When You’re Going Through Something

In the Book of Psalms, Psalm 119 is the longest. It’s an acrostic psalm that walks through the entire Hebrew alphabet, with eight verses for each letter, which ends up being 176 total verses. God willing, we’ll get there in a couple of years!

But today, in Psalm 78, we’re looking at the second longest psalm. 

Psalm 78 is 72 total verses, but the plan this morning is just to show you three lessons that we find here, and these are lessons especially relevant for when God is leading you through something. 

One of my big takeaways from last week’s sermon, in Psalm 77, came in verse 19, that in God’s leading of Israel, his way was “through the sea;” his path was “through the great waters.” And Pastor Mike Polley pointed out that this is not what we would think or want. We’d want to go around the sea. Avoid the hard thing. But God chooses to lead us through it. 

I know that for many of us he’s leading us through some stuff right now, and if that resonates with you, Psalm 78 has three lessons for you … if that doesn’t resonate with you, I hope you’ll still listen to the sermon. My dad used to say that we’re all in one of three places: We either just came out of something; we’re going through something; or we’re about to go through something.

That’s all of us, so whichever place you might be, let’s take a minute here and ask God to speak to us through his word:

Father, by your grace, we believe that every word of yours proves true, and that you are a shield to those who take refuge in you. We ask this morning, through your word, that you would comfort us about where we’ve been, provide for us where we are, and prepare us for where we’re going — for your glory, in Jesus’s name, amen. 

When you’re going through something, lesson #1 —

1) Remember God’s grace by recounting your story.

We see this in verses 1–4, but really, this is what the psalm is doing at a macro level. 

Let’s remember what the Book of Psalms are doing overall. The Book of Psalms was compiled later in Israel’s history to be a reflection on God’s promise to King David to send the Messiah (see 2 Samuel 7). 

The first readers would have been reading the Psalms in the middle of a mess. They were in exile, a long ways removed from the glory days of Israel as a nation, and the question in their minds was if God had forgotten his promise. Is there still hope for the house of David? That’s what they were desperate to know. 

And the answer is absolutely yes! There is still hope for the house of David because the house of David is still the hope, not just for the salvation of Israel but for the salvation of all the nations. That’s the hope of the Messiah, and it’s the consistent hum that runs through all of the psalms. 

The 77 and 78 Connection

Now if we zoom back on Psalm 78, we obviously get here after Psalm 77, and in Psalm 77 is where the psalmist tells us he is in the day of trouble. He’s crying out to God. He’s fighting for faith. Look back at Psalm 77, verse 11. 

I want you to see this. Psalm 77, verse 11.

In verse 11, the psalmist resolves:

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; 

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.”

Y’all see what he’s doing? In his fight for faith, he is choosing to remember — there are two keywords here — God’s wonders of old. That’s Psalm 77:11.

Now watch how Psalm 78 starts. Psalm 78, verse 1:

1  Give ear, O my people, to my teaching; 

incline your ears to the words of my mouth! 

2  I will open my mouth in a parable; 

I will utter dark sayings from of old, 

3  things that we have heard and known, 

that our fathers have told us. 

4  We will not hide them from their children, 

but tell to the coming generation 

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, 

and the wonders that he has done.

So see, in Psalm 78 the psalmist is doing what he said he’d do in Psalm 77. He is remembering God’s wonders of old, and he tells us more about how the remembering actually works.

The Work of Remembering

The psalmist remembers God’s wonders of old by recounting them. He expresses them — he opens his mouth; he utters them; he tells them. 

So notice the activity in this. The work of remembering is work. 

“Remember” is a verb of action. Sometimes I think we can misunderstand “remembering” to be a kind of vague, low-level thing — just something we casually do with our heads. But that’s not what remembering means in the Bible. 

In the Bible, remembering is a repeated admonition with real consequences. In the Old Testament, God’s people are commanded to remember what he has done (see Exodus 13:3); and in the New Testament the word is used about 50 times, at some really key places.

