“Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
I will open my mouth in a parable;
I will utter dark sayings from of old,
things that we have heard and known,
that our fathers have told us.
We will not hide them from their children,
but tell to the coming generation
the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,
and the wonders that he has done.
He established a testimony in Jacob
and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
to teach to their children,
that the next generation might know them,
the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
but keep his commandments;
and that they should not be like their fathers,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.” Psalm 78:1-8
As the children of God, we are called to give ear to the righteous teaching and testimony of God’s glorious deeds, might, and wonders. Why? In order to know Him, share Him, set hope in Him, obey Him, guard against stubborn rebellion, and remain steadfast and faithful. Nothing substitutes as the fuel and enabling of all these. And when we have taken in, we are are also to teach and tell. The repeated refrain of God’s testimony is vital for the spiritual health of all who are in Christ because our finicky flesh, in spite of all these, still sins and does not believe. (Psalm 78:32)
The Lord in His mercy applies the grace of the testimony to redeem us. What wonder! The word passed down takes root to develop the faith of another generation, and another, to the magnification of His glory. Truths remind us He is God and we are not, and fortify our hope in troubling times. (Psalm 42:5-6; Lamentations 3:21-24)
In what ways are we experiencing the power of the word at work in us as it convicts, molds, and supplies? Is our character being transformed from glory to glory, rude impatience giving way to patience, a cold heart glowing warm with divine love? What explicitly is God redeeming through His testimony in our lives? (Psalm 78:38-42; John 16:8; 2 Corinthians 3:18; Colossians 1:29; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; Hebrews 4:12)
As it takes ahold of us, how are we passing it on? When do we deliberately teach God’s truths and recite His deeds to our children, our colleagues, our friends? What role models are we emulating, and becoming?
“O to grace how great a debtor
daily I’m constrained to be!
Let that grace now, like a fetter,
bind my wandering heart to thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
prone to leave the God I love;
here’s my heart; O take and seal it;
seal it for thy courts above.” ~Robert Robinson (1758)
As a debtor to Your grace, Lord, may I be fully devoted to Your testimony, expressing in every word and way its power and glory.
As the rain and snow 