Psalm 78 (part 7)

"They did not remember His power and how He rescued them from their enemies. They did not remember His miraculous signs in Egypt, His wonders on the plain of Zoan. For He turned their rivers into blood, so no one could drink from the streams. He sent vast swarms of flies to consume them and hordes of frogs to ruin them. He gave their crops to caterpillars; their harvest was consumed by locusts. He destroyed their grapevines with hail and shattered their sycamore-figs with sleet. He abandoned their cattle to the haill, their livestock to bolts of lightning. He loosed on them His fierce anger - all His fury, rage and hostility. He dispatched against them a band of destroying angels. He turned His anger against them; He did not spare the Egyptians' lives but ravaged them with the plague. He killed the oldest son in each Egyptian family, the flower of youth throughout the land of Egypt.

But He led His own people like a flock of sheep, guiding them safely through the wilderness. He kept them safe so they were not afraid; but the sea covered their enemies. He brought them to the border of His holy land, to this land of hills He had won for them. He drove out the nations before them; He gave them their inheritance by lot. He settled the tribes of Israel into their homes.

But they kept testing and rebelling against God Most High. They did not obey His laws. They turned back and were as faithless as their parents. They were as undependable as a crooked bow. They angered God by building shrines to other gods; they made Him jealous with their idols. When God heard them, He was very angry, and He completely rejected Israel. Then He abandoned His dwelling at Shiloh, the tabernacle where He had lived among the people. He allowed the Ark of His might to be captured; He surrendered His glory into enemy hands. He gave His people over to be butchered by the sword, because He was so angry with His own people - His special possession. Their young men were killed by fire; their young women died before sniging their wedding songs. Their priests were slaughtered, and their widows could not mourn their deaths." - Psalm 78:42-64

In this passage, we see a history of the plagues that befell Egypt when Pharaoh refused to free the Israelites from slavery (Exodus 7-12:30). If you look back to Exodus 7:1 it says, "Then the LORD said to Moses, "Pay close attention to this. I will make you seem like God to Pharaoh..."" Through all of the plagues, God was showing Pharaoh His power through Moses. He was showing Pharaoh that though he had great power in Egypt, God ultimately had(s) the most power...everywhere. (Recall: there are things He chooses to do, and things He chooses not to do. Why? Because He's God.)

By sending all these plagues to Egypt, He saved Israel. God made them go a roundabout way to the Promised Land. (Exodus 13:17-18) His reasoning was that if the Israelites were faced with war, they would change their minds and go back to Egypt. They were in the wilderness, but God didn't leave them to wander aimlessly. He guided them with a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night ( Exodus 13:20-22). By this time, Pharaoh had changed his mind. He wanted the Israelites back to put them back into slavery ( Exodus 14:5-6). The Israelites had been wandering near the Red Sea, and when God told Moses that Pharaoh was coming for them, they freaked out! ( Exodus 14:11-12) God had brought them out of slavery and had been leading them through the wilderness. But they turned around and complained and whined about how it would've been better for them to die in slavery. God then parted the Red Sea long enough for the Israelities to cross with all of their carts and belongings (meaning, it would've had to have been completely dry - Exodus 14:22), then closing up to drown the Egyptians who were in pursuit.

We skipped over the first part of Chapter 13. God had told Moses to make sure that every firstborn among the Israelites was dedicated to Him. I never really understood the whole importance of the firstborn. I'm the firstborn child of my family. It basically just means I'm the oldest. In Bible times, I would get double inheritance. But it also means that if something happens to my parents, I'm obligated to take care of Dano, Kyra and Sarie. I think that that's why it's so important. Think about parenting today. When a set of parents have their first child, they love that child more than anything else. They pour their entire selves into the child...and as they continue having children, they still love their next child just as much, but parenting isn't as new as it was with their first child. So, naturally, when a child dies, it's horrible. It doesn't matter if it's your firstborn, or your newborn. So, to dedicate your first child to the LORD meant that you were trusting God with the one thing in this world that you love (think Abraham and Isaac Genesis 22). And for the Egyptians to be losing their firstborn because of their disobedience was probably extremely horrifying to them. Who was going to take care of their other children if something happened to them?

After God delivered the Israelites from the Egyptians for the second time, they continued their pattern of disobedience and idolatry. They wondered why God allowed the ark of the LORD to be taken away from them. It was symbolic of God taking His hand off of Israel for that time. And you can tell by these verses that it grieved Him. They were(are) His special people (v.62). I don't think He enjoyed having to punish them. But it was also necessary because of their sin. Until they repented, He couldn't be with them.

That's how all of this ties in with us. We have the same pattern of disobedience and repentance as the Israelites. And when we sin, God has to turn His face away from us until we ask Him for forgiveness. He hates our sin, but He never hates us. Even if all we do is mess up, He loves us. On Sunday, we talked a lot about how God loves us. Unconditionally. Forever. He LOVES us. I think that if more people realized that, there would be less hate in the world. The God of the Universe loves YOU specifically and personally. He loves you unconditionally. He loves you eternally. How is that going to change how you live this week? How is that going to change your attitude toward others? How is that going to change the way you treat God or your attitude towards Him?