A Call to Repentance through Remembrance!

Psalm 78

Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, June 22.

In Psalm 78, Asaph provides a word of instruction to God’s chosen people through a lengthy history lesson about Israel. The theological purpose of this seventy-two-verse psalm is found in verses 4-8:

We will not conceal them from their children, but tell to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wondrous works that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers that they should teach them to their children, that the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children, that they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments, and not be like their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that did not prepare its heart and whose spirit was not faithful to God.

Asaph’s retelling of their history was a word of grace, calling the people to learn from their forefathers and to return to right worship of God before there was further destruction caused by their apostasy. We see something similar happen in Jesus’ ministry in Matthew 11:20-24, when He renounced the cities who rejected Him and His miracles, comparing them to Sodom. Just like with Asaph, Jesus did not bring up their sinful history to judge them, but to warn them of God’s coming wrath, inviting them to receive God’s grace before it was too late. His renunciation of their apostasy was the prelude to His gracious invitation to them in Matthew 11:28, “Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.”

Seize the moment and pray Psalm 78, meditating upon the call to repentance by remembering from what you were saved – “It was for freedom that Christ set us free; therefore keep standing firm and do not be subject again to a yoke of slavery” (Galatians 5:1).

God bless you!

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YOUTUBE:

If you prefer a video, Pastor Jerry reads his devotion on YouTube as well. Click HERE to visit the page.