The inspiration behind this website: Psalm 78

A maskil of Asaph
O my people, hear my teaching;
listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth in parables,
I will utter hidden things, things from of old-
what we have heard and known,
what our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children;
we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD,
his power, and the wonders he has done.
He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our forefather to teach their children,
so the next generation would know them,
even the children yet to be born,

And they in turn would tell their children.
Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds
but would keep his commands. They would not be like their forefathers —
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
whose spirits were not faithful to him.

Psalm 78:1-8

The inspiration for this website comes from the distant past
...I mean, thousands of years ago when God delivered Israel from a land of slavery and chose that nation to be his own. From an identity as slaves to a new identity as beloved children, Israel was to be one faithful nation under God…indivisible. Their history, from one generation to the next, was to be a recounting of God’s steadfastness and their reciprocating loyalty to Him. And so, Asaph (the writer of Psalm 78), like the teachers before his generation, continues that tradition of passing down the faith. He offers a maskil which was a word of instruction based on the history of Israel. And this instruction or story of Israel’s past in this very lengthy psalm is not a good one. In fact, if you track the maskils in the Psalms (there are number of them) you will find that they are quite depressing...a reminder that instruction is not always uplifting but sometimes it is downright sobering. In fact, we find here in this lengthy Psalm, a negative perspective. From vs.9 onward, it is a sad commentary on the history of Israel... a depressing look into how the generations stumbled one after another though they made the commitment to pass along the faith.
        
The challenge here is to learn from the past generations. Theirs was to be a story of God’s gracious deliverance and choosing and their faithfulness to Him. Theirs was to be a responsibility of handing down a rich spiritual heritage to the successive generations. But they did not.They understood their responsibility but chose not to carry it out. Sure, the forefathers provided material things for the next generation. They provided food, shelter, clothing...passed along skills and trades so that that the next generation could prosper materially. Whatever material things their children needed, they provided. But the spiritual lessons of life, they were not always consistent. Though they heard about the praiseworthy deeds that were passed down from generation to generation, they were stubborn and rebellious (v.8) Though they heard what was handed down, their hearts were not loyal and their spirits (v.8) were not faithful to Him.

Looking back on this depressing history, Asaph is determined to break the cycle of rebellion....to stop the domino effect of one rebellious generation after another. In the first 8 verses, he is determined not to let past dominos knock him down....not to repeat the mistakes of the past....to learn from history lest they be doomed to repeat their failures.In short, Israel’s history becomes a parable of what not to do....lest the next generation is condemned to repeat it. This instruction may remind you of a famous saying…It goes something like this:
        
Those who cannot remember the past are doomed to repeat it

This is a long standing and powerful statement on how we ought to learn from our past…for the sake of our future. Like Asaph did, we can also look back on our country’s history and see the rich spiritual roots that we have but the increasing secularization of our nation. Like Israel, what we have is an accumulative effect of successive generations failing to pass on the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord (v.4) This is the result of one generation failing to connect to the next generation. What we have today is multiple generations even living at the same time but failing to be connected...multiple generations living under one roof, but families being is disconnected ...multiple generations living in one society, but being completely estranged from one another.

The generation gap is more like a generation chasm
as one generation separates itself from the next. Every generation, it seems, is more concerned about their own situation and not the next one to come. We must learn from our past and do better. And so, history lessons actually offer instruction for our present and future...be it negative, it is still a lesson.The Apostle Paul writes about the negative past in 1 Cor. 10:11 These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us. And in Romans 15:4, he writes: For everything that was written in the past was written to teach us... And so, Asaph’s maskil must be our maskil…our lesson learned. And his commitment to turn the tide must be our commitment, so that ...the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget his deeds but would keep his commands.  Psalm 78:6-7.

Let's confirm that our purpose in life is greater than our own needs. That we have a higher purpose than to just taking care of ourselves. But that we have a responsibility to the next generation....lest the next generation walks away from us.

This is why I end each of my daily devotionals with the words, "remember, there is a greater purpose for your life".
Click the cup to hear.

With this inspiration, this website was launched in the summer of 2008

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