Bible Verses With Comments

Psalm 78:13-17; 22

"He divided the sea and let them pass through it, and made the waters stand like a heap. In the daytime he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a fiery light. He split rocks in the wilderness and gave them drink abundantly as from the deep. He made streams come out of the rock and caused the waters to flow down like rivers.

"Yet they sinned still more against him, rebelling against the Most High in the desert...They did not believe in God and did not trust his saving power."
~Psalm 78:13-17; 22

Comment:

This psalm (not just these verses) speak of the story of the Israelites and their tale of the journey to the promised land.

As you may remember, the Israelites did not make the journey easy on Moses or God. They practically fought God every step of the way, despite the miracles he had done for them.

As these above verses say, God divided the sea, caused water to flow from a rock and (in verses 23-24) rained food down from Heaven for them. Look at verses 17 and 22. The Israelites still did not trust God and did not believe in him. Instead they chose to turn to idols.

My dad says this every time we read the story of the Israelites for Family Worship. "Imagine being written of in God's holy word as a people who constantly rejected God and were faithless toward him. Imagine being remembered as a people who kept fighting and doubting God." I certainly wouldn't want to be remembered for those reasons.

But the thing to get here is that though God gave them up to the lusts of their flesh and let them chase their own desires, he did not denounce them as his chosen people. Although they tried his patience over and over with their rebellion, he did not forget them as the people who would bring forth the promised savior. He didn't abandon them completely.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The story of the Israelites is a picture of our own relationship with God. We may push his patience with our rebellion and disobedience, but if we realize our mistakes and repent, we will be forgiven. We slip and stumble, we backslide and turn to the desires of the flesh, but repentance, turning AWAY from that sin and turning back to God is key. What would we do without his precious mercy?

We are so often tempted to satisfy ourselves but have you really stopped to praise him for the mercy and forgiveness he shows you every day? Don't take God for granted. He does way more for us than we can even realize!

Lilyflower1603