Psalm 78 isnt just a historical overview of Israels unfaithfulness vs. Gods merciful provision; it is about my unfaithfulness to God in the midst of His grace and mercy toward me --the key verse being 18. How true during Lent! Psalm 78 A Maskil of Asaph. [1] Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; incline your ears to the words of my mouth! [2] I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, [3] things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. [4] We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the LORD, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought. [5] He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children; [6] that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, [7] so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; [8] and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. [9] The Ephraimites, armed with the bow, turned back on the day of battle. [10] They did not keep Gods covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. [11] They forgot what he had done, and the miracles that he had shown them. [12] In the sight of their fathers he wrought marvels in the land of Egypt, in the fields of Zoan. [13] He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. [14] In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. [15] He cleft rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. [16] He made streams come out of the rock, and caused waters to flow down like rivers. [17] Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. [18] They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. [19] They spoke against God, saying, Can God spread a table in the wilderness? [20] He smote the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread, or provide meat for his people? [21] Therefore, when the LORD heard, he was full of wrath; a fire was kindled against Jacob, his anger mounted against Israel; [22] because they had no faith in God, and did not trust his saving power. [23] Yet he commanded the skies above, and opened the doors of heaven; [24] and he rained down upon them manna to eat, and gave them the grain of heaven. [25] Man ate of the bread of the angels; he sent them food in abundance. [26] He caused the east wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power he led out the south wind; [27] he rained flesh upon them like dust, winged birds like the sand of the seas; [28] he let them fall in the midst of their camp, all around their habitations. [29] And they ate and were well filled, for he gave them what they craved. [30] But before they had sated their craving, while the food was still in their mouths, [31] the anger of God rose against them and he slew the strongest of them, and laid low the picked men of Israel. [32] In spite of all this they still sinned; despite his wonders they did not believe. [33] So he made their days vanish like a breath, and their years in terror. [34] When he slew them, they sought for him; they repented and sought God earnestly. [35] They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God their redeemer. [36] But they flattered him with their mouths; they lied to him with their tongues. [37] Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not true to his covenant. [38] Yet he, being compassionate, forgave their iniquity, and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often, and did not stir up all his wrath. [39] He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. [40] How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the desert! [41] They tested him again and again, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. [42] They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe; [43] when he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zoan. [44] He turned their rivers to blood, so that they could not drink of their streams. [45] He sent among them swarms of flies, which devoured them, and frogs, which destroyed them. [46] He gave their crops to the caterpillar, and the fruit of their labor to the locust. [47] He destroyed their vines with hail, and their sycamores with frost. [48] He gave over their cattle to the hail, and their flocks to thunderbolts. [49] He let loose on them his fierce anger, wrath, indignation, and distress, a company of destroying angels. [50] He made a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death, but gave their lives over to the plague. [51] He smote all the first-born in Egypt, the first issue of their strength in the tents of Ham. [52] Then he led forth his people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. [53] He led them in safety, so that they were not afraid; but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. [54] And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountain which his right hand had won. [55] He drove out nations before them; he apportioned them for a possession and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents. [56] Yet they tested and rebelled against the Most High God, and did not observe his testimonies, [57] but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers; they twisted like a deceitful bow. [58] For they provoked him to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealousy with their graven images. [59] When God heard, he was full of wrath, and he utterly rejected Israel. [60] He forsook his dwelling at Shiloh, the tent where he dwelt among men, [61] and delivered his power to captivity, his glory to the hand of the foe. [62] He gave his people over to the sword, and vented his wrath on his heritage. [63] Fire devoured their young