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Psalm 78:17-20 Tell the coming generation - Day 269

Dear Friends,

I think this is a continuation of the devotion from earlier today.  Israel hung their significance on David not on God.  This psalm highlights this theme.  Telling the coming generation is not about human history, but about what God has done and consequences for disobedience.

Blessings,

Jeff

"Tell the coming generation" is the theme of this psalm.  First 16 verses are on all that God did for Israel up through the Exodus. Verses 17 - 72 are about how "they still sinned more against him" and the consequences.

So telling the next generation involves not only what God has done but the consequences of disobedience.

If ancient Israel needed to remind coming generations of the relatively recent past, how much more does the church need to do this.  While there are some events in our history that are indicative of divine intervention, there is nothing like the provision of manna, the cloud and pillar of fire in the wilderness or provision of water in the wilderness.  I think that one of the weaknesses of modern evangelicalism is the loss of understanding that conversion is a miracle.  Many evangelicals view conversion as a decision made by people who have the ability to respond the gospel.  There is really nothing supernatural in this view point.  However, for those of who believe the doctrines of grace, each believer was once dead in sin.  Apart from God's intervention and regeneration of the heart, no one would believe.  This is something only God can do which is the definition of a miracle.  Again, there are no external physical changes, but what is in the heart is the point.

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