Psalm
78 Prayed
Learning from God’s faithfulness
throughout the Old Testament
Teaching the next
generation
O Lord Jesus, we are your
people, help us to hear
your
teaching;
make
us listen to the words of your mouth.
You have opened your mouth in
parables,
Uttered
hidden things, things from the
the
Old Testament—
what we have heard and known,
what
our fathers have told us.
You have presented to us the
Word of God
in
all its fullness—
the mystery that has been kept
hidden for ages and
generations,
but
has now been disclosed to us.
So that we can know the mystery
of God,
namely,
you, O Christ,
in
whom are hidden all the treasures
of
wisdom and knowledge.
Do not let us hide them from
our children;
help
us to tell the next generation
your praiseworthy deeds, Lord
Jesus,
your
power, and the wonders you have done.
You decreed statutes for the
Church
and
established the Bible for your people,
which you commanded our
forefathers
to
teach our children,
so the next generation would
know them,
even
the children yet to be born,
and
they in turn would tell their children.
For everything that was written
in the past
was
written to teach us,
so that through endurance
and
the encouragement of the Scriptures
we
might have hope.
May they put their trust in
you, O God
and
not forget your deeds
but
would keep your commands.
Let them not be like ancient
Israel’s forefathers—
a
stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to
God,
whose
spirits were not faithful to you.
Baptism and spiritual food
Your Church, though armed with
the Word of God,
turns
back on the day of battle;
we do not keep your covenant
and
refuse to live by your gospel and law.
We forget what you had done in
the Old
Testament,
the
wonders you have shown us.
You did miracles in the sight
of ancient Israel's
fathers
in
the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
You divided the Red Sea and led
them through;
you
made the water stand firm like a wall.
You guided them with the cloud
by day
and
with light from the fire all night.
They were all under the cloud
and
they all passed through the sea.
They were all baptized into
Moses
in
the cloud and in the sea.
You split the rocks in the
desert
and
gave them water as abundant as the seas;
you brought streams out of a
rocky crag
and
made water flow down like rivers.
But they continued to sin
against you,
rebelling
in the desert against the Most High.
They wilfully put you to the
test, O God
by
demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against you saying,
“Can
God spread a table in the desert?
When Moses struck the rock,
water gushed out,
and
streams flowed abundantly.
They all ate the same spiritual
food
and
drank the same spiritual drink;
For they drank from the same
spiritual rock that
accompanied
them,
and
that rock was Christ.
The bread of God
Nevertheless, we are like
ancient Israel,
we
too complain against you saying:
“But can God also give us food?
Can
he supply meat for his people?”
When you, O Lord heard them,
you were very
angry;
your
fire broke out against Jacob,
and
your wrath rose against Israel,
for they did not believe in
you, O God
or
trust in your deliverance.
Yet you gave a command to the
skies above
and
opened the doors of the heavens;
you rained down manna for the
people to eat,
you
gave them the grain of heaven.
Men ate the bread of angels;
you
sent them all the food they could eat.
But it is not Moses who gave your
people
bread
from heaven,
but
it is you, O Father,
who
gives the true bread from heaven.
For the bread of God is Jesus,
who
comes down from heaven and gives life to
to
the world.
Then you let loose the east
wind from the heavens
and
led forth the south wind by his power.
You rained meat down on them
like dust,
flying
birds like sand on the seashore.
You made them come down inside
their camp,
all
around their tents.
They ate till they had more
than enough,
for
he had given them what they craved.
But before they turned from the
food they craved,
even
while it was still in their mouths,
Your anger rose against them;
you
put to death the sturdiest among them,
cutting
down the young men of Israel.
They ate the manna in the
desert,
yet
they died.
But you have given us the bread
that comes down
from
heaven,
which
a person may eat and not die.
Jesus is the living bread that
came down from
heaven.
If
anyone eats of this bread, they will live
forever.
This bread is his flesh,
which
he gave for the life of the world.
Resting in the gospel
In spite of all this, Israel
kept on sinning;
in
spite of your wonders, they did not believe.
So you ended their days in
futility
and
their years in terror.
So we see that they were not
able to enter,
because
of their unbelief.
Therefore, since the promise of
entering your rest
still
stands,
keep us careful that none of us
be found
to
have fallen short of it.
For we also have had the gospel
preached to us,
just
as ancient Israel did;
but the message they heard was
of no value to
them,
because
those who heard did not combine it
with
faith.
Now we who have believed enter
that rest,
offered
to us in the gospel,
just
as you have said, O God.
There remains, then, a
Sabbath-rest
for
the people of God;
for anyone who enters your rest
also
rests from their own work,
just
as you did from yours.
Help us, therefore, to make
every effort
to
enter that rest,
so that not one of us will fall
by
following their example of disobedience.
But because Jesus is the Lord
of the Sabbath,
you
would not give up on them:
Those whom you love, you rebuke
and discipline,
to
draw them back to yourself.
For whenever you slew them,
they would seek you;
they
eagerly turned to you again.
They remembered that God was
their Rock,
that
God Most High was their Redeemer.
