Psalm 78

This Psalm is history, so why does the Psalmist call it a "2 parable"?

How are true life "3 stories we have heard and know [and] 4 truths [we need to] tell the next generation" a parable rather than historical data?

A simple definition of a parable is a story with a point. The point of Psalm 78 -- and the reason that we remember God's history with us? "7 So each generation can set its hope anew on God." The point? So that we "8 will not be like [our] ancestors -- stubborn, rebellious, and unfaithful, refusing to give their hearts to God."

Let me quickly trace the logic of this Psalm to illustrate the point ...

1) What God did: "13 He divided the sea ... 15 He split open the rocks in the wilderness to give them plenty of water

2) What we did: "17 Yet [we] kept on with their sin, rebelling against the Most High in the desert. 18 [We] willfully tested God in their hearts."

The words in brackets there should obviously be "they," but we're liable to miss the point if we don't make it "we"!

So notice the pattern ...

+ 1) What God did: God saved.

+ 2) What we did: We rebelled.

+ 1) What God did: God saved again. "21 He was angry ... 23 But [in his grace -- I'm adding the main point] he commanded the skies to open ... 24 and ... gave them bread from heaven."

+ 2) What we did: We rebelled again. "29 The people ate their fill. He gave them what they wanted. 32 But in spite of this, the people kept on sinning. They refused to believe in his miracles."

You've heard of the Texas Two-Step? This is the Hebrew Two-Step. Actually this is what? We're replacing "they" with "we." Therefore, the question is: How often is this your two-step and mine?

I'm not much of a dancer. Sometimes you do 1-2 and then 1-2 and then you take a side step. Repentance -- literally turning away from our sin and turning toward God -- is the occasional, wonderful, and necessary side step. The Psalm says, "34 [some] finally sought him. They repented and turned to God. 35 [We] remembered that God was [our] rock, that [our] redeemer was the Most High. 36 But ..." Didn't you know that word was coming? It's ...

+ Step 1 -- God saves.

+ Step 2 -- We rebel.

+ Step 1 -- God saves.

+ Step 2 -- We rebel.

+ SIDE STEP -- We repent.

+ And promenade right back to Step 2 -- We rebel.

The "but" goes like this: "36 they followed him only with their words; they lied to him with their tongues. 37 Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant. 38 Yet" -- back to ...

+ Step 1 -- God saves -- "38 [The Lord] was merciful and forgave their sins and didn't destroy them all."

+ "40 Oh, how often they rebelled against him in the desert ..." Step 2, step 2, step 2.

+ "41 Again and again they tested God's patience and frustrated the Holy One of Israel." Step 2, step 2, step 2.

Imagine that step 2 is dancing downhill. They're about to fall off the edge of the cliff. And then what did they do? "42 They forgot" and "43 they forgot [some more]." So what is the next step in this dance? Step 2 again. "57 They turned back and were as faithless as their parents had been. 58 They ... buil[t] altars to other gods."

Actually that's not what it says. It says, "58 They made God angry by building altars to other gods." If the human side step is repentance, God's side step is "justice." I almost wrote "anger," but God is not an angry God. He is a just God. And what does holiness, purity, and justice demand? Think about it this way ... If a man rapes and sodomizes a child in your neighborhood, what is the proper response? Outrage. We lack a heart and a conscience if our sense of purity and justice are not appalled. God is holy and perfect and pure. When we sin, he is "hurt." I almost wrote "outraged" and "appalled," but who can blame him for being "58 angry" after he has given us grace after grace? Who could blame him for the following verbs -- "60 he abandoned," "61 he allowed," "62 he gave his people over."

The side step of God is to sometimes "61 allow[]." He allows our world to reap the consequences of our sins. So the dance goes like this ... and make sure you pay attention to the final step -- the one that completes the can.

+ Step 1 -- God saves.

+ Step 2 -- We rebel.

+ Step 1 -- God saves.

+ Step 2 -- We rebel.

+ SIDE STEP -- We repent.

+ And promenade back to Step 2 -- We rebel.

+ SIDE STEP -- God in his justice "allows."

+ And promenade back to Step 1 -- God saves -- "65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep ... 66 He routed his enemies and sent them to eternal shame. 68 He chose ... the tribe of Judah ... which he loved. 69 [H]e built his towering sanctuary ... 71 He took David from tending the ewes and lambs and made him the shepherd of Jacob's descendants – God's own people, Israel. 72 He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands."

Now turn that into a prayer, with one very important difference at the end!

+ Step 1 -- God saves -- Thank you, God, for _________

+ Step 2 -- We rebel. -- I confess my sin __________

+ Step 1 -- God saves. -- Thank you, God, for ________

+ Step 2 -- We rebel. -- I confess my sin __________

+ SIDE STEP -- We repent. -- I not only confess, but I pray that you we remold me and reshape me and restore me and forever heal me. Today, I pledge to turn my back on __________ and turn toward you.

+ And promenade back to Step 2 -- We rebel. -- I confess that I am destined to sin again, so I will steel myself. I will seek to build a wall around the sin that I keep chasing, and I will ask you to guard the gates.

+ SIDE STEP -- God in his justice "allows." -- I will forgive you for the hard things in my life that keep me from trusting you. Wait. "Forgive you" is nearly a blasphemous statement, and yet it's true. I blame you for the things I don't understand when its really the fault of sin. Therefore, when I say, "I will forgive you," what I really mean is that I will accept your judgment and celebrate your holiness. I will try to align my heart with your justice and quit seeing things from my own self-interested perspective. I will search for your grace and your guiding hand in every circumstance.

+ And promenade back to Step 1 -- God saves -- "65 Then the Lord rose up as though waking from sleep ... 66 He routed [the] enemies [to the life he intends] and sent them to eternal shame. 68 He chose [you and me] wh[om] he loved. 69 [H]e built his towering sanctuary. [It was a cross that stretched to the heavens.] 71 He [brought to us a new shepherd, Jesus Christ] and made him the shepherd of Jacob's descendants – God's own people, Israel. 72 He cared for [us] with a true heart and le[ads] [us] with skillful hands."