And so at the very least, when it comes to the Christian life, when we hear the word “remember” we should not think it means to kick up our feet, but it means to roll up our sleeves. To remember means that we sober up with what is most real, and with our hearts we apply our minds to articulate what God has done in our lives. 

Maybe we literally say it, to ourselves or somebody else. 

Maybe we journal it. 

Maybe we rehearse it quietly in prayer. 

Either way, remembering means that we are recounting specific truths about God or things he has done.

The Main Theme of Grace

That’s what is going on in Psalm 78 (and it’s one of the reasons the psalm is so long). The psalmist recounts the wonders of God in Israel’s history. He doesn’t recount everything, and he doesn’t even recount them in chronological order — this is a selective recounting. He starts with Mount Sinai and the giving of the law, and then ends with God choosing David — and do you know what the theme is overall? 

What is the main theme of this little survey of Israel’s history?

My guess is that if we were to read all 72 verses together right now, what stands out the most is the shame of Israel. Over and over again, Israel proved themselves to be a wreck. Verse 40 sums it up — 78, verse 40:

40  How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness 

and grieved him in the desert! 

41  They tested God again and again 

and provoked the Holy One of Israel.

Israel’s sin and shame is clear in this psalm. But see, if we look closer, we can see that Israel’s failures is just the black cloth on which sits the diamond of God’s grace. God’s grace is what shines in Psalm 78. It’s that however terrible Israel was — and it was bad — verse 38 tells us:

38  Yet he, being compassionate, 

atoned for their iniquity 

and did not destroy them; 

he restrained his anger often 

and did not stir up all his wrath.

Verse 38 is to Psalm 78 what verse 4 is to Ephesians 2: It’s all a mess. It’s all sin and failure and doom, we’re destined for wrath, “But God … being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us …”

“YET HE … being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity.”

God’s grace is the real theme of this psalm. That is what the psalmist is remembering as he recounts these actual events in the story of Israel. 

And that’s what we remember as we recount the actual events in our own stories.

Your Dash Between the Dates

Now when I say our own stories, I hope you understand that our own stories are each part of the bigger story of God’s redemption we read about in the Bible. If we think about our stories rightly, we can’t think about them apart from Abraham and David, and Peter and Paul — we have a big spiritual family tree centered on Jesus. And so within that greater context, it’s good for us to focus in and think about our own lives. It’s good for you to think about your dash between two dates.

Yesterday, my boys and I were riding by a cemetery. It’s just rows of hundreds of stones, and I told them: One day that’s all that’s going to be left here of us: a stone with two dates … the date you were born and the date you died, and a dash in the middle. And that dash is your life. 

So what’s the theme of your dash? … You can think about that now. We should be thinking about that now, while we’re alive, and brothers and sisters, I can tell you: if you’ve trusted in Jesus Christ, the main theme of your story is God’s grace. Every story is different, but for Christians the main theme is the same …  

’Twas grace that brought us safe thus far

And grace will lead us home …

If you want to know what will help you get through what you’re going through right now … remember God’s grace by recounting your story. Think about the actual events in your life when God intervened and gifted you with what you did not deserve. Anybody got any of those moments in your life? 

I can’t believe that he saved me. God has been so good to me. God has been so good to you, more times than you can count, but you can still try! Remember God’s grace by recounting your story.

Here’s the second lesson when you’re going through something …

2) See the sad predictability of unbelief.

Israel’s sin is obvious in Psalm 78. You can’t miss it. And although it doesn’t have the last say, there are some things we can learn about sin in general. Let me just read to you the way it’s described …

• v. 8: Israel was stubborn and rebellious; their heart was not steadfast.

• v. 10: they did not keep God’s covenant, but refused to walk according to his law. 

• v. 11: They forgot his works.

• v. 17: They sinned all the more against him, rebelling against him. 

• v. 22: They did not believe in God and did not trust in his saving power.

• v. 32: They still sinned; despite his wonders, they did not believe;

• v. 36: They lied to him with their tongues

• v. 37: Their heart was not steadfast toward him; they were not faithful to his covenant.

