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Teaching the Next Generation the Mighty Deeds of God (Psalm 78) | Charles Spurgeon · Reformed Thinking

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  Welcome to reformed thinking. It is good to be here.
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  We are two Protestant Christians holding firmly to the
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  Westminster Confession of Faith, and today we are looking to open
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  up the scriptures and see what is really there.
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  We are not interested in skimming the surface, we want to
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  get to the bottom of the text. That is always the goal, and for
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  this deep dive, we have a massive task in front of us.
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  We're conducting A comprehensive analysis of Psalm 78.
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  A long one. A very long one, and we're doing
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  it with the aid of the Treasury of David by Charles Spurgeon.
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  The Prince of Preachers, you know, I have always appreciated
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  how Spurgeon can take a verse that looks strictly historical,
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  something that, you know, seems like just dry facts.
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  And he shows you that it's actually about you right now,
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  today. That is the genius of this
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  particular Psalm. It's entitled A Mashil of Asaph,
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  and that word mashil is pretty significant.
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  What does it mean? It means it's an instructive
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  Psalm. It's not just a song to be sung,
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  it's a lesson to be learned. OK, so right from the title
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  we're being told to sit up and pay attention.
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  Exactly. And at first glance, if you just
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  read it quickly, it does look a bit like a history textbook.
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  I mean, it recounts the plagues in Egypt, the wilderness
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  wanderings, the time of the judges.
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  All the greatest hits of the Old Testament.
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  Pretty much, but Spurgeon points out something fascinating right
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  at the start. Verse 2 calls this whole history
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  a parable. Right, I will open my mouth in a
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  parable. Now that's strange.
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  It is because usually when we think of parables, we think of
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  the stories Jesus told, like the prodigal son.
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  You know, fictional narratives that illustrate a truth.
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  Sure, something that didn't literally happen, but teaches a
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  lesson. But here Asaph is saying that
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  actual history, the literal facts of what happened to
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  Israel, is intended to be viewed as a parable.
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  It sets forth the conduct of believers and the character of
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  God in all ages. So history is a mirror.
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  That's a great way to put it. The mission of this discussion,
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  then, is to examine that history, not just to memorize
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  dates or geography, but to see the cycle.
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  The cycle of. The cycle of divine grace and
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  human rebellion. It's a pattern that repeats over
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  and over, and it's a cycle that culminates in a very specific
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  sovereign choice, the election of David.
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  OK, let's unpack this. The Psalm opens with a call to
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  attention. Verse one says give ear O my
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  people to my law. It feels like a school teacher
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  clapping their hands to quiet the room.
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  It really does. It's a demand for focus.
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  Spurgeon notes that if God gives his truth a tongue, the least we
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  can do is give Him our ears. We are by nature distracted
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  creatures, that's for sure. And notice the language in verse
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  2 referring to dark sayings of old.
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  That sounds a bit mysterious. Dark sayings.
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  What's that about? It refers to enigmas or riddles.
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  Spirits uses a beautiful analogy here.
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  He says the letter of the song is precious, but the inner sense
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  is the Pearl beneath the gushing flood.
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  We have to die for it. We have to die for it, and it's
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  not a coincidence that Matthew 13 quotes this very Psalm to
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  show that historical narratives contain hidden spiritual
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  meanings. So the dark saying isn't that
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  it's obscure or scary, but that there's a depth of meaning that
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  isn't obvious on the surface. You have to look for the
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  spiritual parallel. You do, And once you find that
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  Pearl, what do you do with it? You don't hide it.
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  You pass it on. And that's the first major theme
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  of the Psalm, the obligation of tradition, verse 3 says, which
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  we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us.
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  There's a golden chain of transmission here.
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  It's not just I learned this, it's my dad told me and his dad
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  told him and now I'm telling you.
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  Spurgeon actually identifies 4 generations in these opening
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  verses. 4 Yeah, the fathers, then their children.
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  They're the generation to come, and then their children.
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  So it's a very Longview of faithfulness.
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  We're not just thinking about the next five years, we're
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  thinking about the next century. That's the idea.
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  And what are they supposed to be teaching?
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  It's not just reading, writing and arithmetic, right?
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  No, Spurgeon puts it quite bluntly.
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  He says grammar is poor food for the soul if it's not flavored
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  with grace. They aren't just teaching
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  secular history. They are teaching the praises of
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  the Lord and His strength and His wonderful words.