men, and their maidens had no marriage song. [64] Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation. [65] Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a strong man shouting because of wine. [66] And he put his adversaries to rout; he put them to everlasting shame. [67] He rejected the tent of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; [68] but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loves. [69] He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, like the earth, which he has founded forever. [70] He chose David his servant, and took him from the sheepfolds; [71] from tending the ewes that had young he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob his people, of Israel his inheritance. [72] With upright heart he tended them, and guided them with skilful hand. Psalm 79 A Psalm of Asaph. [1] O God, the heathen have come into Your inheritance; they have defiled Your holy temple; they have laid Jerusalem in ruins. [2] They have given the bodies of Your servants to the birds of the air for food, the flesh of Your saints to the beasts of the earth. [3] They have poured out their blood like water round about Jerusalem, and there was none to bury them. [4] We have become a taunt to our neighbors, mocked and derided by those round about us. [5] How long, O LORD? will You be angry for ever? Will Your jealous wrath burn like fire? [6] Pour out Your anger on the nations that do not know You, and on the kingdoms that do not call on Your name! [7] For they have devoured Jacob, and laid waste his habitation. [8] Do not remember against us the iniquities of our forefathers; let Your compassion come speedily to meet us, for we are brought very low. [9] Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us, and forgive our sins, for Your names sake! [10] Why should the nations say, Where is their God? Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of Your servants be known among the nations before our eyes! [11] Let the groans of the prisoners come before You; according to Your great power preserve those doomed to die! [12] Return sevenfold into the bosom of our neighbors the taunts with which they have taunted You, O Lord! [13] Then we Your people, the flock of Your pasture, will give thanks to You forever; from generation to generation we will recount Your praise. Psalm 80 To the choirmaster: according to Lilies. A Testimony of Asaph. A Psalm. [1] Give ear, O Shepherd of Israel, You who lead Joseph like a flock! You who are enthroned upon the cherubim, shine forth [2] before Ephraim and Benjamin and Manasseh! Stir up Your might, and come to save us! [3] Restore us, O God; let Your face shine, that we may be saved! [4] O LORD God of hosts, how long will You be angry with Your peoples prayers? [5] You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in full measure. [6] You make us the scorn of our neighbors; and our enemies laugh among themselves. [7] Restore us, O God of hosts; let Your face shine, that we may be saved! [8] You brought a vine out of Egypt; You drove out the nations and plant it. [9] You cleared the ground for it; it took deep root and filled the land. [10] The mountains were covered with its shade, the mighty cedars with its branches; [11] it sent out its branches to the sea, and its shoots to the River. [12] Why then have You broken down its walls, so that all who pass along the way pluck its fruit? [13] The boar from the forest ravages it, and all that move in the field feed on it. [14] Turn again, O God of hosts! Look down from heaven, and see; have regard for this vine, [15] the stock which Your right hand planted. [16] They have burned it with fire, they have cut it down; may they perish at the rebuke of Your countenance! [17] But let Your hand be upon the man of Your right hand, the son of man whom You have made strong for Yourself! [18] Then we will never turn back from You; give us life, and we will call on Your name! [19] Restore us, O LORD God of hosts! let Your face shine, that we may be saved! Psalm 81 To the choirmaster: according to The Gittith. A Psalm of Asaph. [1] Sing aloud to God our strength; shout for joy to the God of Jacob! [2] Raise a song, sound the timbrel, the sweet lyre with the harp. [3] Blow the trumpet at the new moon, at the full moon, on our feast day. [4] For it is a statute for Israel, an ordinance of the God of Jacob. [5] He made it a decree in Joseph, when he went out over the land of Egypt. I hear a voice I had not known: [6] I relieved your shoulder of the burden; your hands were freed from the basket. [7] In distress you called, and I delivered you; I answered you in the secret place of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. [Selah] [8] Hear, O my people, while I admonish you! O Israel, if you would but listen to me! [9] There shall be no strange god among you; you shall not bow down to a foreign god. [10] I am the LORD your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. Open your mouth wide, and I will fill it. [11] But my people did not listen to my voice; Israel would have none of me. [12] So I gave them over to their stubborn hearts, to follow their own counsels. [13] O that my people would listen to me, that Israel would walk in my ways! [14] I would soon subdue their enemies, and turn my hand against their foes. [15] Those who hate the LORD would cringe toward him, and their fate would last forever. [16] I would feed you with the finest of the wheat, and with honey from the rock I would satisfy you. +
Posted on: Mon, 31 Mar 2014 05:13:38 +0000
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