Calcified Hearts: Psalms 78:32-39

³² But in spite of this, the people kept sinning.
      Despite his wonders, they refused to trust him.
³³ So he ended their lives in failure,
      their years in terror.
³⁴ When God began killing them,
      they finally sought him.
      They repented and took God seriously.
³⁵ Then they remembered that God was their rock,
      that God Most High^[a] was their redeemer.
³⁶ But all they gave him was lip service;
      they lied to him with their tongues.
³⁷ Their hearts were not loyal to him.
      They did not keep his covenant.
³⁸ Yet he was merciful and forgave their sins
      and did not destroy them all.
   Many times he held back his anger
      and did not unleash his fury!
³⁹ For he remembered that they were merely mortal,
      gone like a breath of wind that never returns.

Psalms 78:32-39, NLT

When I read this portion of scripture, I try to imagine the emotions of God. This Psalm is one of the “failure kind.” It has a definite weave running through it, and the true theme is sin, with all its allurement and enticement. The secondary theme would have to be God’s work in trying to separate His people from their sin. Will He succeed?

Commentary

V. 32, the earlier verses describe God’s supernatural provision. We discover that the people won’t trust God, no matter what happens. They are locked into sin and unbelief. We call this “rebellion” and I see this as the powerful sin of our generation.

V. 33 reveals the results of this. Failure and defeat. These are anathema to human beings. A subjugated people are frustrated and very weak and desperately afraid.

V. 34 the children of Israel become a target for God’s sharp arrows. God culls them out and takes away His gift of life from them. Was Israel being mistreated? Actually it does seem the other way around. Israel was mistreating God! But a key moment came when so many people died, they finally got very serious. But it took God’s heavy hand to bring this about.

V. 35 “Then they remembered that God was their rock, that God Most High was their redeemer.” To remember is a gift. For too often we just buzz through life without thinking about it. Remember our rock and redeemer. Remember who you belong to.

V. 36, This was a well orchestrated deceit. To pay lip service only. This was not just the behavior of Old Testament Israelites. We do the same, far too frequently. The verse said that they lied to Him!

V. 37, “Their hearts were not loyal to him. They did not keep his covenant.” Rarely it seems, do we mix our faith with loyalty. We admire loyal people, but from a distance. God puts a premium on it, however.

V. 38, describes the deep patience of God over our lives. His basic heart is to always forgive. I truly believe that it is very hard to provoke Him to anger. He isn’t like us at all. We can be angry people, but we are most like our Father when we choose to overlook sin.

V. 39 we see that God understands us fully. He sees the big picture. Our lives are very short, fleeting. He grasps our temporary status on this earth, and because our lives are so precarious, He takes that into account.