5 [God] established a decree in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors to teach to their children; 6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and rise up and tell them to their children, 7so that they should set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments; 8 and that they should not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God. – Psalm 78:5-8
Every once in a while, when reading the psalms, we come across one like today. One that gives a little bit of the history of God’s grace and mercy to the people of God’s choosing, namely Israel. Within these psalms, what we learn is that God continues to be gracious, God continues to be merciful, God has done everything, but the people continue to lack gratitude.
In the short section of the passage above, we hear that God established for his people a law, that they should follow. The understanding is that this law might be difficult for those who have lived against it, for those, who are adults hearing this law for the first time. However, they are to teach this law to their children, who are to teach this law to their children, and so on, and the hope is that one day a generation will actually click with these concepts and start to live according to God’s command.
After several thousand years of this not happening, God finally sends us Jesus. Jesus comes and live in such a way that embodied the grace of God, the essence of the law, and the ways of God’s kingdom, that we are simply asked to follow that example. That generation, the one of the apostles, were asked to be witnesses to all that had been done by Jesus, and through the power of the Holy Spirit to live as examples of what Jesus embodied. In doing so, those who learn from the disciples would also imitate them as they imitate Christ (the apostles Paul says exactly those words in several of his letters; 1 Cor. 11:1, Eph. 5:1, 1 Thes. 1:6). The idea here, is that we have a living example of how we should live, and our task to is to follow that example.
Flash forward a few decades, and the church is already debating what Christ really means by some of his teachings, the work of the apostles is refuted, and many are executed or excommunicated. If we continue this thread on until today’s time, what we find is a world with hundreds of denominations, none of which can agree on certain aspects of faith, yet all claim to know God’s truth. At the same time, in society, we can’t even agree on what it is to treat another human with love and respect, and argue about which lives matter.
The truth of the matter is that we need to learn how to be a generation that “sets our hope in God.” We cannot forget the work that God has done in our lives, and we should treat others with the love in which God has treated others. We should offer forgiveness like that which God has offered us, and we should be accepting of others as God has accepted us.
I know we can read those words, and quickly agree, but the real point is when we actually put words into action, and choose to live in a way that reflects what we believe. When I think about the things I see in our world today, I hear in my heart, loudly the words of the psalmist: “that they should not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not steadfast, whose spirit was not faithful to God.” I believe we can be better, we can choose to do better, we can be a people who are faithful to love God in word, in deed, and especially in our relationships with others.
May God give us guidance to be his people, obedient to his law of love, now and always. Amen.
Grace & Peace,
Sam