(upbeat music)
- Welcome to Drive Time Devotions
and our look at Psalm 78 today.
Psalm 78 is the second longest Psalm.
Psalm 119, as you probably know, is the longest.
This is the second longest.
So we won't have time to look at everything in this Psalm,
but we are gonna look at some truths
that I think will powerfully impact my life
and your life through this Psalm.
It's a Psalm that starts out by saying
that what it has to say is something you and I need to hear.
Well, that's true of all of God's word,
but it's good to be reminded of that.
Verses one to four say,
"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."
Verse one repeats this, "Hear and listen,
"give ear, stretch out your ear."
This is a Psalm that starts with this call
for our hearts to remind ourselves of two things.
Throughout this Psalm, we're reminded
to look at the wonderful blessings of God,
but also at the terrible dangers of disobedience.
It's a Psalm that looks at both.
There's this record in the people of Israel
of forgetfulness, faithlessness, foolishness, and failure,
and it's brought out for all to see in this Psalm,
the dangers of disobedience.
Now, like I said, we don't have time
to focus on everything in this Psalm,
so I'd like to focus on what it has to say
about the ways that you and I can put God to the test.
It's a phrase that comes up again and again
through the Psalm, putting God to the test.
And the truth is, we either test God or we trust God.
We either feel like God has to answer to us or we trust him.
And we know that not only we're answering to him,
but we can trust him.
Now, what does it mean when I say test God?
What does it mean to put God to the test?
Well, it means that you assume upon his grace.
It means that you think he is there to serve you
rather than you serve him.
And this Psalm talks about three specific ways
that we can put God to the test.
So I'd like to look at those,
and then also look at the opposite,
how you and I can trust God instead of test God.
First test that it talks about is the test of ingratitude.
Verses 17 to 22.
But they continued to sin against him,
rebelling in the desert against the Most High.
They willfully put God to the test
by demanding the food they craved.
They spoke against God saying,
can God spread a table in the desert?
When he struck the rock, water gushed out
and streams flowed abundantly.
But can he also give us food?
Can he supply meat for his people?
When the Lord heard them, he was very angry.
His fire broke out against Jacob
and his wrath rose against Israel,
for they did not believe in God or trust in his deliverance.
They tested instead of trusted.
And because of their ingratitude,
they were constantly putting God to the test.
Because of their ingratitude,
they saw God as a way to get what they wanted
instead of the one who had given them
more than they could ever need,
miraculously given them water,
miraculously given them manna from heaven.
But now God, could you give us meat too?
They put God to the test.
Verse 22 once again,
they did not believe God or trust in his deliverance.
So you and I, we have a choice
when circumstances aren't working out like we wanted,
when we're not getting what we wanted.
We can test God with our ingratitude
or we can trust God with our gratefulness.
Your gratefulness is one of your greatest expressions
of trust in God.
Other people will let you down, God never will.
You can always be grateful to God.
You can't always be grateful for every person in your life
or certainly every circumstance in your life,
but you can always be grateful to God.
And when you find yourself being ungrateful towards God,
that's testing God.
So no matter what the circumstance,
express your gratefulness to God today.
No matter what someone has done to you,
express your gratefulness to God today.
That's the trust answer to this test of ingratitude.
The second test is the test of flattery.
This is one that's not quite as familiar to us.
They flattered God as if they could control him
with their lies.
So listen to what happened in verses,
let's go 34 all the way to 41 to see what happened.
Whenever God slew them, they would seek him.
They eagerly turned to him again.
They remembered that God was their rock,
that God most high was their redeemer.
But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues.
Their hearts were not loyal to him.
They were not faithful to his covenant.
Yet he was merciful.
He forgave their iniquities and he did not destroy them.
Time after time, he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.
How often they rebelled against him in the desert
and grieved him in the wasteland.
Again and again, they put God to the test
and they vexed the Holy One of Israel.
So even though they weren't serving God,
they said nice things about God.
They flattered God, expecting that that would get him
to do what they wanted.
And we think, oh, we would never do anything
like that today.
Well, here's how this test works today.
We tell ourselves that we're flattering God
with our presence at church.
See God, here I am.
I'm at church, I am worshiping you
and I expect you to keep your part of the deal
and not let anything bad happen to me or my family.
And if it happens, I'm out of here
'cause the reason I'm here, I'm flattering you
to get you to do what I want.
I don't want to face the problems
that every other human being has to face.
