Insightful Musings on the Scriptures

by

Raymond P. Sparre
Northwest University class of '67

Good afternoon, dear ones.

I can hardly believe that the 4th of July is contained in this next week. Wow!

Glancing again over the devotional below, I observe I didn’t really bring any specific attention to the metaphor Asaph mentions in the FOCUS VERSE—that the propensity of Israel toward backsliding made them as “unreliable as a faulty bow.” It doesn’t take much imagination to agree—that’s pretty unreliable. I’ve never had a bow break while firing, but I’ve sure had spear-fishing rubbers break on me at critical times of need. Suddenly, I’m dead in the water! Well, not really—although I’m in the water, I’m not the one dead—but that which I relied on to make that fish dead is suddenly dead. Am I confusing you?

May your day be blessed.

Love, Dad/Ray.

All three of these psalms are credited to the authorship of Asaph. He is clearly a gifted and prolific writer. I just wish I could hear the actual performance of some of these song renditions. It would be nice if Asaph and his band could put on a concert here in Portland. What if “Asaph Homecoming” videos were made available?

Asaph commences Psalm 78 with a challenge to listen carefully and pay close attention to his recounting the important lessons of history—like a father giving urgent and vital information to a son. “O my people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth” (78:1). While he is given to some poetic generalizations, I have to appreciate the fact that he does not gloss over the deplorable parts of Israel’s history. When they turned their backs on God as “a stubborn and rebellious generation, whose hearts were not loyal to God, whose spirits were not faithful to him” (78:8), he tells it like it is—or was. “But they continued to sin against him” (78:17). “… for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance” (78:22). He recounts the incredible miracles of deliverance, then adds, “In spite of all this, they kept on sinning; in spite of his wonders, they did not believe” (78:32).

Here’s the deal, as I see it—you and I are wise to listen carefully too—there are urgent lessons here for us too. In fact, according to Paul’s inspired judgment, it is for this very reason that God has seen to it that the record of some of this ugly history would still be available today—“Now these things occurred as examples to keep us from setting our hearts on evil things as they did…These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall” (1 Corinthians 10:6-12). And to help sharpen our senses to identify and apply these vital lessons of life, bear in mind that there is a measure of wayward Israel within each of us that needs to be reckoned with. So it doesn’t matter how much neat stuff we have done or experienced in the past, how many great Gospel messages or songs we’ve delivered, how many demonstrations of God’s power and deliverance we have beheld—seeking, loving, and serving the God of the Bible remains today, right now, just like back then, our only hope for success and blessing. In the context of the New Testament, it still boils down to the same essence—“Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27).