The Psalms were the songs of Israel. They sang their stories and gave instruction to each other by the songs they sang. Here in Psa. 78 we find an example of that. Listen to the words, even if we don’t know the melody.
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, and our fathers have told us.”
The songwriter calls to people caught in the middle of generations; the information came from previous ones, and is to be passed on to future generations. This is how truth passes from one generation to another by stories or parables. Sometimes it requires an inclining of our ears to get the real message, but we are encouraged to do so because of the antiquity of these dark sayings. Today we have museums that hold old treasures. They are important because our history makes us strong.
The Psalms were the songs of Israel. They sang their stories and gave instruction to each other by the songs they sang. Here in Psa. 78 we find an example of that. Listen to the words, even if we don’t know the melody.
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, and our fathers have told us.”
The songwriter calls to people caught in the middle of generations; the information came from previous ones, and is to be passed on to future generations. This is how truth passes from one generation to another by stories or parables. Sometimes it requires an inclining of our ears to get the real message, but we are encouraged to do so because of the antiquity of these dark sayings. Today we have museums that hold old treasures. They are important because our history makes us strong.
We must also know them so that we have building blocks on which to build a greater life. If we have no history, we have to start over again from a “0” level.
Let us consider an illustration: What if every 20 years all information, technology and progress was obliterated? What if every generation would have to start from zero again? There would be nothing on which to build further knowledge. What kind of a world would we live in? Would we be waiting for the invention of the wheel? What changes have come in our lifetime that we would be willing to give up, and not pass on to the next generation?
This is what we do when we do not impress on the following generations, our children and grandchildren, that there are some truths that NEVER CHANGE! Yet, if truth and progress is not taught by the previous generation, or learned by succeeding generations, it’s like starting all over again. Strangely, there have been those who have tried such schemes to the destruction of millions of lives, as in Cambodia and other countries. The murderous nation destroyers thought that by destroying the past they could establish a pure society. It only resulted in setting the countries back into the dark ages.
The songwriter says in Psalm 78:4 “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.”
I. WHO IS IMPORTANT?
The LORD – please note, they are to sing his praises (the Lord’s), not praises of their earthly heroes, no matter how great they were. It was not about men, it was about the Lord’s strength! They were to remember how HE delivered them from the hand of the mighty Pharaoh, king of Egypt. They were to consider His wonderful works, how HE preserved them, protected and provided for them during the 40 years they wandered in the barren wilderness or desert.
II. WHAT HAS HE DONE or GIVEN?
Psalm 78:5 For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
They were given an established testimony! These are the stories of their ancestors, who followed and served a God so unlike the gods of those in the land where they dwelt. Abraham, who believed in God and God counted it for righteousness. They worshipped a transcendent God but he also was personal and caring of His people.
They were to consider an “appointed law”. This was before the giving of any law in the time of Moses. They were talking about something else other than a moral or religious law. It is interesting that Jacob and Israel are mentioned. But these names are of the same person! “And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.” (Gen 32:28) This was also true of Jacob’s grand-father, Abram – Abraham. (Gen. 17:5)
God had made a promise to Abram/Abraham as well as to Jacob/Israel. He had changed their names, and He made promises to them. First I see that God is in the “Changing business”! He takes a non-productive man and makes him the Father of many. Then God takes a cheat or crook and makes him a Prince! The law spoken of is of CHANGE and a law of a promise-fulfilling! He had promised to bless them and make them a blessing. Each generation must be taught this law.
III. WHY IS IT IMPORTANT?
Psalm 78:6-8 “That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments: And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.”
God wants successive generations to know about Him! He is a God who can change them and change things for them as well! The rules for life that God’s interactions have manifested are in His Word and must be taught to each generation. Someone said that Faith is only one generation away from extinction. Our God is the same yesterday, today and forever! But He is the God of CHANGE!
The next reason for passing truth to next generations is so that their confidence (hope) would be strong. Our world is filled with the hopelessness of hollow promises made by feckless leaders. No wonder young people are taking their lives in unheard of numbers. God’s hand is strong and in Him we have our strength.
God wants His rules for life not to be forgotten or disregarded. The Lord God is the originator of life, not some variant fluke of chance. The staggering chance of evolution are statistically impossible for the world to exist and balance everything out without a master designer. He wants people to reason properly and consider His claims. He is not interested in people repeating the failures of those before; the nonsense of evolutionary change giving us a complex world like we have is spreading because people close their eyes and will not see; they close their ears and refuse to hear.
God doesn’t want his people to be unlearned of the past. He has given us insights from His Word. He assures us His plan is that we learn from our mistakes, learn truth from Him and then share it with our children and grandchildren. Our hope for the future is not found in science, so called! It is not found in the vapor of mindless speculation. It is found in the Word of the Eternal God!
History, time, nations and human nature all point to a God who sent His Son to live a sinless life, die a substitutionary death and rise from the grave! If we do not give the foundation confidence that He is in control of all we see going on around us, we offer only a chaotic world with no lasting peace or joy. In Christ Jesus and the eternal God, we offer hope in the midst of turmoil and death, life with meaning and an eternity settled because of His Promise.
Let’s contribute to a future of faith by supporting Christian education. It is giving a meaning to life built on eternal truths. This strengthens the hand of the future. Each life touched by God’s Word is one snatched from hopelessness and despondent disillusion. We hold in our hearts and hands the strength for the next generation. We must not fail!
D. Hooge