Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today we continue with the Psalms
of Praise and Thanksgiving, and today's readings
are Psalms 77 through 79. Psalm 77, inscription,
to the chief musician, to Jedusun, a psalm of
Asaph. I cried out to God with my voice, to God
with my voice, and he gave ear to me. In the
day of my trouble, I sought the Lord. My hand
was stretched out in the night without ceasing.
My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered
God and was troubled. I complained and my spirit
was overwhelmed. Salah. You hold my eyelids open.
I am so troubled that I cannot speak. I have
considered the days of old, the years of ancient
times. I call to remembrance my song in the night.
I meditate within my heart and my spirit makes
diligent search. Will the Lord cast off forever?
And will he be favorable no more? Has his mercy
ceased forever? Has his promise failed forevermore?
Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has he in anger
shut up his tender mercies? Salah. And I said,
this is my anguish, but I will remember the years
of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember
the works of the Lord. Surely I will remember
your wonders of old. I will also meditate on
all your work and talk of your deeds. Your way,
O God, is in the sanctuary. Who is so great a
God as our God? You are the God who does wonders.
You have declared your strength among the peoples.
You have with your arm redeemed your people,
the sons of Jacob and Joseph. Salah. The waters
saw you, O God. The waters saw you. They were
afraid. The depth also trembled. The clouds poured
out water. The skies sent out a sound. Your arrows
also flashed about. The voice of your thunder
was in the whirlwind. The lightnings lit up the
world. The earth trembled and shook. Your way
was in the sea. Your path in the great waters,
and your footsteps were not known. You led your
people like a flock, by the hand of Moses and
Aaron. Psalm 78, Inscription, A Contemplation
of Asaph Give ear, O my people, to my law, and
clung your ears to the words of my mouth. I will
open my mouth in a parable. I will utter dark
sayings of old, which we have heard and known,
and our fathers have told us. We will not hide
them from their children. telling to the generation
to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength
and His wonderful works that He has done. For
He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed
a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers,
that they should make them known to their children,
that the generation to come might know them.
The children who would be born, that they may
arise and declare them to their children, that
they may set their hope in God, and not forget
the works of God, but keep His commandments,
and may not be like their fathers, a stubborn
and rebellious generation. A generation that
did not set its heart aright, and whose spirit
was not faithful to God. The children of Ephraim,
being armed and carrying bows, turned back in
the day of battle. They did not keep the covenant
of God. They refused to walk in his law, and
forgot his works and his wonders that he had
shown them. Marvelous things he did in the sight
of their fathers, in the land of Egypt, in the
field of Zoan. He divided the sea and caused
them to pass through, and he made the water stand
up like a heap. In the daytime also he led them
with the cloud, and all the night with the light
of fire. He split the rock in the wilderness
and gave them drink in abundance like the depth.
He also brought streams out of the rock and caused
waters to run down like rivers. But they sinned
even more against him. by rebelling against the
Most High in the wilderness. And they tested
God in their heart, by asking for the food of
their fancy. Yes, they spoke against God. They
said, Can God prepare a table in the wilderness?
Behold, he struck the rock, so that the waters
gushed out, and the streams overflowed. Can he
give bread also? Can he provide meat for his
people? Therefore the Lord heard this and was
furious. So a fire was kindled against Jacob,
and anger also came up against Israel, because
they did not believe in God, and did not trust
in his salvation. yet he had commanded the clouds
above, and opened the doors of heaven, had rained
down manna on them to eat, and given them of
the bread of heaven. Men ate angels' food, he
sent them food to the full. He caused an east
wind to blow in the heavens, and by his power
he brought in a south wind. He also rained meat
on them like the dust, feathered fowl like the
sand of the seas, and he let them fall in the
midst of their camp, all around their dwellings.
