- I will open my mouth in a parable; I will utter dark sayings from of old, things that we have heard and known, that our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, but tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders that he has done. Psalm 78:2-4 – The phrase that stood out to me in these verses was, “I will utter dark saying from of old.” After looking it up, it isn’t meaning that the psalmist is telling us anything spiritually evil or mystical, but it would have been a way they phrased the telling of something difficult to understand. We have the Lord being wonderous to His people. Doing miracles before them, rescuing them repeatedly, providing not only for their needs but even for their cravings. God is displayed in this psalm as the good God that He is, yet where the “dark saying” comes into play was Israel’s response. They repeated rejected God. This is the confusing, hard to understand message of this psalm. Israel had a God who was blessing them, yet they turned away from Him. God then set it up that this story wouldn’t be hidden, but told to the generations of children after them. Why? For He longed for the following generations to be different than the previous. He wanted them to be blessed by Him and in response they turn more towards Him rather than further away like their fathers did. Know we today fall into the category of those future generations of children. God’s heart is for us to be blessed by Him and in response turn deeper towards Him. God also wants us to tell the stories of scripture to the generations after us so they will see the foolishness of turning away from God. See the blessings the Lord has given you, see how those in the past may not have followed God, and make the generations after you know how good it is to follow Jesus. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 3492
- In spite of all this, they still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe. Psalms 78:32 – The psalmist begins by writing we need to remind this next generation of what God has done for His people and how His people responded. He goes in detail of all that God has done for His people by rescuing them and saving them. What we see though is multiple times passages like ours came up. In spite of all that God has done for them, they still chose sin. Verse 8 shares that the hope of sharing all this would be that this next generation wouldn’t be like their fathers. Learn from this passage, learn how good God is and about His saving power. Learn that choosing sin gets you nowhere. Learn from their poor choices and make the choice they refused to take in following God with your life fully. Let your story be different than their story and be in the business of helping a next generation make the right choice as well. I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 1141
- He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children, that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children, so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; and that they should not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. Psalm 78:5-8 – Today I’m sitting at a picnic table at a campground kicking off Day 2 of our high school camp and these verses really come alive for me today. One, I’m surrounded by young people, the next generation, and I’m literally seeing them being told of the the goodness and power of their God. This passage is also coming alive because I have two of my own daughters with us at camp this week. I’m seeking to be that father who tells his children about the goodness and power of God. I want them and I want these other campers I’m with to grow up following Jesus. I know by the end of this week I’ll be exhausted, have no voice, and a lot of mosquitos bites, but it’s worth it to see the next generation grow closer to Jesus. What’s a way you are pouring into that next generation today? I love you, but Jesus loves you more – Mac – Daily DEVO 2038
