August 25 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading:

Psalm 78:1-22

¹Give ear, O my people, to my law: incline your ears to the words of my mouth.
²I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old:
³Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
⁴We will not hide them from their children, shewing to the generation to come the praises of the LORD, and his strength, and his wonderful works that he hath done.
⁵For he established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children:
⁶That the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children:
⁷That they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments:
⁸And might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation; a generation that set not their heart aright, and whose spirit was not stedfast with God.
⁹The children of Ephraim, being armed, and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
¹⁰They kept not the covenant of God, and refused to walk in his law;
¹¹And forgat his works, and his wonders that he had shewed them.
¹²Marvellous things did he in the sight of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
¹³He divided the sea, and caused them to pass through; and he made the waters to stand as an heap.
¹⁴In the daytime also he led them with a cloud, and all the night with a light of fire.
¹⁵He clave the rocks in the wilderness, and gave them drink as out of the great depths.
¹⁶He brought streams also out of the rock, and caused waters to run down like rivers.
¹⁷And they sinned yet more against him by provoking the most High in the wilderness.
¹⁸And they tempted God in their heart by asking meat for their lust.
¹⁹Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
²⁰Behold, he smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed; can he give bread also? can he provide flesh for his people?
²¹Therefore the LORD heard this, and was wroth: so a fire was kindled against Jacob, and anger also came up against Israel;
²²Because they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation:

Devotional:

We could go on to read this entire chapter. The whole Psalm is a powerfully drawn picture of God's goodness to His people, their turning from Him in unbelief, their punishment and return. It is a story God wants us to remember and profit from.

Many of us have heard this story from our fathers in the faith and often from our fathers in the flesh. It is not to rest with us. We are not to hide it from our children. It is to be handed down from generation to generation 'that they might set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments' (78:7).

This is the picture of the perpetual chain of belief. It is a beautiful picture in which we have a wonderful part, but one that would really frighten us were it not for our faith in God's love and power. Nothing must cause us to let the chain break with usno lack of knowledge of God's Word, no supposed inability to communicate it, no reluctance to oppose our children, no fear of rebuff. It is God who has established this plan and program. It is to Him we are responsible!

It is also God who will prosper our testimony. Ultimately it is God who will be using us as His link in this golden chain of belief. He will not leave Himself without a testimony.