Remember and Believe

When we see negative examples in the Bible of unbelief, folly, or wickedness, it is a portrait of stunning detail of ourselves.  Let us not scoff or shake our heads disapprovingly of what we do ourselves but learn from the unerring truth of scripture.  We can say in every case, "It is I, LORD!"  We may not have taken all sins to their ultimate fulfillment, but the potential and willingness to transgress is always present in our mind and members.

Last night I read Psalm 78, a comprehensive account of God's faithfulness, power, and miraculous dealings with the children of Israel.  Asaph provided a historical overview of many things God had done to deliver, provide, guide, and establish His people.  The common issue at the core of Israel's problems was their unbelief of God.  Though God had done much in the past and given great promises for the future, the people seemed incapable of connecting God's faithfulness in the past to assurance of His future faithfulness.  No matter what God did - the ten plagues in Egypt, deliverance through the Red Sea He parted, or provided water from rocks - the people tended to doubt God would come through in their current situation.  This unbelief provoked God to anger.

God did great wonders, but the people did not live in light of His certain love, strength, and power.  Here are a handful of verses all of God's people can relate to at points in our pilgrimage:

• The people forgot:  Psalm 78:9-11 reads, "The children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle. ¹⁰ They did not keep the covenant of God; they refused to walk in His law, ¹¹ and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them."
• The people tested God in unbelief:  Psalm 78:18-22 says:  "And they tested God in their heart By asking for the food of their fancy. ¹⁹ Yes, they spoke against God: they said, "Can God prepare a table in the wilderness? ²⁰ Behold, He struck the rock, so that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can He give bread also? Can He provide meat for His people?" ²¹ Therefore the LORD heard this and was furious; so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel, ²² Because they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation." 
• They flattered God with lies and their hearts did not remain steadfast:  Psalm 78:35-37 says, "Then they remembered that God was their rock, and the Most High God their Redeemer. ³⁶ Nevertheless they flattered Him with their mouth, and they lied to Him with their tongue; ³⁷ for their heart was not steadfast with Him, nor were they faithful in His covenant." 
• The people tempted and limited God because they forgot His deliverance:  Psalm 78:40-42 states:  "How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, and grieved Him in the desert! ⁴¹ Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. ⁴² They did not remember His power: the day when He redeemed them from the enemy..." 
• They were unfaithful and turned aside to idolatry:  Psalm 78:55-58 reads, "He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them an inheritance by survey, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents. ⁵⁶ Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep His testimonies, ⁵⁷ but turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers; they were turned aside like a deceitful bow. ⁵⁸ For they provoked Him to anger with their high places, and moved Him to jealousy with their carved images."

We may not have seen God's deliverance in battle, seen water flow miraculously from the rock, or experienced His deliverance from slavery, but we have more practical evidence of God's character and power than the children of Israel:  we have the Word of God provided for us!  There is the testimony of fulfilled scripture, Jesus Christ, and the indwelling Holy Spirit.  We also have our own testimony of God's faithfulness, power, and deliverance from the power of sin.  Though we are without excuse, we can justify the habit of making them!  I encourage you to read what God did for His people in Psalm 78 in full and consider the wondrous things He has done for His people and for you.  Let us not be as the children of Israel, forgetting what God did in the past so we doubt His present power.  Instead of bringing condemnation or guilt, the end of such considerations is genuine hope.  This is one necessary application of scripture, as it is written in Romans 15:4-6:  "For whatever things were written before were written for our learning, that we through the patience and comfort of the Scriptures might have hope. ⁵ Now may the God of patience and comfort grant you to be like-minded toward one another, according to Christ Jesus, ⁶ that you may with one mind and one mouth glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."