But then they would flatter you
with their mouths,
lying
to you with our tongues;
their hearts are not loyal to
you,
they
were not faithful to your covenant.
Yet you were merciful;
you
forgave Israel's iniquities
and
did not destroy them.
Time after time you restrained
your anger
and
did not stir up you full wrath.
You remembered that they are
but flesh,
a
passing breeze that does not return.
God’s faithfulness
Thank you Lord, that if we are
faithless,
you
will remain faithful,
for
you cannot disown yourself.
For how often ancient Israel
rebelled against you in
the
desert
and
grieved you in the wasteland!
Again and again they put you to
the test;
they
vexed the Holy One of Israel.
They did not remember your
power—
the
day you redeemed them from the
oppressor,
the day you displayed your
miraculous signs in
Egypt,
your
wonders in the region of Zoan.
You turned Egypt's rivers to
blood;
they
could not drink from their streams.
You sent swarms of flies that
devoured them,
and
frogs that devastated them.
You gave their crops to the
grasshopper,
their
produce to the locust.
You destroyed their vines with
hail
and
their sycamore-figs with sleet.
You gave over their
cattle to the hail,
their
livestock to bolts of lightning.
You unleashed against them your
hot anger,
your
wrath, indignation and hostility—
a
band of destroying angels.
You prepared a path for your
anger;
you
did not spare them from death
but
gave them over to the plague.
You struck down all the
firstborn of Egypt,
the
first fruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.
But you brought your people
Israel out of Egypt
like
a flock;
you
led them like sheep through the desert.
You guided them safely, so they
were unafraid;
but
the Red Sea engulfed their enemies.
Thus you brought them to the
border of your holy
land,
to
the hill country your right hand had taken.
You drove out nations before
them
and
allotted their lands to them as an
inheritance;
you
settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
You did not set your affection
on them and choose
them
because
they were more numerous than other
peoples,
for
they were the fewest of all peoples.
Nor was it because of their
righteousness or their
integrity,
that
you let them take possession of the land.
But it was because you loved
them
and
kept the oath you swore to their forefathers
that you brought them out with
a mighty hand
and
redeemed them from the land of slavery,
from
the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
For you are the LORD God, the
true God;
you
are the faithful God,
keeping your covenant of love
to a thousand
generations
of
those who love you and keep your
commands.
Our response to God’s
faithfulness
But they put you, O God, to the
test
and
rebelled against the Most High;
they
did not keep your statutes.
Like their fathers they were
disloyal and faithless,
as
unreliable as a faulty bow.
They angered you with their
high places;
they
aroused your jealousy with their idols.
When you heard them, you were
very angry;
you
rejected Israel completely.
You abandoned the tabernacle of
Shiloh,
the
tent you had set up among men.
You sent the ark of your might
into captivity,
your
splendour into the hands of the enemy.
You gave your people over to
the sword;
you
were very angry with your inheritance.
Fire consumed their young men,
and
their maidens had no wedding songs;
their priests were put to the
sword,
and
their widows could not weep.
Now these things occurred as
examples
to
keep us from setting our hearts on evil
things
as they did.
O Lord, we do not want be
idolaters,
as
some of them were; as it is written:
“The people sat down to eat and
drink
and
got up to indulge in pagan revelry.”
Give us strength not to commit
sexual immorality,
as
some of them did—
and
in one day twenty-three thousand of them
died.
We do not want to test you,
Lord,
as
some of them did—and were killed by
snakes.
Change our hearts so we do not
grumble,
as
some of them did—and were killed by the
destroying
angel.
These things happened to them
as examples
and
were written down as warnings for us,
on
whom the fulfilment of the ages has come.
God’s ever growing
faithfulness
Then you, O Lord, awoke as from
sleep,
as
a man wakes from the stupor of wine.
You beat back your enemies;
you
put them to everlasting shame.
Then you rejected the tents of
Joseph,
you
did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;
but you chose the tribe of
Judah,
Mount
Zion, which you loved.
You built your sanctuary like
the heights,
like
the earth that you established forever.
You chose David to be your
servant
and
took him from the sheep pens;
from tending the sheep you
brought him
to
be the shepherd of your people Jacob,
of
Israel his inheritance.
And David shepherded them with
integrity of
heart;
with
skilful hands he led them.
But the patriarch David died
and was buried,
and
his tomb was in Jerusalem.
He was a prophet and knew that
you, O Lord,
had
promised him on oath
that you would place one of his
descendants
on
his throne.
Seeing what was ahead,
he
spoke of the resurrection of the Christ,
that he was not abandoned to
the grave,
nor
did his body see decay.
You raised this Jesus to life,
and
the apostles were are all witnesses of the
fact.
You exalted Jesus to your right
hand
and
he has received from you the promised
Holy
Spirit.
Therefore let all Israel,
and let all the world,
be
assured of this:
You have made Jesus, whom we
crucified,
both
Lord and Christ.
So open our minds, O Lord,
so
that we can understand the Scriptures.
May we begin with Moses and all
the Prophets,
and
explain to us what was said
in
all the Scriptures concerning Jesus.
Luke 24:27 And beginning with Moses and all the
Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself.
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Psalm 78 Prayed
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