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  Who? Why?
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  Behind the what? The why and The Who.
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  I found a story in the source material that really brought
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  this home for me. It mentioned the children of
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  Maryndall. Yes, this is a striking
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  historical footnote. Tell us about that.
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  Well, during a time of persecution, there was this
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  Bishop of Kevlon who was interrogating these children,
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  trying to trap them in their words.
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  So he's trying to get them to renounce their faith.
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  Right. And these children, these kids
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  answered him with such clarity and scriptural accuracy that a
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  bystander, some adult in the room, said he had learned more
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  from those children than he ever did from the disputations of the
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  doctors and the sorrer bone. That's incredible, and it shows
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  that religious breeding, if we can use that old term, it
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  strengthens children against error.
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  If you teach them the why and The Who of their faith, they can
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  stand up to anything. The Jewish custom of the
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  Passover is the model here. On Passover night, the child
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  asks, why do we eat bitter herbs?
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  Why this night different? And the father doesn't just say
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  because I said so. No, He tells the story of the
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  bondage in Egypt. He explains the theology through
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  the history. That's the model for parental
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  instruction. So the purpose of all this
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  history teaching isn't just so the kids can pass a test on
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  ancient Israel. Verse 7 gives the reason and.
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  What's the reason? That they might set their hope
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  in God. There it is.
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  It's doxological. It's about hope, but there's a
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  flip side to that coin. Negative example that they might
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  not be as their fathers. A stubborn and rebellious
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  generation. You know, this is a crucial
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  theological point Spurgeon makes.
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  He says grace cures bad memories.
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  Also the textlings forgetting God's works directly with
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  failing to keep his commandments.
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  It's a cause and effect. I see, so when verse 8 talks
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  about a generation that was stubborn and rebellious, it's
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  not just calling them names, it defines them.
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  It's that they were a generation that set not their heart or
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  right. It's a heart issue.
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  It always is. Spurgeon calls it a spirit that
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  was not steadfast. They were constant only in their
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  inconstancy. Which leads us right into one of
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  the most puzzling parts of the Psalm, at least for me.
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  Segment 2. The Mystery of Ephraim.
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  There's 9. The children of Ephraim, being
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  armed and carrying bows, turned back in the day of battle.
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  It's a very specific indictment, isn't it?
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  Why Ephraim? Well, at that time Ephraim was
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  the big dog on the block, right? The Tabernacle was at Shiloh,
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  which was in their territory. Joshua himself wasn't
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  Ephraimite. They're the leading tribe.
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  They were supposed to set the example and notice the
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  description. Armed and carrying bows.
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  They were well equipped, they had the technology, the
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  training, the status, but when the battle came, they turned
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  back. It's like a football team with
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  the best stadium, the most expensive gear, the highest paid
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  players, and they just forfeit the moment the other team shows
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  up on the field. That's a fair analogy.
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  So what's the theological application Spurgeon draws from
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  this? He says that external advantages
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  do not guarantee victory. You can have the best arguments,
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  the best heritage, the best armor of theology, but
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  unregenerate man or even a believer acting in the flesh
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  remains a coward without loyal faith.
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  So having the bow isn't enough if you don't have the heart?
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  The weapon is useless if the warrior is a coward.
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  Correct. Spurgeon speculates this might
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  refer to a specific event, maybe a slaughter by the men of Gath
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  mentioned in First Chronicles, or maybe it just refers to their
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  general failure to conquer Canaan.
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  But either way, the root cause is clear in verse 10.
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  They kept not the covenant of God.
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  And what else? Verse 11 and forget his works
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  and his wonders that he had showed them.
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  There it is again, forgetting. Spurgeon uses a striking phrase
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  there. He says the memory of mercies
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  was written upon water. Written upon water, gone as soon
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  as it happens. No lasting impression at all.
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  None. And this forgetting is linked to
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  a metaphor that appears later in the Psalm, but conceptually it
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  belongs right here. You're.
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  Talking about the deceitful bow. Exactly.
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  We'll get to that later, but just keep that image in your
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  mind. A bow that looks good but shoots
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  crooked. OK, now to show just how
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  inexcusable this forgetfulness was, the psalmist takes us on a
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  trip down memory lane. He takes us back to the scene of
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  the Miracles segment 3 Marvels in the field of Zone.
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  Where is zone? Zone, or Tanis was the royal
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  capital of the Pharaohs. This is key.
