Author: timritanickel@gmail.com

Psalm 78:34-35 When he slew them, then they sought him, and they returned and enquired early after God. And they remembered that God was their rock, and the high God their redeemer.

For rebelling and turning away from God, the Lord sent enemies and serpents and all kinds of troubles upon His people. He slew them. When they got into troubles, they repented and called upon the Lord. They sought Him, returned, enquired after God and remembered. The history of Israel is a history of forgetting God, suffering for it, and remembering God again.

God is love, and in His mercy He “kills and makes alive.” Job says, “though He slay me, yet will I serve Him.” Mercifully He puts sin, rebellion, evil, and death to death, and He gives new life. He did this at the cross where He slew Sin, Death, and the power of the Devil in His Son. Then He raised Him up to grace us with forgiveness, life and salvation.

God graciously “slays” us, letting us go through hard times because of sin. Then He resurrects us to new life when we return, repent and remember. Daily repentance and forgiveness is the hallmark of the Christian life. We daily remember our Baptism in which the old man drowns and dies and the new man arises to new life.

Jesus was slain for us and took away all the sin and evil in us. He rose to grant us a new holy life that lives before God in righteousness, innocence and blessedness forever.

Psalm 78:22, 32 Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation…For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works.

It seems amazing to us that God’s saved people would turn so quickly and believe not in God nor trust in his salvation. The Lord had miraculously delivered them in the Exodus, appeared on the mountain, and miraculously provided for them in the desert. Yet they still did not believe or trust, which is a sin. What more could He have done for His people to convince them to trust Him? Because of unbelief they suffered countless troubles.

The human in us says, “I’ll believe God when I see it. I don’t see Him so I don’t believe Him.” We are like Doubting Thomas, not knowing that believing is seeing, for that one is blessed who has not seen Me and yet has believed. The truth is that the unbelief in us does not see. I cannot by my own reason or strength believe in Christ or come to Him, but the Holy Spirit calls me by the Gospel. The Spirit, through the Word, reveals God to us and convinces us of His Love. For this work of faith and life worked in us by the Spirit we can only respond with thanks and joy.

Such faith is as close to us as our heart and lips, but we realize that unbelief is also close to us and a part of our lives as sinners. In a sense, we live on the knife edge of faith and unbelief all the time. For this reason we need to hear the Gospel daily and weekly, and, by the presence of the Spirit and the Word, we maintain a life of faith and spiritual sight. We have an amazing God who loves us.

Psalm 78:17-19 And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the Most High in the wilderness. And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust. Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?

After God’s miraculous Deliverance, Protection, and Provision for His people in the Exodus and in the wilderness, and after bringing water out of the rock, they sinned yer more against God. They had already complained in unbelief and rebellion, and the Lord provided water, manna, and quail. Still they provoked, tempted, and spoke against God.

The sin in our hearts is so deep that even after we have received abundant grace and blessings we still sin more, want more, and blame God when everything is not right. Our sinful response to God’s salvation is to continue living thankless and selfish lives, complaining instead of thanking. It seems that no matter how kind and merciful God is, our sinful hearts still find things to complain about.

It is basic to our faith to believe that God is good, all the time. As Satan tempted Adam and Eve to disbelieve God’s full goodness, so we are tempted to think that God is not always so good as they say. It is hard to believe in and surrender to a God that we do not believe is perfectly good to us, but easy to entrust ourselves to a God we know to be good. For this reason we need to hear the gospel regularly and often to be believing and content.

Psalm 78:10-11 They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law; and forgot his works, and his wonders that he had shewed rhem.

Instead of responding to God’s great works of salvation with faith and obedient thanksgiving, the people disobeyed God and did not keep His covenant. Instead of remembering God’s work, His people forgot God and lived their own way.

It seems amazing that the delivered people would so soon forget God and His wonderful works of salvation, but it reveals to us just how sinful and depraved we are as sinners. The warning is meant for us that we might daily and weekly remember how rotten and corrupt we are. And we need constant reminders of the amazing grace, the undeserved mercy, and the unconditional love of God given to us in the Gospel of Christ.

The cross is to be always and ever before our eyes that we might remember God and His work of salvation at the cross and live a life of faith.

Psalm 78:4, 7 We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done….That they might set, their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

The response of God’s people to the words and works of God (to Law and Gospel) is to “tell everyone what He has done,” and to make sure that succeeding generations hear and know the praises, strength, and works of God. The result will be that they will set their hope in God, remember His wonderful works, and desire to do His will.

