The Covenant Relay Race: Text: Psalm 78:1-8
Introduction: The Great Amnesia
We live in a generation that has been systematically taught to forget. Our secularist schoolmasters, our progressive politicians, and our therapeutic pulpits have all conspired together to induce a great cultural amnesia. They want us to forget where we came from, because if you don't know where you came from, you won't know where you are going, and you will be very easy to lead. A man with no history is a man with no identity, and a man with no identity can be molded into anything the state desires. He is a lump of clay for the social engineers to shape into their latest utopian fantasy.
This is why the first thing every revolution does is tear down the statues, rewrite the history books, and rename the streets. They must erase the memory of the fathers to capture the hearts of the sons. They want to sever the great chain of being that links one generation to the next, leaving each new generation isolated, adrift, and vulnerable. They tell our children that their fathers were fools, their grandfathers were monsters, and that history is nothing more than a long, dark tale of oppression. The goal is to produce a generation of historical orphans.
Into this deliberate fog of forgetfulness, Psalm 78 speaks with the force of a divine command. This psalm is a history lesson, but it is not a dry recitation of dates and names. It is a covenantal summons to remember. It is God, through the psalmist Asaph, grabbing His people by the lapels and telling them that their very survival depends on their memory. To forget the deeds of God is to abandon the covenant. To neglect to teach your children the story of God's dealings with His people is to commit generational treason. This is not a suggestion for a sentimental family tradition; it is a divine mandate, the central pillar of covenant succession.
The modern evangelical church, with its obsession with the "now" and its disdain for anything that smells of tradition or history, has been complicit in this great forgetting. We have traded the deep, rich, and sometimes bloody story of God's faithfulness for shallow, entertaining experiences. We have given our children felt-graph stories and VeggieTales, when what they needed was the iron of redemptive history. We have taught them that faith is a personal decision, a private leap in the dark, when the Bible presents it as a corporate inheritance, a baton to be passed in a great relay race. Psalm 78 is the rulebook for that race.
The Text
Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will pour forth dark sayings of old, Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have recounted to us. We will not conceal them from their children, But recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, And His strength and His wondrous deeds that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob And set a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and recount them to their children, That they should set their confidence in God And not forget the deeds of God, But observe His commandments, And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God.
(Psalm 78:1-8 LSB)
The Call to Attention (vv. 1-3)
The psalm begins with a formal, authoritative call to listen. This is not casual conversation.
"Give ear, O my people, to my instruction; Incline your ears to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth in a parable; I will pour forth dark sayings of old, Which we have heard and known, And our fathers have recounted to us." (Psalm 78:1-3)
Asaph speaks here as a prophet, as God's mouthpiece. He calls them "my people," and the instruction he gives is God's Torah, His law. This is a covenant lawsuit in poetic form. The people are being called to the witness stand to hear the testimony of their own history. The command to "incline your ears" is a demand for focused, submissive attention. We live in the age of distraction, where our attention is fractured into a thousand pieces by glowing screens. The first act of piety is to learn to be still and listen to the Word of God.
He says he will speak in a "parable" and pour forth "dark sayings of old." This doesn't mean he is going to be obscure or confusing. The apostle Matthew quotes verse 2 to explain why Jesus taught in parables (Matt. 13:35). A parable is a story that reveals and conceals at the same time. To the humble, it reveals the secrets of the kingdom. To the proud, it is just a story, and its true meaning remains dark. This history of Israel is a parable of God's dealings with all His people. It is a story with a deep structure, a hidden logic, that can only be understood by faith.
And where do these sayings come from? They are not new revelations. They are the old stories, "which we have heard and known, and our fathers have recounted to us." This is crucial. Truth is not discovered; it is received. We are not pioneers cutting a new path through the jungle; we are heirs receiving an inheritance. The modern world is obsessed with novelty, with the "latest thing." But the church is built on "the faith which was once for all delivered to the saints" (Jude 3). Our task is not innovation, but preservation and proclamation. We are stewards of a sacred tradition, a story passed down from father to son.
The Unbreakable Chain (vv. 4-6)
The psalmist now lays out the non-negotiable duty of generational transmission.
"We will not conceal them from their children, But recount to the generation to come the praises of Yahweh, And His strength and His wondrous deeds that He has done. For He established a testimony in Jacob And set a law in Israel, Which He commanded our fathers That they should teach them to their children, That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, That they may arise and recount them to their children." (Psalm 78:4-6)
The resolution here is fierce: "We will not conceal them." To fail to teach your children is not a simple oversight; it is an act of concealment. It is hiding the truth. It is robbing your children of their birthright. And what is this treasure we are commanded to pass on? It is a three-fold cord: the praises of Yahweh, His strength, and His wondrous deeds. We are to teach our children theology (who God is), history (what God has done), and doxology (how to praise Him for it). This is the core curriculum of a Christian education. It is not about making them nice, or successful, or well-adjusted. It is about teaching them to see all of reality in relation to the God who made it and redeemed it.
