40-44 How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Again and again they tempted God, and pained the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power, the day when He redeemed them from the adversary, when He performed His signs in Egypt and His marvels in the field of Zoan, and turned their rivers to blood, and their streams, they could not drink.
45-51 He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them, and frogs which destroyed them. He gave also their crops to the grasshopper and the product of their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore trees with frost. He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones and their herds to bolts of lightning. He sent upon them His burning anger, fury and indignation and trouble, a band of destroying angels. He leveled a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, but gave over their life to the plague, and smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham.
52-55 But He led forth His own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; He led them safely, so that they did not fear; but the sea engulfed their enemies. So He brought them to His holy land, to this hill country which His right hand had gained. He also drove out the nations before them and apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
45-51 He sent among them swarms of flies which devoured them, and frogs which destroyed them. He gave also their crops to the grasshopper and the product of their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hailstones and their sycamore trees with frost. He gave over their cattle also to the hailstones and their herds to bolts of lightning. He sent upon them His burning anger, fury and indignation and trouble, a band of destroying angels. He leveled a path for His anger; He did not spare their soul from death, but gave over their life to the plague, and smote all the firstborn in Egypt, the first issue of their virility in the tents of Ham.
52-55 But He led forth His own people like sheep and guided them in the wilderness like a flock; He led them safely, so that they did not fear; but the sea engulfed their enemies. So He brought them to His holy land, to this hill country which His right hand had gained. He also drove out the nations before them and apportioned them for an inheritance by measurement, and made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56-58 Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep His testimonies, But turned back and acted treacherously like their fathers; they turned aside like a treacherous bow. For they provoked Him with their high places and aroused His jealousy with their graven images.
59-64 When God heard, He was filled with wrath and greatly abhorred Israel; So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, the tent which He had pitched among men, And gave up His strength to captivity and His glory into the hand of the adversary. He also delivered His people to the sword, and was filled with wrath at His inheritance. Fire devoured His young men, and His virgins had no wedding songs. His priests fell by the sword, and His widows could not weep.
59-64 When God heard, He was filled with wrath and greatly abhorred Israel; So that He abandoned the dwelling place at Shiloh, the tent which He had pitched among men, And gave up His strength to captivity and His glory into the hand of the adversary. He also delivered His people to the sword, and was filled with wrath at His inheritance. Fire devoured His young men, and His virgins had no wedding songs. His priests fell by the sword, and His widows could not weep.
Message: Idolatry and Restoration
Time: The psalms were written by many different people across a period of a thousand years in Israel's history. They are thought to have been compiled and put together in their present form by some unknown editor shortly after the captivity ended about 537 B.C.
What the Lord is Saying:
In some ways not much is different in this passage than what was presented in the previous reading from Psalm 78. This Psalm continues to speak of people rebelling, the Lord continues to guide them and yet people respond by turning their back on Him. And so God puts forth his wrath on people. And still he is merciful toward them.
There is an idea in these verses that seems a little baffling to me and that is that God isn't forcing himself on people. He is providing for them over and over and he believes that through this providence and his rescuing that people will find their refuge in Him. Sometimes his wrath will be displayed. He is a God who is to be praised, but the goal is for people to respond to Him. The goal is for each of us to turn from our ways and acknowledge Him as Lord and God.
They did not remember his power
In verses 40-44 this is the message I see. People did not see His power. We do this today. We look at weather and we have an explanation. We look at storms and we have an explanation. We look at all these events and we simply say there are patterns of weather that are making things happen. Sometimes we call this "Mother earth" but there is a growing trend to not call them acts of God. Our rebellion towards God must grieve Him. Man just doesn't acknowledge God's power.
They went their own way
Also in verses 40-44 is the action of turning away from God. They rebelled against Him. They tempted God. They did not remember all God did for them. I get too distracted with the immediate and I forget the good times.
He tried to get their attention
In verses 45-51, God did things to these people. He used animals and weather, bad things to get their attention. If they don't acknowledge God, he will show them his power. But, no one wants to say these tornadoes or tsunami's or hurricanes come from the Lord. They only want a God that does good things to them. I don't blame them. When good happens, we are fine, but when bad happens we often turn away. It is only when the matter gets beyond our control that we turn to God.
He led his own people.
There is a contrast here that God led his own people in verses 52-55. So far what I have read in this section is the people did not remember his power and they went their own way, yet God tried to get there attention and through it all he led them. God is leading us. God is leading us and often I need to remember this. I think I get too focused on what I see. He uses the sheep and shepherd idea here. The shepherd is always leading, but at times I go off track or I wander, but this doesn't mean God has stopped leading. I need to trust in God more through each day, each moment. I need to believe that He is at work. I stare too much at my surroundings and not enough at God. I live too much of my life focused on what I want and sometimes I forget to see what God has already provided and I forget to be thankful.
Yet, we turn aside
Verses 56-58 speak that even though God led his people, we rebel. I am a sinner. I sin. I doubt and I question God. He knows this is going to happen. He knows I will rebel and not keep commandments, turn back and act unbecoming to people around me. And through it all I also start looking to other things that I think will satisfy me.
God can get mad
And I need to remember that God can be bothered at times by my actions as it describes in verses 59-64. I need to remember that I measure myself each day not against other people but against Jesus and his standard. And if I'm not perfect, I'm a sinner and I deserve his wrath. I spend too much time looking at other people and what they have and wonder why I don't have the same thing. Help me God to be more focused on my relationship with you and not on other people and what they have or don't have. Everyone is different and my job is to trust you with where I am at right now. I can pray for something better and it may result but through it all I can trust you. And if bad things happen, you have your reasons. This nature gets further from you and we now have more natural disasters and more people killing one another and you are showing us racism is a problem and yet we act surprised when things don't go well. Lord, could you be mad at us? If so, help us see that the answer is us to follow you.
God hasn't left
In these final 2 verses, I remember God that you are still there. You haven't left. From my vantage point, you coming to the rescue looks like to me that you finally woke up. But you never sleep. Again, Lord, help me trust in You.
Promise: No matter what, God rescues His people.
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