Wow...
Psalm 78 has so much packed within its 72 verses, but in this morning's reading one thing seemed to jump off the pages. There's a history of God's faithfulness recorded among the recounting of Israel's past indiscretions as He divides seas, leads with clouds and fire, and commands the heavens to pour down water and manna. Yet they continue to put Him to the test, rebel against Him, deceive Him with their tongues, and remain unfaithful to His covenant. If you've ever read much of the Old Testament, you know that this is a pattern of the people God chose to carry His name to the nations. And while we know in our knower that God did not condone or look away from any of their sin, I think without studying the words in passages like this we miss the depth of the emotions He went through as He watched from heaven. In Psalm 78 I see things like: often He restrained His anger, and He did not arouse His wrath; He remembered that they were only flesh, and I think, "Yeah, I knew that". But have I missed these words: they grieved Him, they pained the Holy One of Israel, they didn't remember His power? (There's just something about that word pained that hit my soul this morning). But the part that really hit me hard was found in verses 59-72. I saw God abandoning His dwelling place in Shiloh. I watched Him give up His strength to captivity, and His glory He put into the hand of His adversary. He was filled with wrath at His inheritance. Imagine God abandoning the place where He dwells (and for Israel, it was their place of worship). We know, under the New Covenant, that He will never leave us; that His Spirit will never abandon us. But Israel did not have that. And they knew when He was gone.
But then the Psalmist says this: like a warrior overcome by wine, He woke up! And He drove His adversaries backward. This Warrior God returned to care for His lambs, sending a shepherd (David) to shepherd the people He promised to father. Why? Because God's people had returned to faithfulness and would keep it forever? No. It had nothing to do with Israel, and everything to do with God. In the midst of all of Israel's failures to keep their covenant, God was still keeping His. He remained Most High. He was still their Savior. He was their Rock, their Redeemer, and He was the Holy One who would not change.
Let this chapter be a reminder to you and I today that our God, while deeply grieved over our unfaithfulness, will not leave His sheep. We may hear another's voice, but we won't listen to it. I love how the sheep in the forefront of this picture has turned his head at another sound, but his feet are still in the direction of his shepherd. He pauses for the choice, but he keeps his feet planted in the direction of his shepherd. Let's do the same today. Our God is a warrior, mighty in strength and fierce in His wrath towards sin and death, but with His sheep He is always present, always leading us to peace, and always caring for us out of the integrity of His own heart. He will not abandon His dwelling place.
