Today’s Reading, Psalms 78-79
Focal Scripture: Psalms 78:8 “Then they would not be like their ancestors, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation whose heart was not loyal and whose spirit was not faithful to God.”
Wise people learn from the mistakes of others. They take in all of the information and apply what they have seen, heard and witnessed to their own personal lives. They understand that learning from others can save them a lifetime of pain and regret. It can also teach them important lessons about people and how to handle hard situations in their lives.
In today’s reading we see that the nation of Israel is being called out in this Psalm. The writer is saying that to be wise they do not need to be like their ancestors. A group of people that were stubborn, rebellious, and did not have a spirit or heart that was focused on God. The writer wanted them to learn from the failures of the past and not live in such a way they repeated the same mistakes.
The challenge that we have as believers today is that we have the Bible to read and apply to our lives. Unfortunately, we don’t learn from the mistakes of others in that Bible. We know what it looks like to not put God first yet we struggle with it anyway. We see the poor decisions that others make when it comes to a devoted life and yet we choose to worship idols. We even see what happens when biblical standards are not upheld in homes and churches and yet it happens anyway.
However, it doesn’t have to be that way for us personally or collectively. As difficult as it can be, all we have to do is apply biblical standards and life lessons. For this to happen we have to check our ego at the door. We have to become a people that understands we have much to learn. Our humility must outweigh our intellect. Our desire to be more like Christ must overshadow our desire to be noticed.
I am not sure about you but I want to be known as wise. The only way this happens is by learning from others who have been where I desire to go spiritually. It also means learning from the mistakes and failures of others so I do not repeat them. I hope and pray that you and I both can have the spiritual maturity to follow God no matter the cost. Let us be a people who learns from the failures of others so we can be mature in Christ.
Tomorrow, I plan on reading Palms 80-85
