Psalm 78

This is a very intriguing Psalm and while I don't have time to explicate it fully, I do have a few thoughts that came to me while reading it. First of all, I've been thinking lately about how we need to be more aware of the working of the Lord in our lives. I'm struck by passages in the Psalms where the author will express his desire to proclaim the works of the Lord in front of the assembly. I think, "I want to do that too!" But too often we don't think about all that God is doing in our daily lives. We don't stop to thank and praise Him for his many blessings. For example, I recently got my first job offer and while my first reaction may be to jump up and down in excitement, I need to be praising God for his goodness to me!! Because it is HIS works that led to me getting this offer and I want everyone around me to see how great God is!

But those are my background thoughts for this Psalm. I haven't gotten very far into the Psalm yet(it is quite long!), but in the beginning the Psalmist talks about how fathers should teach their children the laws of Israel, that they would not forget the works of God, so that they would put their confidence in Him. Now, I read that and chuckled, because I always have this idea that God was always obviously working in ancient Israel, so why would they need to be taught by their parents? But the next part of this Psalm is even more shocking. The generation of Israelites that were led through the desert saw more miracles and more of the goodness of God than almost any generation before or since(save for during Christ's lifetime). Yet they REBELLED against God. They DOUBTED God. They continued to SIN against God. Shocking! They, of all people, should be aware of God's greatness and of his mighty works...and yet still they did not worship God wholeheartedly. They may have seen God's goodness in a clear and evident way, but they did not thank Him or react in an appropriate way. Rather they sinned against His holy Face.

Now I don't have time to comment more, but before I go, let me exhort you to think of the goodness of God in our lives. Think on what God has done for us! And praise Him in the land of the living!! Don't just think to yourselves how nice God is...but tell others what He has done for you!! If we have this attitude of thankfulness and praise, it will be much more difficult for us to slip into blatant sin against our God! And by glorifying God, we bring encouragement to those around us. Let us praise God all day long, from the rising of the sun to its setting!!