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  These miracles weren't done in a corner somewhere.
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  They happened in the open day, in the sight of their enemies.
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  And what miracles, verse 13. He divided the sea.
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  Spurgeon notes that the source material describes the water
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  standing as a heap. The liquid element was
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  solidified. It formed crystal walls on
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  either side. Can you even imagine the visual
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  of that walking on dry ground with walls of water towering
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  over it's? Unbelievable.
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  And then the guidance, the cloud and the fire.
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  Spurgeon brings this down so beautifully.
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  In the daytime, in the desert, the sun is your enemy.
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  It's brutal. The cloud was a sunscreen.
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  It shielded them. A.
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  Portable divine umbrella. Exactly.
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  But at night, when the desert is freezing cold and pitch dark, it
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  became a light of fire to solace their sorrows and guide their
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  way. So it's the perfect provision.
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  Shade when you're hot, light and warmth when you're cold.
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  It represents the presence of God.
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  Yeah, He adapts his grace to our immediate specific need.
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  It's not a one-size-fits-all grace.
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  And then if that wasn't enough, water from the rock verses 15
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  and 16. And it wasn't just a trickle,
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  was it? No, look at the language.
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  Great depths, rivers over explode.
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  It was a torrent, a gushing flood of fresh water in the
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  middle of a barren wasteland. The theological point being
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  what? That God's grace is commensurate
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  with His power. He doesn't just give enough to
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  survive. He provides streams in the
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  desert. He provides abundance.
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  So you have this picture. Crystal walls of water, a pillar
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  of fire guiding you, rivers gushing out of rocks.
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  You would think, OK, these people are set.
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  They will never, ever doubt again.
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  And you would be wrong. Which brings us to the tragedy
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  of Segment 4 provocation in the wilderness.
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  Or 17. It's a heavy verse.
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  They sinned yet more against him.
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  Sinned yet more. After all that.
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  Spurgeon argues that mercy abused leads to greater sin.
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  If God hadn't been so good to them, their rebellion wouldn't
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  have been so heinous. But because he gave them so
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  much, their sin was a deeper, more profound betrayal.
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  Verse 18 says they tempted God in their heart.
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  Now we know from James that God cannot be tempted to do evil.
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  So what does this mean? How do you tempt God?
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  It means they challenged him. They were trying to force God to
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  alter his will to suit their lusts.
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  It's the attitude that says if you are really God, you will do
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  what I want, when I want it the way I want.
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  It it's putting God to the test based on your own desires.
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  It's an act of supreme arrogance.
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  And then they slander him. Verse 19 Ask the infamous
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  question, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?
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  The audacity of that question is just staggering.
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  Notice the logic or the lack of it.
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  They admit He gave them water. Verse 20 says behold, he smote
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  the rock that the waters gushed out.
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  They knew he could do that. They saw with their own eyes.
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  Right, they grant him that one. But then they ask, can he give
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  bread also? Can he provide flesh for his
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  people? It is so completely irrational.
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  It's like saying, OK, you can build a skyscraper, but can you
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  stack two blocks on top of each other?
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  That's probably too hard for you.
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  It is irrational, but it's also malicious.
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  From a Reformed perspective, this shows that unbelief is a
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  slander against God's character. It questions his power, yes, but
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  even more, it questions his goodness.
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  It implies he's holding out on them.
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  Yes, that he's able, perhaps, but not willing.
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  It's a direct assault on his love.
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  So God answers them, but not in the way they might hope.
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  First he sends the manna. Right.
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  And look at how it's described. Open the doors of heaven.
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  Corn of Heaven, Angel's food I. Love the detail and the source
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  about angel's food. It's not that angels actually
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  sit around and eat manna. They don't have bodies.
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  No, angels are spirits, but Spurgeon says it's called angels
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  food because it was made by their ministry.
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  They were the chefs, so to speak, and it was of such
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  excellence that of angels did eat, this is what they would
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  choose. It was perfect.
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  So they were eating heavenly food, but they still had
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  earthly, unbelieving hearts. And they weren't satisfied.
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  They wanted meat. They wanted the flesh pots of
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  Egypt, the taste of their slavery.
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  So God gives them the quails. Verse 26 God is the Lord
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  paramount of the winds. He uses an east wind and AS wind
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  to bring them in. And the quantity is absurd.
