57.5 God's Goodness Despite Our Ingratitude

(Psalm 78:1-8, 24-39)

Listen, my people, to my teaching, and pay attention to what I say.
I am going to use wise sayings and explain mysteries from the past, things we have heard and known, things that our fathers told us.
We will not keep them from our children; we will tell the next generation about the Lord's power and his great deeds and the wonderful things he has done.

He gave laws to the people of Israel and commandments to the descendants of Jacob.
He instructed our ancestors to teach his laws to the children, so that that the next generation might learn them
and in turn should tell their children.
In this way they also will put their trust in God and not forget what he has done, but  always obey his commandments.
They will not be like their ancestors, a rebellious and disobedient people, whose trust in God was never firm and who did not remain faithful to him.

He gave them grain from heaven,  by sending down manna for them to eat.
So they ate the food of angels, and God gave them all they wanted.
He also caused the east wind to blow, and by his power he stirred up the south wind: and to his people he sent down birds as many as the grains of sand on the shore they fell in the middle of the camp all around the tents.
So the people ate and were satisfied ; God gave them what they wanted.

But they had not yet satisfied their craving and were still eating, when God became angry with them and killed their strongest men, the best young men of Israel.

In spite of all this the people kept sinning; in spite of his miracles they did not trust him.
So he ended their days like a breath and their lives with sudden disaster.
Whenever he killed some of them, the rest would turn to him; they would repent and pray earnestly to him.
They remembered that God was their protector, that the Almighty came to their aid.
But their words were all lies; nothing they said was sincere.
They were not loyal to him; they were not faithful to their covenant with him.

But God was merciful to his people.
He forgave their sin and did not destroy them.
Many time he held back his anger and restrained his fury.
He remembered that they were only mortal beings, like a wind that blows by and is gone.


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