Focal passage: Psalm 78:5-8, 32-39
My Uncle Jack is researching our family’s ancestry. So far, he’s discovered that our family came from England, settled in South Carolina and fought in the Revolutionary War. It is fascinating, but it is not the best part of my ancestry.
The best part is that my great grandfather, William Wallace, helped build a church and taught his children, including my grandmother to believe in Jesus. She in turn taught her children, and they taught theirs.
I am so thankful that my grandmother taught us to teach for the future.
In Psalm 78:5 we are told of God that “He established a testimony in Jacob and set up a law in Israel,” in order that His people might teach it to their grandchildren “so that they might put their confidence in God and not forget God’s works, but keep His commands” (Psalm 78:7).
Asaph reminds the Israelites of all God had done throughout their history under Moses’ leadership in Psalm 78. He wants them to remember the past. “In spite of all this, they kept on sinning …” (Psalm 78:32). We keep sinning too.
I once heard a speaker say that every time she began to complain about someone else’s sin she would add “just like me” to her sentence. For instance, if I am complaining about someone’s gossip then I would add “just like me” to my objection. This not only reminds me of my sin, but it causes me to seek God’s forgiveness and reminds me almost immediately to pray for myself and the one whom I have grumbled about.
After all, we are all sinners saved by God’s grace. Praise the Lord, “Yet He was compassionate; He atoned for their guilt and did not destroy them. He often turned His anger aside and did not unleash all His wrath” (Psalm 78:38).
God has offered us compassion for the present that “while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).