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  Flesh as dust and feathered fowls like is the sand of the
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  sea. It's an overwhelming amount of
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  meat. Verse 29 says they were well
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  filled. And here's the terrifying part.
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  Verse 29 also says he gave them their own desire.
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  That is one of the scariest phrases in all of Scripture.
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  It is, Spurgeon says. Better be God's dog than the
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  devil's darling. Sometimes getting exactly what
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  you want is a judgement. God gave them what they screamed
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  for. But he sent leanness to their
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  souls. A great quote from the source
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  says that sometimes prosperity is a judgement.
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  And the punishment was swift, It was immediate.
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  While their meat was yet in their mouths, the wrath of God
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  came upon them. It's a chilling warning about
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  the danger of gratified passions.
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  They were not estranged from their lust.
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  They were in the very act of gorging themselves.
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  And in that moment of gluttony, judgement fell.
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  You would think that would finally wake them up.
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  I mean people literally dropping dead with food in their mouths.
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  You would think, but that brings us to segment 5 and the cycle of
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  hypocrisy. Verse 32.
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  For all this they sin still. It's almost unbelievable.
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  Even miracles of judgement did not produce faith.
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  Spurgeon has a vivid image for this.
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  He says if you beat a tiger with many strikes, you cannot turn
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  him into a sheep. Punishment might scare you, but
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  it doesn't change your nature. It doesn't regenerate the heart.
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  Yes, correct. Verse 33 says there are days
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  were consumed in vanity and their years in trouble.
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  Life without faith is just a weary, pointless March to
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  nowhere. But wait a minute.
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  Verse 34 says when he slew them, then they sought him.
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  That sounds like repentance doesn't.
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  It it sounds like it, but look closer.
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  It's what we might call foxhole religion today.
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  They were scared. They returned and inquired
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  early, but the very next verses expose it.
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  Verse 36. Nevertheless, they did flatter
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  him with their mouth, and they lied unto him with their
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  tongues. So they were trying to con God,
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  to say the right words to get him off their back.
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  They were trying to buy him off with lip service.
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  Spurgeon calls the heart a chameleon or weathercock.
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  It changes color with a situation.
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  It turns with the wind. The root issue is in verse 37
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  for their heart was not right with him.
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  And yet, and this is the shocking part of the song, the
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  part that makes you stop and reread verse 38.
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  But he, being full of compassion, forgave their
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  iniquity and destroyed them not. This is the mystery of Divine
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  Mercy. It's completely unscandalized by
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  their hypocrisy. He sees right through it, and
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  yet he forgives. He atones for them.
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  He covers their sin. And the reason given isn't their
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  goodness or their potential. Not at all.
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  It's his own character and his knowledge of their frailty.
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  He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away
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  and cometh not again. He looked at them and basically
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  said they're just dust, they're just a breeze.
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  And because of that, he held back his anger.
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  He didn't stir up all his wrath. Spurgeon points out that if he
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  had, they would have been consumed in an instant.
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  But they didn't appreciate it. They took this incredible
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  compassion for granted. And that brings us to Segment 6
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  and a concept that I think is one of the most striking in the
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  whole text, limiting the Holy One.
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  Verse 41 Yeah, they turned back and tempted God and limited the
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  Holy One of Israel. This is the great sin.
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  But how? How can a finite man limit the
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  infinite God? That's the question.
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  How do you limit something that has no limit?
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  You can't. Objectively, yeah, but you do it
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  in your own mind and in your own experience.
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  Spurgeon explains that we limit God by doubting his power or by
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  dictating his methods. Explain that dictating his
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  methods. It's when we say, God, I need
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  you to solve this problem, but you have to do it this way.
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  The way I've planned out, we draw a boundary line around what
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  we think he can or should do. So it's like saying God can help
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  me with my job, but he can't possibly fix my marriage.
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  Or God can forgive that sin, but not this one.
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  This one's too big. Precisely, to chalk out a path
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  for God is arrogant and piety. Unbelief sets a horizon on the
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  Almighty. It says to the Creator of the
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  universe thus far you can go and no further.
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  And the cause of this limitation is once again memory failure.
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  Verse 42. They remembered not his hand.
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  They forgot the power he displayed in the deliverance
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  from Egypt. And so the psalmist, as if to
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  say you forgot, let me remind you, takes us back there again.
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  Segment 7. The plagues of Egypt recalled.
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  It's a catalog of judgement, A terrifying list.
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  It starts with turning their rivers to blood.
