Psalm 78:40-42 How oft did they provoke him in the wilderness, and grieve him in the desert! Yea, they turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.
Too often God’s people forget God and what He did for them. They provoke Him with blame for their condition. They grieve Him with unbelief. They turn away from Him to other gods. They limit God in their minds. They do not remember the works of God for their salvation.
The Psalmist is talking about believers here, redeemed children of God, not pagan unbelievers, whom we do not expect to know the Lord. And the Lord is speaking also to us NT believers who “grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption.” We who are saved saints are still also sinners, who forget God in unbelief and grieve the Spirit with our sinful words and actions. We need constant hearing and reminding of the Gospel of Salvation, for it is easy to provoke God and grieve the Spirit with doubt, pride and unbelief.
These things were written for our learning. Therefore we respond to the Gospel with lives of daily repentance and faith.