rejected Israel completely. 60 He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among men. 61 He sent [the ark of] his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. 62 He gave his people over to the sword; he was very angry with his inheritance. 63 Fire consumed their young men, and their maidens had no wedding songs; 64 their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep.

65 Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a man wakes from the stupor of wine. 66 He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame. 67 Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; 68 but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. 69 He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever. 70 He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; 71 from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. 72 And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

NIV

First, let us consider the second to the last stanza( 56-64) in this psalm. Again we see and hope this is only a historic record of the happening in Israel. However, we can say our fathers may also have been unreliable, they may also may not have been loyal, but were disloyal and faithless. The high places are those high of places the other nations set up to honor or worship their gods. So instead of staying with the God Most High, the Lord God who brought them out of Egypt with mighty wonders, miracles, signs and provisions, water, manna and quail, they too set up high places to unworthy false gods. The question that begs to be asked; is have we in any way set up any kind of high place in our life and fallen to making idols of certain things. Those things could be of a spiritual, physical or material nature. We could idolize a widely popular preacher/author, seeing them as most godly, although we do not really know them as we do our local shepherd. We could idolize some of the popular singers/entertainers that travel the countryside charging for their performances. We could idolize the monetary system of our world, investing, partnering with them for personal gain. We could idolize many other material things, our homes, cars, boats, RV’s, or some other toys of ours. We may not think we made them an idol, but maybe God does. Then we also might get a little proud of ourselves because of all we have or do. Although it seems as though he abandon Israel, letting them be taken captive, letting his place he desecrated, everything he did, using foreign kings to overcome them, was for the purpose of bringing them to repentance, to return to him. That overused phrase, bad things happen to good people, may be nothing more for the same reason, to bring them to repentance, to return to God. We can see good people can go astray by observing the lives of the Israelites. We too might go astray and God wants us to return to him. From the last stanza of this psalm we see that as the reason. He makes everything right, but rather than choosing a leader from the line of Joseph, Ephraim, he chooses for them a king from the line of Judah, because we already know the Lion of Judah, the Son of God, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ sits upon the throne of David forever and ever. It is not just David this psalm speaks of he says that he will shepherd them with integrity of heart, with skillful hands he led them. Whose heart can have more integrity then Jesus? Who can lead us with more skillful hands then Jesus? Let us put aside all other gods, idols, high places, and let us humbly walk with our Lord. Let us humble ourselves before him and worship him with gladness of heart.

James 4:7

"God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."  

James 4:10

10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.

NIV