• v. 42: They did not remember his power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe.

• v. 56: They tested and rebelled against the Most High God and did not keep his testimonies, but turned away and acted treacherously.

Tracing the Pathology

Again, it’s bad. This whole thing is a mess and it’s hard to make sense of a mess, but there is a kind of pathology here that we can trace. The fundamental problem is unbelief. Despite all that God had done, Israel did not believe in him. They did not trust him. That’s repeated in this psalm and in the whole Old Testament. Unbelief is the disease, and then a symptom of the unbelief is idolatry. That’s mentioned in verse 58: “They provoked [God] to anger with their high places; they moved him to jealously with their idols.”

And we can see how this works: Unbelief seeks to scrub the knowledge of God’s reality out of our hearts, and when the scrubbing is done, there’s nothing there, but something’s gotta be there! Because everybody worships something — and if it’s not the true God, then it will be some god, some thing that you make a god. And we know this. The late pastor Tim Keller put it like this:

“Everyone has to live for something, and if that something is not God, then we are driven by that thing we live for — by overwork to achieve it, by inordinate fear if it is threatened, deep anger if it is being blocked, and inconsolable despair if it is lost.” (Center Church, 34)

That’s the effect of idolatry. Idolatry makes us incredibly insecure people. And idolatry is the symptom of unbelief — but where does the unbelief come from? Does Psalm 78 speak to that?

I think it does.

Forgetting God

Verse 11 says that Israel “forgot [God’s] works.” 

Verse 42 says: “They did not remember [God’s] power or the day when he redeemed them from the foe.”

Before Israel stopped believing God, they stopped thinking about him. Before they forsook God, they forgot God. 

And how? How does a people who experienced firsthand God’s miraculous salvation end up forgetting him? 

They saw the plagues in Egypt. They saw the Red Sea split in two. They saw bread rain down from heaven. They saw water come from a rock. 

And they forgot all of it — and they kept forgetting. 

A little later in Israel’s history, in the time of the judges, when God would rescue Israel over and over again, Judges 8:34 says: “And the people of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hand of all their enemies on every side.” How could they do that? How can anyone forget what God has done?

Beware Feast and Famine

Well, the text of Psalm 78 doesn’t tell us exactly. The ultimate theological answer comes down to original sin. We are totally depraved and apart from the Holy Spirit’s awakening work, our hearts are darkened and without hope. That’s the theological answer, but to get more practical, wisdom would tell us that there are two conditions in our lives that make us especially vulnerable to forgetting. 

We could call these two conditions feast conditions or famine conditions — when things are either really good or really bad. I’m getting this from Proverbs 30, verses 8–9. This is the prayer of a man named Agur. He prays:

8  … give me neither poverty nor riches; 

feed me with the food that is needful for me, 

9  lest I be full and deny you 

and say, “Who is the Lord?” 

or lest I be poor and steal 

and profane the name of my God.

Wow — do you hear what he’s saying? 

When there are riches, feasting, he’s full, and that’s when he’s prone to say “Who is the Lord?” And if he’s asking that, it means he’s done what? … He’s forgotten God. He’s vulnerable to forget God when he’s high on the hog.

But also if he’s in famine conditions, if he’s poor and things are really bad and he doesn’t have any food to eat, he might steal food — that’s when he’s more prone to break God’s commandments and dishonor him. 

So in wisdom, we learn to be cautious of both feasting and famine — and we all have these seasons in our lives, in different degrees. There are times when things are really good and there are times when things are really bad — and whatever you do, wherever you are, don’t forget God. 

Don’t get out of the vital rhythms of the Christian life — worship with your church, be honest with your community, read your Bible and pray everyday. Remember God. 

There is a sad predictability to unbelief. It leads to idolatry but starts with forgetting. That’s a lesson we learn here in Psalm 78.

Here’s the third lesson, when you’re going through something …

3) Jesus is our hope.

