The psalmist ponders on the past history of Israel in order to make practical lessons for the present.

Vv 1-8  Listen up, open your ears. Let me teach you.

How? With a parable (a hidden lesson-story)

The sad truth is that we heard but we failed to pass on the Truths of God. We dropped the ball. We walked by Faith but … our children will suffer for it.

Vv 9-16 They Ran the wrong way and it cost them!

Instead of running to God in the times of trouble, they ran from Him.

They did not keep God’s covenant

They did not listen to His instructions

They forgot what He had done

The great wonders He had done for them.

They forgot their heritage all that God had brought their people through.

God had divided the sea and led them through it.

God led them with a cloud by day and a fire by night

God spit open rocks in the wilderness and gave them springs that gushed like a river.

Vv 17-31 Unbelief fuels God’s anger   And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him. Heb 11:6

They kept on sinning

Rebelling

Stubbornly tested God

Demanded of God

Spoke against God Himself –

V 19 God can give us water but He can’t give us food. He can’t give bread and

meat.. They are taunting God.

V 21 God was furious-His wrath burned against Jacob, His anger rose against Israel

Why? They did not believe God or trust Him to take care of them.

Do we limit God by our unbelief?

God remained faithful and provided for them abundantly… BUT He punished their sin and rebellion

V 32-37 They Kept Sinning- they refused to Trust Him

When God started punishing their sin, they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their redeemer. They remembered the stories…

So they gave Him lip service-they lied to Him , their hearts were not loyal to Him. They did not keep His covenant..

V 38 YET HE WAS Merciful and forgave their sins. He held back His anger and did not unleash His fury. WHY????????

V39 He remembered they were mortal/flesh.. They are trusting in themselves, not Me!

ISRAEL’S Past 40-55 yrs.

· Rebellious

· Grieved His heart

· Tested God’s patience

· Provoked the Holy One of Israel

· Forgot His power

· Forgot He protected them.

· Forgot His miraculous signs

The plagues

· Forgot that He led His own people like a flock, guiding them through the wilderness

· Forgot that He kept them safe

· Forgot that He brought them into Canaan

· Forgot that He drove out the enemy

ISRAEL away from God’s provision and worshiped false gods. Vv56-72

Yet they kept testing and rebelling against the God Most High

· They were faithless as their parents

· Undependable as a crooked bow

· They built shrines to other gods

· They made Him jealous with their idol

Vv 59 When God heard them, He was angry!

He

· Rejected them

· Abandoned them.

· Allowed the Ark to be captured

· Surrendering His Glory to the enemy

· Gave His people over to be butchered

· His own were killed by fire

· Women died young

· Priests were slaughtered

But God awoke-

· He routed the enemy of His people-sent them to eternal shame

· He rejected Joseph’s descendants

· Rejecting the tribe of Ephraim and Shiloh

· He chose the tribe of Judah and Mt Zion which He loved

· He built His sanctuary there

· He chose David from the sheep pens, tending the ewes and lambs and made him shepherd of Jacob’s descendants-GOD’s own people, Israel

· He cared for them with a true heart and led them with skillful hands

God's law was given so that all people could see how sinful they were. But as people sinned more and more, God's wonderful grace became more abundant. Romans 5:20