Life’s only real tragedies are the ones from which we learn nothing. Stumbling stones can be stepping stones.
Asaph is taking us to school. He will show us that even bad experiences can be good lessons, often the best of all. He writes that God “established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel” (Ps 78:5). These are the two consistent and corroborating signposts throughout life’s journey. The word “testimony” could be translated “witness,” and of course “law” is the Torah, the Word of God. As we experience changing circumstances, there are two constants: what God says in His Word, and how He acts toward us in grace and truth. This faithful pattern is our message to “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” (vv 5-7). Children, this is what God said. Then this is what He did. Do you see how they fit together? You can always count on God to say what He means and then do what He says. It’s just that simple. This is our pole star, our guiding light, our chart and compass, on the stormy passage from birth to death. The alternative? Yes, we have examples of that, too. We hope and pray they “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” (v 8). We can only follow our hearts when they have been recalibrated by God’s Word. Faithfulness is simply our daily obedience as we take each step in the way He has laid out for us. It’s not complicated, if only they will “set their hope in God, and…keep His commandments” (v 7). Let’s now join the Israelites as we “ponder the path of [their] feet” (Prov 4:26).