Pastor Billington's Blog

Psalm 79:1-7 “A Psalm by Asaph. God, the nations have come into your inheritance. They have defiled your holy temple. They have laid Jerusalem in heaps. They have given the dead bodies of your servants to be food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your saints to the animals of the earth. They have shed their blood like water around Jerusalem. There was no one to bury them. We have become a reproach to our neighbors, a scoffing 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 don’t know you, on the kingdoms that don’t call on your name, for they have devoured Jacob, and destroyed his homeland.”

One day His people will once again cry out, “How long, Lord?”

Revelation 6:9-11 “When he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of those who had been killed for the Word of God, and for the testimony of the Lamb which they had. They cried with a loud voice, saying, ‘How long, Master, the holy and true, until you judge and avenge our blood on those who dwell on the earth?’ A long white robe was given to each of them. They were told that they should rest yet for a while, until their fellow servants and their brothers, who would also be killed even as they were, should complete their course.”

The reminder is, even when we long for God’s vengeance and vindication, He does it in His time, not ours!

For additional worship: Psalm 79 (Poor Bishop Hooper)

Psalm 78:65-72 “Then the Lord awakened as one out of sleep, like a mighty man who shouts by reason of wine. He struck his adversaries backward. He put them to a perpetual reproach. Moreover he rejected the tent of Joseph, and didn’t choose the tribe of Ephraim, But chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion which he loved. 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 ewes that have their young, he brought him to be the shepherd of Jacob, his people, and Israel, his inheritance. So he was their shepherd according to the integrity of his heart, and guided them by the skillfulness of his hands.”

God wasn’t really sleeping. It just seemed that way to those being disciplined! He was still working on behalf of His people, just not the way they expected. He chose David to lead them. Who better than a shepherd to shepherd His people? And what better way to describe Jesus than our shepherd?!?!?

John 10:11-18 “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. He who is a hired hand, and not a shepherd, who doesn’t own the sheep, sees the wolf coming, leaves the sheep, and flees. The wolf snatches the sheep and scatters them. The hired hand flees because he is a hired hand and doesn’t care for the sheep. I am the good shepherd. I know my own, and I’m known by my own; even as the Father knows me, and I know the Father. I lay down my life for the sheep. I have other sheep which are not of this fold. I must bring them also, and they will hear my voice. They will become one flock with one shepherd. Therefore the Father loves me, because I lay down my life, that I may take it again. No one takes it away from me, but I lay it down by myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. I received this commandment from my Father.”

For additional worship: Goodness, Love And Mercy (Chris Tomlin)

Psalm 78:56-64 “Yet they tempted and rebelled against the Most High God, and didn’t keep his testimonies, but turned back, and dealt treacherously like their fathers. They were twisted like a deceitful bow. For they provoked him to anger with their high places, and moved him to jealousy with their engraved images. When God heard this, he was angry, and greatly abhorred Israel, so that he abandoned the tent of Shiloh, the tent which he placed amongst men, and delivered his strength into captivity, his glory into the adversary’s hand. He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance. Fire devoured their young men. Their virgins had no wedding song. Their priests fell by the sword, and their widows couldn’t weep.”

After all that God had done for them the Israelites still engaged in idolatry. They worshipped images of other “gods” and set up shrines for them in the hills. Talk about stupid! His commands to them started with:

Exodus 20:3-6 “You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourselves an idol, nor any image of anything that is in the heavens above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth: you shall not bow yourself down to them, nor serve them, for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, on the third and on the fourth generation of those who hate me, and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.”

God is still jealous for His glory today! And not following His commands is the same as saying we want something else more than we want a relationship with Him.

1 Corinthians 10:14 “Therefore, my beloved, flee from idolatry.”

Colossians 3:5 “Put to death therefore your members which are on the earth: sexual immorality, uncleanness, depraved passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.”

