Psalm 78:40-64

40How often they provoked Him in the wilderness,
And grieved Him in the desert!
41Yes, again and again they tempted God,
And limited the Holy One of Israel.
42They did not remember His power:
The day when He redeemed them from the enemy,
43When He worked His signs in Egypt,
And His wonders in the field of Zoan;
44Turned their rivers into blood,
And their streams, that they could not drink.
45He sent swarms of flies among them, which devoured them,
And frogs, which destroyed them.
46He also gave their crops to the caterpillar,
And their labor to the locust.
47He destroyed their vines with hail,
And their sycamore trees with frost.
48He also gave up their cattle to the hail,
And their flocks to fiery lightning.
49He cast on them the fierceness of His anger,
Wrath, indignation, and trouble,
By sending angels of destruction among them.
50He made a path for His anger;
He did not spare their soul from death,
But gave their life over to the plague,
51And destroyed all the firstborn in Egypt,
The first of their strength in the tents of Ham.
52But He made His own people go forth like sheep,
And guided them in the wilderness like a flock;
53And He led them on safely, so that they did not fear;
But the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
54And He brought them to His holy border,
This mountain which His right hand had acquired.
55He also drove out the nations before them,
Allotted them an inheritance by survey,
And made the tribes of Israel dwell in their tents.
56Yet they tested and provoked the Most High God,
And did not keep His testimonies,
57But turned back and acted unfaithfully like their fathers;
They were turned aside like a deceitful bow.
58For they provoked Him to anger with their high places,
And moved Him to jealousy with their carved images.
59When God heard this, He was furious,
And greatly abhorred Israel,
60So that He forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh,
The tent He had placed among men,
61And delivered His strength into captivity,
And His glory into the enemy’s hand.
62He also gave His people over to the sword,
And was furious with His inheritance.
63The fire consumed their young men,
And their maidens were not given in marriage.
64Their priests fell by the sword,
And their widows made no lamentation.
-Psalm 78:40-64

It is interesting as we read through Scripture how we find it so easy to critique the way the Israelites return to sin. Having the perspective that we do, we wonder how anyone who has experienced the Lord in such magnificent ways could ever walk in such unfaithfulness. The reality is that Scripture comments on that same wonder. Some teach that it is wrong that we view Israel in that critical lens as we seem to frequent the same pattern. However, as Scripture comments on the wonder of Israel continuing in unfaithfulness and provoking the wrath of God, I find a similar commentary to our own meandering in sin.

To the same way that we find astonishment with Israel tending back toward wickedness and disobedience, we should take a look upon our own lives and wonder why we may tend the same way. Many of the Israelites issues is that they took up wives with wicked nations and adopted practices from wicked cultures. Or they did not complete conquests as they were instructed. These, in turn, led to their demise of walking in wickedness. From the outside looking in, we can see clearly the cause of such downfall. By the Spirit that the Lord has given us, we have the ability to look and examine our own lives in such a way. Examine yourself and your lifestyle. See in it how you can further glorify the Lord. In this, you will do well.