Or we flatter God by giving him money.
Look, God, I gave you money and I expect
that means my business has to succeed.
And if it is not successful, I'm out of here.
How do you know if you've fallen into this trap
of trying to flatter God?
When you don't get what you want, you get angry
and you leave, you leave town, you leave church.
Faithful people trust God, they don't flatter God.
They know that he promises blessings out of that trust.
God is a God who blesses us,
but we can't control how and when he blesses us.
Faithful people know that those blessings
are not always what we expect,
but they are always what we need.
The people of Israel were saying, we expect this.
This is what we want on our plates.
And God is saying, I've given you
what you need on your plates.
Testing God flatters God to get what I want.
Trusting God is being faithful to God,
knowing that he'll give me what I need.
Now, you can't hide your heart from God.
He knows when you're trying to flatter him.
We think we can, here with words, sometimes with actions,
but don't think that you're fooling God.
We think, well, nothing bad has happened to me.
I must be fooling God.
Did you hear what he said in these verses?
What's really happening is God is restraining his anger.
What's really happening is he's remembering
that you and I, we're fragile, we're weak,
we're just a passing breeze, but he still loves us.
So don't put God to the test by flattering him.
Instead, trust him by knowing
that he will give you what you need.
And then the third test that they had towards God
is probably the most familiar way God was tested
throughout the Old Testament and even into today,
although in different ways.
They put God to the test with their idolatry.
In verses 52 to 58.
Then he brought his people out like a flock.
He led them like sheep through the desert.
He guided them to safety so they were unafraid,
but the sea engulfed their enemies.
Thus he brought them to the border of his holy land,
to the hill country his right hand had taken.
He drove out nations before them
and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance.
He settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.
But they put God to the test
and rebelled against the Most High.
They did not keep his statutes.
Like their fathers, they were disloyal and faithless,
as unreliable as a faulty bow.
They angered him with their high places.
They aroused his jealousy with their idols.
Now high places were places they built worship sanctuaries,
they would say, to a false God.
And people would go up there from this idol,
this statue they had made.
And then they had idols in their homes as well
that they would pray to, to get what they wanted.
The Lord had filled their lives with blessings.
He'd given them the promised land
and they were still disloyal and faithless.
They were still turning to idols.
Why?
Why would we settle for an idol
instead of the greatness of the living God?
Today our idols aren't in statues.
They're more in our identity.
That's an idol.
They're more in our house or our car or material things.
That's an idol.
They're more in our plans
and the way that people look at us, that's an idol.
Just look at Instagram
and you can see a lot of idolatry there
and the way people present themselves.
Why do we settle for an idol
instead of the greatness of the living God?
Because we think we can control it.
We know we can't control God.
He's gonna do what he wants.
But this little statue,
this little way I have of getting things,
I'm gonna settle for that.
If I earn enough money, my life will be happy.
No, it will not.
My goodness, have you not talked to people
who've earned enough money and are miserable?
The world's filled with them.
It's an idol and we think we can control it.
We think we can do what we want.
Why do we settle for an idol
instead of the greatness of God?
Because we think it will give us what we want
even though we know in our heart
that it's not what God wants for us
that it's gonna hurt us in the end.
Trusting means giving God control.
Trusting means living for what God desires.
Trusting means you'll live for God's will.
So here's the question.
Are you gonna live in trust
or are you gonna put God to the test?
Well, if you're a normal human being,
you're gonna struggle with both.
And our journey of faith is this journey
of turning these tests into trusts.
Let's talk to God about maybe doing that today.
Would you pray with me?
And just say in prayer,
God, I don't want to put you to the test.
You're my father.
You're the one who loved me.
You know me better than anyone.
So instead of that, I want to trust you.
So in a place where I have been ungrateful,
even towards you, I want to turn today
towards gratefulness and put my trust in you.
In a place, God, where I've tried to flatter you
and get what I wanted,
I want to turn today towards this place of trusting you
for what you want in my life.
I know that's what's best.
Even though I may not feel that's what's best,
I know in my soul that's what's best.
And if there's some idol I've set up in my life,
some thing, some job, some sport, some person, some goal,
that's higher than you, that's a high place in my life,
I want to pull down that idol today.
And instead of testing you with that idol,
I want to trust in you as the God who loves me most.
And so I trust you right now.
In Jesus' name, amen.
Well, join us tomorrow.
We're gonna look at how to trust God
in even the worst of circumstances.
(upbeat music)