For additional worship: God and God Alone (Chris Tomlin)

Psalm 78:52-55 “But he led out his own people like sheep, and guided them in the wilderness like a flock. He led them safely, so that they weren’t afraid, but the sea overwhelmed their enemies. He brought them to the border of his sanctuary, to this mountain, which his right hand had taken. He also drove out the nations before them, allotted them for an inheritance by line, and made the tribes of Israel to dwell in their tents.”

This should remind us of Psalm 23 and the promises that God has given to His children!

For additional worship: Psalm 23 (Phil Wickman)

Psalm 78:44-51 “he turned their rivers into blood, and their streams, so that they could not drink. He sent amongst them swarms of flies, which devoured them; and frogs, which destroyed them. He also gave their increase to the caterpillar, and their labor to the locust. He destroyed their vines with hail, their sycamore fig trees with frost. He also gave over their livestock to the hail, and their flocks to hot thunderbolts. He threw on them the fierceness of his anger, wrath, indignation, and trouble, and a band of angels of evil. He made a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their soul from death, but gave their life over to the pestilence, and struck all the firstborn in Egypt, the chief of their strength in the tents of Ham.”

God showed His love for Israel by bringing them out of Egypt and displaying His wrath against the Egyptians.

God shows His love for us by expending His wrath for our sin on Jesus and bringing us into His kingdom!

Romans 5:8-9 “But God commends his own love towards us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we will be saved from God’s wrath through him.”

James 2:5 “Listen, my beloved brothers. Didn’t God choose those who are poor in this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the Kingdom which he promised to those who love him?”

For additional worship: In Christ Alone (Keith & Kristyn Getty)

Psalm 78:38-43 “But he, being merciful, forgave iniquity, and didn’t destroy them. Yes, many times he turned his anger away, and didn’t stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again. How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness, and grieved him in the desert! They turned again and tempted God, and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They didn’t remember his hand, nor the day when he redeemed them from the adversary; how he set his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the field of Zoan,”

What’s amazing about the Israelites is the number of times God didn’t punish them! Although God was disappointed and upset at their disobedience, it didn’t stir up ALL His wrath. Grace was the order of the day, until it became apparent that they needed a lesson in His authority and sovereignty. Hopefully we don’t need that kind of reminder today.

For additional worship: The King Of Love My Shepherd Is (Hymns of Grace)

Psalm 78:32-37 “For all this they still sinned, and didn’t believe in his wondrous works. Therefore he consumed their days in vanity, and their years in terror. When he killed them, then they enquired after him. They returned and sought God earnestly. They remembered that God was their rock, the Most High God, their redeemer. But they flattered him with their mouth, and lied to him with their tongue. For their heart was not right with him, neither were they faithful in his covenant.”

What a depressing cycle. The Israelites were punished for their sin, but they still didn’t trust and follow. It was only when the punishment became severe that they were willing to repent, but that only lasted for a season. It’s like a kid saying they’re sorry when they’re caught, but they go back to their bad behavior the minute they think they can get away with it again. The key here is the heart. Behavior changes when the heart changes, and we have an advantage that they didn’t have. We have the Holy Spirit to help our hearts change!

Romans 8:9-11 “But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if it is so that the Spirit of God dwells in you. But if any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he is not his. If Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is alive because of righteousness. But if the Spirit of him who raised up Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised up Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you.”

For additional worship: Breathe On Me Breath Of God (Acoustic Hymn with Lyrics)

Psalm 78:25-31 “Man ate the bread of angels. He sent them food to the full. He caused the east wind to blow in the sky. By his power he guided the south wind. He also rained meat on them as the dust, winged birds as the sand of the seas. He let them fall in the middle of their camp, around their habitations. So they ate, and were well filled. He gave them their own desire. They didn’t turn from their cravings. Their food was yet in their mouths, when the anger of God went up against them, killed some of their strongest, and struck down the young men of Israel.”

A continuation from yesterday. Don’t let your desire for more blind you to the blessings you already have!

For additional worship: Count Your Blessings (folksandhymns)