Look at how Psalm 78 ends. Verse 67:

67  He[God] rejected the tent of Joseph; 

he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, 

68  but he chose the tribe of Judah, 

Mount Zion, which he loves. 

69  He built his sanctuary like the high heavens, 

like the earth, which he has founded forever. 

70  He chose David his servant 

and took him from the sheepfolds; 

71  from following the nursing ewes he brought him 

to shepherd Jacob his people, 

Israel his inheritance. 

72  With upright heart he shepherded them 

and guided them with his skillful hand.

Now the end of this psalm is not the end of the story. There are, of course, a lot more psalms left to go, and there’s a lot of history yet to unfold for Israel, but the point here is that we focus on David, and in particular we focus on the promise that God made to David in 2 Samuel 7. 

God had chosen David to be king against all odds. He took him from the sheepfolds, sat him on the throne, and God promised him, 

“… I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever. 16 And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever.”

And in the storyline of the Bible, this promised Son of David is also the promised offspring of Abraham, who is also the promised son of a woman who will crush the head of the serpent. In the Old Testament, the promise of the Messiah narrows down to the house of David — and Psalm 78 leaves us with that promise. 

Psalm 78 is telling us that the Messiah is Israel’s hope. And he’s our hope. 

The Messiah Jesus is our hope. 

A Story Unfinished

And that’s the most important lesson of all when you’re going through something, but it’s seldom the thing we think we need the most. Naturally, we want the prayers answered. We want the needs provided. We want the way made. But all of those things ultimately are a means to having more of Jesus.

We know Jesus is the final answer to a story that’s still unfinished. And that can be puzzling sometimes. Why doesn’t everything just conclude here with Psalm 78?

Okay, the house of David is where we’re looking.

The Messiah is our hope. 

So send him here and then we all live happily ever after. 

The story could have gone that way, right? But, it’s a little more complicated than that in the Old Testament, and also today, in the New Testament era. 

The Promised Messiah has come, and he died in our place, and he was raised from the dead. Jesus has defeated sin and the grave, and he reigns over a kingdom that will never end — and we’re part of that kingdom, we’re part of his family, but here we are going through stuff! Our stories are unfinished! 

Why doesn’t God just transport us to heaven right when we trust Jesus? 

Why is the Promised Land not immediate?

Why are we still here going through stuff?

Here’s why: it’s because of the glory of God. We’re here, and Jesus is leading us through stuff, because he will do what best manifests his glory and maximizes our everlasting joy in him. That’s why.

Our Hope Right Now

Jesus is our hope, not just ultimately when we see him face to face in the New Jerusalem, but Jesus is our hope in the details now. In his nearness and guidance. In his power and comfort. Remember, church, that Jesus is real, and we have him now.

There’s a quote from Jonathan Edwards that I think captures the now-ness and then-ness of our hope in Jesus, and I read this quote everyday in prayer. I love the truth here. I’ve probably said it to you before. It just puts everything in perspective. Edwards says:

“Every atom of the universe is managed by Christ so as to be most to the advantage of the Christian, every particle of the air and every ray of the sun, so that the Christian in the other world, when he comes to see it, shall sit and enjoy all this vast inheritance with surprising, amazing joy. “

Edwards is saying that the future joy that we will have in Jesus is being crafted for us currently by the sovereignty of Jesus in what we’re going through. 

Jesus is not just leading you through it, but he is managing every detail along the way so that it results ultimately in your deeper joy in him. Jesus is our hope forever, and Jesus is our hope right now. 

And so, I want to invite you: hope in him. If you’re here this morning and you’re not a Christian, if you have not put your faith in Jesus — right now, you can do that. Stop thinking that you can save yourself. You can’t. Turn from your sin, turn from your idols, trust in Jesus the Messiah.

And for those of us who have, let’s trust him more. Let’s hope in him more. Let’s rest in God’s grace to us in Jesus more!

That’s what we do at this Table. 

The Table

We come to this Table to remember. We remember that Jesus died for us, that he is our hope. If you trust in him this morning, we invite you: eat and drink with us, and let’s give him thanks.