So they ate and were well filled, for he gave
them their own desire. They were not deprived
of their craving, but while their food was still
in their mouth, the wrath of God came against
them and slew the stoutest of them and struck
down the choice men of Israel. In spite of this,
they still sinned and did not believe in his
wondrous works. Therefore their days he consumed
in futility and their years in fear. When he
slew them, then they sought him, and they returned
and sought earnestly for God. Then they remembered
that God was their rock and the Most High God
their Redeemer. Nevertheless, they flattered
him with their mouth, and they lied to him with
their tongue, for their heart was not steadfast
with him, nor were they faithful in his covenant.
But he, being full of compassion, forgave their
iniquity, and did not destroy them. Yes, many
a time he turned his anger away, and did not
stir up all his wrath, for he remembered that
they were but flesh, a breath that passes away
and does not come again. How often they provoked
him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the
desert! Yes, again and again they tempted God
and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did
not remember his power. The day when he redeemed
them from the enemy, when he worked his signs
in Egypt and his wonders in the field of Zoan,
turned their rivers into blood and their streams
that they could not drink. He sent swarms of
flies among them, which devoured them, and frogs,
which destroyed them. He also gave their crops
to the caterpillar and their labor to the locust.
He destroyed their vines with hail and their
sycamore trees with frost. He also gave up their
cattle to the hail, and their flocks to fiery
lightning. He cast on them the fierceness of
his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, by
sending angels of destruction among them. He
made a path for his anger. He did not spare their
soul from death, but gave their life over to
the plague, and destroyed all the firstborn in
Egypt, the firstborn of their strength, in the
tents of Ham. But he made his own people go forth
like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness
like a flock. And he led them on safely, so that
they did not fear. But the sea overwhelmed their
enemies, and he brought them to his holy border,
this mountain which his right hand had acquired.
He also drove out the nations before them, allotted
them an inheritance by survey, and made the tribes
of Israel dwell in their tents. Yet they tested
and provoked the Most High God, and did not keep
his testimonies, but turned back and acted unfaithfully
like their fathers. They were turned aside like
a deceitful bull. For they provoked him to anger
with their high places, and moved him to jealousy
with their carved images. When God heard this,
he was furious and greatly abhorred Israel, so
that he forsook the tabernacle of Shiloh, the
tent he had placed among men, and delivered his
strength into captivity, and his glory into the
enemy's hand. He also gave his people over to
the sword, and was furious with his inheritance.
The fire consumed their young men, and their
maidens were not given in marriage. Their priests
fell by the sword, and their widows made no lamentation.
Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, like a mighty
man who shouts because of wine, and he beat back
his enemies, he put them to a perpetual reproach.
Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and
did not choose the tribe of Ephraim, but chose
the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved.
And he built his sanctuary like the heights,
like the earth which he has established forever.
He also chose David his servant, and took him
from the sheepfolds. From following the youths
that had young he brought him. to shepherd Jacob
his people and Israel his inheritance. So he
shepherded them according to the integrity of
his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness
of his hands. Psalm 79 Inscription A Psalm of
Asaph O God, the nations have come into your
inheritance, your holy temple they have defiled.
They have laid Jerusalem in heaps, the dead bodies
of your servants they have given as food for
the birds of the heavens, the flesh of your saints
to the beasts of the earth. Their blood they
have shed like water all around Jerusalem, and
there was no one to bury them. We have become
a reproach to our neighbors, a scorn and derision
to those who are around us. How long, Lord? Will
you be angry forever? Will your jealousy burn
like fire? Pour out your wrath on the nations
that do not know you, and on the kingdoms that
do not call on your name, for they have devoured
Jacob and laid waste his dwelling place. O do
not remember former iniquities against us. Let
your tender mercies come speedily to meet us,
for we have been brought very low. Help us, O
God of our salvation, for the glory of your name,
and deliver us and provide atonement for our
sins. For your name's sake, why should the nations
say, Where is their God? Let there be known among
the nations in our sight the avenging of the
blood of your servants which has been shed. Let
the groaning of the prisoner come before you,
according to the greatness of your power. Preserve
those who are appointed to die, and return to
our neighbors sevenfold into their bosom. I hope
you enjoyed today's reading as much as I did,
and I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow
to continue on our journey. God bless you and
have a great day.