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  The Nile was their lifeblood, their source of everything, and
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  God turned it into a flowing curse.
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  Then the insect armies, diverse flies and frogs.
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  Spurgeon has a great line on this.
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  The tiniest plagues are the greatest.
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  You can fight a lion, you cannot fight a billion gnats.
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  They get everywhere. There's no defense.
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  The agricultural destruction. Caterpillar and locust hail
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  destroying the vines, Frost killing the Sycamore trees.
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  The source material makes an interesting distinction here.
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  It says the vines were for the rich, the luxury item, and the
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  sycamores were for the poor. The fruit was a staple of their
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  diet. So the judgement struck all
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  classes. No one was exempt from the
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  richest to the poorest. That's right.
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  And then their cattle given up to hot thunderbolts.
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  And then we get to verse 49. This one always stands out to me
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  and it's a bit controversial by sending evil angels among them.
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  This has been a subject of a lot of debate in theology.
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  What are these evil angels? Yeah.
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  Are they demons? Is God deploying demons to do
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  his work? Or are they good angels doing a
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  tough job, an evil job from the Egyptian perspective?
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  The source material offers a few options. 1 The plagues
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  themselves are the messengers or angels.
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  They are the agents of wrath. 2 They are actual evil spirits,
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  demons used by God, God using the executioner, so to speak.
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  And the third option. That they are good angels,
• 18:23
  performing a work that is evil or calamitous to the Egyptians,
• 18:27
  carrying out a harsh judgement. Which view does the reformed
• 18:30
  perspective tend to lean toward? The synthesis is simply God's
• 18:34
  absolute sovereignty over all agents, good or evil, whether
• 18:38
  they are demons or holy angels. They are instruments in His hand
• 18:41
  to execute the fierceness of His anger.
• 18:44
  The point is, He sends them. They do not go without His
• 18:46
  command. He is in control of everything.
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  Everything. And the final blow, of course,
• 18:50
  was the death of the first born, smitting the chief of their
• 18:54
  strength in the tabernacles of Ham.
• 18:55
  Verse 50 says God made a way or cleared a path for his anger.
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  He didn't spare their soul from death.
• 19:02
  So we have this dark, devastating picture of Egypt
• 19:06
  being utterly crushed, but then in Segment 8, the tone shifts
• 19:10
  completely on a dime. Verse 52 but made his own people
• 19:14
  to go forth like sheep. The contrast is so stark.
• 19:17
  The wolves are slain and heaps behind them, but the sheep are
• 19:20
  carefully gathered and let out. Guided them in the wilderness
• 19:23
  like a flock. It brings to mind a shepherd
• 19:25
  leading his flock through a dangerous Canyon, but they are
• 19:28
  safe with him. And He brought them all the way
• 19:30
  to the border of His sanctuary, to the mountain which his right
• 19:33
  hand had purchased. And verse 55 describes the
• 19:36
  conquest. He cast out the heathen also
• 19:39
  before them. The text says the land ate up
• 19:41
  its inhabitants because of their vice.
• 19:43
  Yes, the Canaanites were ripe for judgement.
• 19:45
  Their iniquity was full, and Israel entered A furnished
• 19:48
  house. They didn't have to build the
• 19:49
  wells. They didn't have to plant the
• 19:50
  vineyards. They inherited it all.
• 19:53
  So you would think, OK, now we're in the promised land, now
• 19:56
  we have the vineyards and the wells, now we will be faithful.
• 19:59
  But human nature doesn't change just because your geography
• 20:01
  changes. Which brings us to Segment 9,
• 20:04
  the failure of Shiloh. Verse 56 Yet they tempted and
• 20:08
  provoked the Most High God and kept not his testimonies.
• 20:11
  It's the same story all over again.
• 20:13
  And here we come back to that metaphor we teased earlier, the
• 20:15
  deceitful bow verse 57, but turned back and dealt
• 20:19
  unfaithfully. Like their fathers, they were
• 20:22
  turned aside like a deceitful bow.
• 20:24
  Explain that to us again. What is a deceitful?
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  Bow. In that time, a bow was a
• 20:28
  carefully constructed weapon. The wood had to be just right,
• 20:31
  seasoned correctly, but if it was warped or if the wood was
• 20:34
  flawed when the Archer pulled back the string, the bow itself
• 20:37
  might twist. So you aim right at the center
• 20:39
  of the target, you pull back, and the bow twists in your hand
• 20:42
  at the last second and. The arrow goes wide, or maybe
• 20:45
  the bow even snaps and hurts the Archer.
