“Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember his power—the day he redeemed them from the oppressor.” - Psalm 78:41-42
Reflection by Cathy Stasny
Psalm 78 is the story of the Israelite history from God bringing the Israelites out of Egypt to the time of Israel’s return to captivity. This Psalm reads like a good story, instructing the reader regarding what God expects from His people and what His people can expect of Him. The Psalm is the story of how God is good to His people but they were not always good to God in return. The overall theme is that God did wonderful deeds for His people but they did not obey Him. In addition, the Psalm stresses the importance of passing on from one generation to the next generation the story of God’s unconditional love for His people. The Psalm instructs that the family is responsible to teach its children about God’s love. Failing to teach our children is not an option according to God.
The theme of Psalm 78 is still fundamental today – we know that trusting in God and following His commandments is the right thing to do but…we do what we want, not what God would want us to do! As in the Psalm, today God wants us to keep His covenant; however, we fight against this. Why? Is it not easier to just obey the commandments? Yes, it can seem easier but we are strong willed and our minds tell us what is best for us. We seem to go along living our lives doing as we please; but the commandments are always in the back of our mind; yet we feel we know best. It may take a situation in our family or community that ‘wakes us up’ and reminds us that God is always good to us and we are called to obey Him.
Psalm 78 is as significant today as it was when written 700BC years before Christ was born. The Psalm was meant to be an instruction on how to act in our relationship with God and what our responsibilities as people of God are to this relationship. How we should act in our relationship with God and our responsibilities to God have not changed over these many centuries.
