Psalm 78 - Post 1

We had a special conference at our church a week or so ago and one of the speakers, Gary Morgan encouraged us to read Psalm 78. I felt very impressed by the Lord to do this and once I did I began to see some things I have not seen before. God is so good that way. This blog and maybe one or two to follow is a culmination of what the Lord gave me from these Scriptures.

Psalm 78 in a nutshell gives an account of the back and forth relationship between Israel and God from Genesis up until David became king. The picture is sobering as all God wanted from Israel was their loyalty, trust, and obedience and because of their selfish hearts they would consistently turn away from God. The cycle went something like this: God would bless them, they would enjoy it for a season, and then they would forget that what they were enjoying was God's blessing and want more, so they would either get mad at God for not giving them more or they would go against God's law to get what they wanted. God would then get angry at them for not being thankful, for not trusting Him, and for not obeying His law. In His love and mercy for them He would give them what they wanted even though it was not the best for them. His hand of protection would be lifted as what they selfishly desired was not in His will for them and they would experience the full weight of the consequences of their sin. They would then repent and cry out to God and He would cover them again with His protection blessing them. Unfortunately this cycle went on and on until the Psalmist writes that the Israelites began worshiping idols which produced jealousy in the heart of God. God in His love and mercy gave them what they wanted and took His presence from the tabernacle and placed David on the throne over them.

As I read this I couldn't help to notice the similarity of the heart of Israel and the heart of the church, as well as the heart of Israel and my own heart. Why is it so easy to turn away from God and attempt to do things on our own? Why is it so easy to forget the blessings God has poured down upon us? Why is it so easy when things get hard to quit trusting God? I felt very sobered by this Psalm because I could see where my heart has forgotten the many blessings from God that I live with every day. My heart has continued to seek after its own selfish desires for my life, and it has so many times turned away from trusting God. Forgive me Lord.

I do not want to follow the same cycle the Israelites followed. It seems as though there is a connection between thankfulness, trusting, obeying, and blessing. One of the things Gary Morgan was trying to get across to us was the idea of agreeing with heaven when we pray instead of pleading with God for things we think we need or want. I think this goes along with being thankful for the blessings we have, trusting that God is who He says He is and has proven to be in our lives, and obeying as we hear His voice. We must live in such a way that we believe He already knows what we need, has our best interest at heart, and is continually working on our behalf.