• 20:47
  It's a metaphor for the unfaithful heart.
• 20:49
  God aims us at his glory. He puts us into a position to
• 20:52
  act. He pulls the string and we
• 20:55
  twist. We failed to hit the mark.
• 20:58
  That is a powerful image. We are the weapon in God's hand,
• 21:01
  but we are warped. We are unreliable.
• 21:04
  And because of this warping, what do they do?
• 21:07
  They turn to idolatry, high places, graven images.
• 21:11
  And verse 58 says God heard this and was wroth and greatly
• 21:14
  abhorred Israel. And this leads directly to the
• 21:17
  fall of Shiloh, verse 60, so that he forsook the Tabernacle
• 21:21
  of Shiloh, the tent which he placed among men.
• 21:24
  This is a terrifying warning for the church today.
• 21:27
  Shiloh was the place where the Ark of the Covenant stayed for
• 21:29
  hundreds of years. It was the center of Israel's
• 21:31
  worship. But God is not tied to a
• 21:34
  building or a location. Spurgeon's line is a visible
• 21:37
  church can become a visible curse.
• 21:39
  Exactly. If the heart is gone, if the
• 21:41
  faithfulness is gone, God removes the Candlestick.
• 21:43
  And that's what happened. The ark was captured by the
• 21:45
  Philistines. Verse 61 says He delivered his
• 21:48
  strength into captivity and his glory into the enemy's hand.
• 21:51
  Can you imagine the horror of that day?
• 21:54
  The priest, Hofni and Phineas were killed in the battle.
• 21:57
  The ark of God was gone, and verse 64 has this chilling
• 22:01
  detail. Their priests fell by the sword,
• 22:04
  and their widows made no lamentation.
• 22:06
  The misery was so deep that natural personal grief was
• 22:10
  completely swallowed up by the national catastrophe.
• 22:12
  We know the story of Phineas wife.
• 22:14
  She hears the news, goes into labor and dies giving birth, and
• 22:18
  she names the child Ichabod. The glory is departed.
• 22:21
  She didn't even weep for her husband because the national
• 22:24
  calamity of losing God's manifest presence was so much
• 22:27
  heavier. It seems like the end of the
• 22:28
  story. Yeah, Israel has failed.
• 22:31
  The leadership is corrupt, the ark is gone, the priests are
• 22:33
  dead. The glory has departed.
• 22:35
  But in the Psalms and in the Reformed faith, man's failure is
• 22:38
  never the end of the story. Never.
• 22:40
  It is merely the backdrop for God's sovereignty to shine even
• 22:43
  brighter. And that's segment 10, the
• 22:45
  sovereign election of Judah. Verse 65 contains one of the
• 22:48
  boldest, most anthropomorphic metaphors in the entire Bible.
• 22:51
  Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, and like a mighty
• 22:54
  man that shouteth by reason of wine.
• 22:57
  It is incredibly bold. It's his picture of a great
• 22:59
  warrior who has been sleeping, perhaps off a heavy drink, and
• 23:02
  he wakes up with a sudden shot of energy and fury.
• 23:05
  It signifies God rousing himself to decisive action.
• 23:08
  And he smites his enemies, the Philistines who captured the ark
• 23:12
  get hit with while the King James says in the hinder parts.
• 23:16
  Yes, the emeralds are tumors. It was a humiliating, perpetual
• 23:19
  reproach, a reminder never to mess with the God of Israel.
• 23:23
  But then the real choice happens.
• 23:24
  Verse 67. Moreover, he refused the
• 23:27
  Tabernacle of Joseph and chose not the tribe of Ephraim.
• 23:32
  This is the pivot point of history in the Psalm Ephraim.
• 23:34
  The armed tribe, the wealthy tribe, the ruling tribe is
• 23:37
  officially and finally set aside.
• 23:40
  And who does he choose instead? Verse 68 but chose the tribe of
• 23:43
  Judah, the Mount Zion, which he loved.
• 23:45
  Notice the lack of reason given in the text other than God's
• 23:48
  love. He didn't choose Judah because
• 23:51
  Judah was morally superior. We just spent 60 verses seeing
• 23:54
  that the whole nation had rebel. So it wasn't about their merit.
• 23:57
  It was about his sovereign pleasure.