For this purpose the Christian Church has established worship services, schools, and classes to show the works of God. Those who are taught will then hope in God, not forget, and keep His commandments. We may never see in this lifetime how important and vital is the work of the church, but one day we will see and rejoice.

Psalm 78:1-3 Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, which our fathers have told us.

The most vital response we can make to God is to listen to Him and His words. With the help of God’s Spirit we will be able to understand mysteries, which we can’t know by ourselves. We shall hear and respond to the Word of God, which our fathers have handed down to us from Moses. We hear it and know it when we listen.

The fathers gave the words of God and the stories of His miraculous deliverances. We hear them, take them to heart, and apply them to our hearts. We today have the Bible which summarizes and encapsulates the words God wants us to hear, believe, and respond to. Its words and stories are written for our learning to live by and pass on to future generations.

Psalm 75:1, 9 Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks: for that thy name is near thy wondrous works declare….But I will declare for ever; I will sing praises to thee God of Jacob.

With Asaph, we respond to God’s works and wonders, love and grace,by giving thanks and praise always, for God is always good, kind, loving, and merciful forever. With my life of thanksgiving I will declare the wondrous works of God for my life and salvation. I declare by going to church to sing praises and by living a life constantly thanking and praising Him.

Because of the life given to me by the Holy Spirit through the Gospel, I will always be thankful, praise without ceasing, and declare forever that God is good all the time. Thanks and praise is always good and right, no matter how I feel nor how difficult life on earth becomes. God’s name, His presence, is always near, even in my heart and on my lips. His goodness and mercy will follow me every day of my life, and beyond that I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. That will always and forever be true. Therefore, I give Him thanks and praise all the time.

Psalm 74:20-21 Have respect unto the covenant: for the dark places of the earth are full of the habitations of cruelty. O let not the oppressed return ashamed: let the poor and needy praise thy name.

The response to God’s grace is to respect the covenant God made with His people. The Lord made a covenant that He would be our God and we would be His people, meaning, God will save and protect us and we will believe and obey Him. God made a new covenant with based on the blood of Christ. Jesus keeps the covenant for us and this obligates the Lord to keep His part for our salvation and protection. We respect, that is, we believe God and His promises.

God in Christ has rescued us from the “dark places” of the earth where cruelty and evil hide. It is easy to find ourselves in a dark place, where sin, death, and the devil can lie to us and frighten us into fear, worry, and anxiety (a dark place). The Light comes in and brings us into the glory and safety of God’s kingdom.

In that bright place the spiritually oppressed will not be disappointed and the spiritually poor will praise His name. We live a life of praise and thanks to God for His Life and Salvation.

Psalm 74:10, 18 O God, how long shall the adversary reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?…Remember this, that the enemy hath reproached, O Lord, and that the foolish people have blasphemed thy name.

The enemies of God, and of us, the adversary, the Devil, Sin, and Death respond to God’s work of salvation in the world by reproaching God, His name,, His character, His Word, and His work. They say, and tempt us to say, bad things about God, they deny God’s existence, they ignore Him and act like He is either not good or He is not there, they rebel against Him and push Him away. They blaspheme His name, using it as a curse or an oath (even though they don’t believe in God), using His name in vain and frivolous matters.

The foolish people are the atheist unbelievers who say there is no God blaspheme the name, which they say isn’t real. Even the wise believer takes the Lord’s name in vain, blames God for His troubles, and says “Where is God?” from time to time. Living in a relationship with God can be tricky when we are honest, but we still respond to trouble with prayer and petition, thanks and praise. For even in the most troublous of times we still believe God is good.

Psalm 74:8, 10 They said in their hearts, let us destroy them together: they have burned up all the synagogues of God in the land….O God, how long shall the enemy reproach? Shall the enemy blaspheme thy name for ever?

Asaph bewails the response of enemy armies that try to wipe out every trace of God. This is often the response of people who hate God. Today, talk of God has been removed from traditions in public life and from subjects in schools. We do what we can to maintain a Christian influence, and we don’t become discouraged when others seek to eliminate all traces of God. They cannot eliminate His Presence among believers.

Our response to this response of our unbelieving enemies is to boldly maintain a Christian witness in our world. God is here, He is real, and He is present in us and among us; and we are not ashamed to continue praying and bearing witness to the Gospel. We recognize spiritual warfare and are aware of the Enemy, and we take up our spiritual armor and stand against the wiles of the Evil One. Nothing will shake us from our faith and salvation.