Sermon Central
Psalm 78
God’s Guidance Of His People In Spite Of Their Unfaithfulness.
A Maskil of Asaph.
Incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
I will utter dark sayings of old,
And our fathers have told us.
But tell to the generation to come the praises of the LORD,
And His strength and His wondrous works that He has done.
And appointed a law in Israel,
Which He commanded our fathers
That they should teach them to their children,
That they may arise and tell them to their children,
And not forget the works of God,
But keep His commandments,
A stubborn and rebellious generation,
A generation that did not prepare its heart
And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
Yet they turned back in the day of battle.
And refused to walk in His law;
And His miracles that He had shown them.
In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
And all the night with a light of fire.
And gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.
And caused waters to run down like rivers.
To rebel against the Most High in the desert.
By asking food according to their desire.
They said, “Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
And streams were overflowing;
Can He give bread also?
Will He provide meat for His people?”
And a fire was kindled against Jacob
And anger also mounted against Israel,
And did not trust in His salvation.
And opened the doors of heaven;
And gave them food from heaven.
He sent them food in abundance.
And by His power He directed the south wind.
Even winged fowl like the sand of the seas,
Round about their dwellings.
And their desire He gave to them.
While their food was in their mouths,
And killed some of their stoutest ones,
And subdued the choice men of Israel.
And did not believe in His wonderful works.
And their years in sudden terror.
And returned and searched diligently for God;
And the Most High God their Redeemer.
And lied to Him with their tongue.
Nor were they faithful in His covenant.
And often He restrained His anger
And did not arouse all His wrath.
A wind that passes and does not return.
And grieved Him in the desert!
And pained the Holy One of Israel.
The day when He redeemed them from the adversary,
And His marvels in the field of Zoan,
And their streams, they could not drink.
And frogs which destroyed them.
And the product of their labor to the locust.
And their sycamore trees with frost.
And their herds to bolts of lightning.
Fury and indignation and trouble,
A band of destroying angels.
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave over their life to the plague,
The first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham.
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
But the sea engulfed their enemies.
To this hill country which His right hand had gained.
And apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
And did not keep His testimonies,
They turned aside like a treacherous bow.
And aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
And greatly abhorred Israel;
The tent which He had pitched among men,
And His glory into the hand of the adversary.
And was filled with wrath at His inheritance.
And His virgins had no wedding songs.
And His widows could not weep.
Like a warrior overcome by wine.
He put on them an everlasting reproach.
And did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
Mount Zion which He loved.
Like the earth which He has founded forever.
And took him from the sheepfolds;
To shepherd Jacob His people,
And Israel His inheritance.
And guided them with his skillful hands.