• 23:59
  It was election. He chose Zion because he loved
• 24:02
  it, full stop. And he didn't just choose a
• 24:04
  place, he chose a man. Verse 70.
• 24:07
  He chose David, also his servant.
• 24:09
  And look where he took him from, and took him from the
• 24:11
  sheepfolds. He wasn't in the palace, he
• 24:13
  wasn't training in the Military Academy, he was out in the
• 24:16
  fields following the use. Great with Young.
• 24:19
  Spurgeon points out the beautiful typology here.
• 24:21
  The art of feeding cattle and the art of ruling men are
• 24:25
  sisters. David learned how to gently care
• 24:27
  for the flock, how to protect them from lions and bears, and
• 24:31
  that was the training ground that prepared him to feed Jacob
• 24:34
  God's people. And the Psalm ends with such a
• 24:38
  beautiful description of ideal leadership.
• 24:40
  Verse 72. So he fed them according to the
• 24:43
  integrity of his heart and guided them by the skillfulness
• 24:46
  of his hands. Integrity of heart and
• 24:47
  skillfulness of hands. Character and competence.
• 24:51
  It's the perfect combination for a leader.
• 24:53
  And ultimately, as Christians reading this, we see this
• 24:56
  pointing beyond David. Don't.
• 24:58
  We we must. Yeah, David was a great king,
• 25:00
  but he wasn't a perfect king. He had his own deceitful bow
• 25:03
  moments later in his life. This Psalm ends with the reign
• 25:06
  of the Lord's anointed, but it points us ultimately to the true
• 25:09
  Son of David, the Good Shepherd, Jesus Christ.
• 25:12
  He is the one who truly feeds his people with perfect
• 25:14
  integrity and guides them with nail pierced hands.
• 25:17
  That's right, he's the faithful king that David could only
• 25:20
  foreshadow. So after all that, what does
• 25:22
  this all mean for us today? We've walked through the
• 25:24
  history, we've seen the miracles, the rebellion, the
• 25:27
  judgement and the election it. Brings us right back to the
• 25:30
  beginning, to the idea of the parable.
• 25:32
  This isn't just about ancient Israel.
• 25:34
  It is a mirror for the human heart.
• 25:36
  It's a warning against forgetting.
• 25:38
  It is. We are so prone to forget the
• 25:40
  hand of God. We get comfortable, we get our
• 25:43
  meat, our answered prayers, our blessings, and we forget the
• 25:46
  giver. And it is also a comfort because
• 25:49
  even when Ephraim turns back, God has a plan for Judah.
• 25:53
  Even when Shiloh falls, God chooses Zion.
• 25:56
  God's ultimate purpose is not thwarted by human failure.
• 25:59
  That is the bedrock of Reformed thinking.
• 26:02
  He is sovereign over the rebellion, he is sovereign over
• 26:05
  the judgement, and he is sovereign over the restoration.
• 26:08
  His plan will not fail. I want to leave our listener
• 26:10
  with a provocative thought today, something to chew on.
• 26:13
  We talked at length about the deceitful bow, the weapon that
• 26:16
  looks ready for battle but warps when you pull the string.
• 26:19
  Yes. So consider this in your own
• 26:21
  life, in what ways are you like a from fully armed?
• 26:26
  You have the knowledge, you have a theology, you have the
• 26:29
  podcast, the books, the Bible on your phone.
• 26:32
  You are armed and carrying bows. But are you turning back in the
• 26:35
  day of battle? When temptation comes, when the
• 26:38
  pressure is on, at work or at home, does your bow shoot
• 26:41
  straight or do you warp? Are you relying on the armor of
• 26:46
  your confession, on your knowledge of the Catechism, or
• 26:49
  are you relying on the strength of the living God?
• 26:52
  That is the question to Mull over this week.
• 26:54
  Indeed, it's a sobering 1. And one final practical take
• 26:57
  away from the beginning of the Psalm.
• 26:59
  Teach this to your children. Don't hide the ugly parts of the
• 27:02
  story. Tell the generation to come the
• 27:04
  praises of the Lord, but also the failures of His people.
• 27:07
  So that they might set their hope in God, not in history, not
• 27:10
  in themselves, but in the God of history.
• 27:12
  Thank you for joining us on this deep dive into Psalm 78.
• 27:15
  It has been a pleasure. Until next time, keep thinking
• 27:18
  and keep. The faith.