Faith@Home - Psalm 78

So Psalm 78 is a LONG Psalm. It has 72 verses in it. It was written by Asaph, a worship leader in Israel. Picture a guy with spiked hair, skinny jeans, and tattoos. Well, he probably didn’t look at all like that. But he was a good song writer. This one is a historical psalm. Asaph wrote this as an interpretation of Israel’s history, with a lesson for Israel to heed. He wrote it while looking back over several hundred years of Israel’s history.

Asaph looked back over Israel’s history and thought: If I could rewind history and change just ONE THING that would REVERSE THE DOWNWARD SLOPE OF SOCIETY, one thing to make everything better - I know our society would be in a better place, morality would be restored, our culture wouldn’t be so wicked, and even politically we would be much better off. What was the one thing he wished he could do to change culture?

For starters, it wasn’t government programming. “We need more social reform, better wages, less taxes, more benefits for the middle class…” Nope, Asaph’s solution for the moral decline of his nation did not concern the government. Nor was it the school system. We often hear things like “The more educated people are, the less likely they are to be poor, or lazy, or violent.” That may be statistically true, but reforming education will not alter the downward fall of society. And surprisingly, Asaph wasn’t after changing the church! (Yes I know there was no “church” in Asaph’s days, but for our purposes let’s call priest and temple stuff “the church”). No, it goes deeper than that. Asaph really believed that ONE THING could reverse the downward slope of society.

The Answer: Parents and Grandparents need to teach their faith to their kids at home.

That will do it. Mom and Dad, and Grandma and Granddad, need to go home and teach the Bible and the Christian faith to the next generation in their family.

Let’s all make a pact today and decide that we are going to do this ONE THING to reverse the downward slope of our society. Let’s agree that we’re going to stop griping about how bad things have gotten in this world, stop complaining about how ungodly the public school system is, stop whining about how nobody respects the Bible anymore, and instead let’s agree that we are all going to go home tonight and teach the Bible to our kids and grandkids and do family worship together. (Because we all know they are the only ones who can really change anything.)

I can’t change my country. I can’t change Texas. I can’t change Dallas or Lake Highlands. I can’t even change my apartment complex. Sadly, I can’t even change my floor of my apartment complex! But I can change what happens in MY apartment, and I can change that TODAY. By God’s grace, I can raise children who are fired up about the gospel, ready to charge Hell with a squirt gun, and maybe, just maybe, my family and progeny can make a positive impact on this world!

Here is how Asaph puts it in Psalm 78:3-4.

“What we have heard and known, what our fathers have told us. We will not HIDE them from their children; we will TELL the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, his power, and the wonders he has done.”

Parents, we unintentionally hide our faith from our kids, and then we wonder why they don’t care about God, the Bible, or church when they grow up. When reading that last sentence, our gut tells us “Hide God from my kids?! I take them to church almost every week!” But that’s the problem. If we go home and the only spiritual lesson we teach our kids is a 10 second prayer before mealtime, we’ve hidden the most important thing. I don’t know about you, but rather than “hiding” my faith, I’m sure going to “tell” my kids what the Bible is all about (Psalm 78:4).