This is not a human idea. This educational project was "established" and "set" by God Himself. It is a legal requirement of the covenant. The command to teach was given to the fathers. This is a patriarchal responsibility. While mothers are essential partners in this work, the ultimate accountability before God rests on the shoulders of the fathers. A father who outsources the spiritual training of his children to the Sunday School, the youth group, or even the Christian school has abdicated his primary calling.
And look at the multi-generational vision. The fathers teach the children, so that the "generation to come might know," including the "children yet to be born." And what are they supposed to do once they know? They are to "arise and recount them to their children." This is a perpetual motion machine of covenant faithfulness. It is a relay race where the baton of truth is passed from one generation to the next, and the next, and the next. This is God's plan for the expansion of His kingdom. It is not primarily through mass evangelism crusades, but through the patient, day-in, day-out discipleship that happens around the dinner table, in family worship, and in the ordinary rhythms of a covenant household.
The Goal of the Story (v. 7)
Verse 7 gives us the ultimate purpose, the intended outcome of this generational teaching.
"That they should set their confidence in God And not forget the deeds of God, But observe His commandments." (Psalm 78:7)
Here we see the biblical equivalent of head, heart, and hands. The goal is, first, that they should "set their confidence in God." The Hebrew word for confidence is hope. The stories of God's mighty acts in the past are the fuel for our hope for the future. When a child knows the story of the Exodus, he knows that God is a God who saves His people from bondage. When he knows the story of David and Goliath, he knows that God can defeat giants. When he knows the story of the cross and resurrection, he knows that God can conquer sin and death. History is the anchor of our hope. Without it, our faith is just wishful thinking.
Second, the goal is that they "not forget the deeds of God." This is the opposite of setting their confidence. To remember is to hope; to forget is to despair. The battle for our souls is a battle for our memory. Satan is constantly trying to make us forget what God has done, both in redemptive history and in our own lives. This is why we have the sacraments. Baptism and the Lord's Supper are visible stories, tangible reminders of the deeds of God on our behalf.
Third, the goal is that they "observe His commandments." True hope and true memory always lead to obedience. Faith and works are not at odds; they are two sides of the same coin. If you truly believe that God rescued you from Egypt, you will obey the laws He gave you at Sinai. If you truly believe Jesus died for your sins, you will strive to live a life that is pleasing to Him. Obedience is the fruit of a heart that is confident in God because it has not forgotten His deeds. Any "faith" that does not result in obedience is a dead faith, a useless historical footnote.
The Negative Example (v. 8)
The psalmist concludes this introduction by holding up the fathers as a warning.
"And not be like their fathers, A stubborn and rebellious generation, A generation that did not prepare its heart And whose spirit was not faithful to God." (Psalm 78:8)
This is a startling twist. The fathers are the ones who are supposed to tell the story, but they are also the cautionary tale. The point of telling the story is so that the children will not be like the fathers who failed to live it. This is not a call to dishonor your parents. It is a call to learn from their mistakes. A wise son learns from his father's wisdom, but he also learns from his father's folly.
The fathers' failure is described in four ways. They were "stubborn," like a stiff-necked ox that refuses to be led. They were "rebellious," actively resisting God's authority. Their generation "did not prepare its heart," meaning their worship was external and their hearts were not rightly oriented toward God. And finally, "their spirit was not faithful to God." They broke covenant. They were unfaithful to their divine husband.
This is the great danger that every generation faces. It is possible to have the stories, to know the law, to go through the motions of religion, and yet have a heart that is far from God. It is possible to be a link in the chain that breaks. The rest of Psalm 78 goes on to detail the specific ways in which that generation failed, serving as a long and sober warning to all who would come after.
Conclusion: Your Place in the Story
This psalm forces a question upon every one of us, particularly upon every father. Are you a faithful link in the chain, or are you a broken one? Are you diligently recounting the praises of Yahweh to your children, or are you concealing them through your silence, your hypocrisy, or your apathy?
The great story that begins in this psalm does not end with the failures of Israel in the wilderness. This story is a parable that points to a greater reality. The ultimate "wondrous deed" of God was the sending of His Son, Jesus Christ. He is the perfect Son who was not stubborn or rebellious. He is the one whose heart was always prepared and whose spirit was always faithful. He is the one who perfectly remembered and obeyed His Father.
And through His death and resurrection, He has made us part of this story. We have been grafted into the olive tree of Israel. Their history is our history. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob is our God. The story of the Exodus is our story of redemption from sin. The story of the wilderness is our story of sanctification.
Therefore, the command of this psalm comes to us with even greater force. We have a better story to tell. We have seen the fulfillment of all the "dark sayings of old." We have seen the strength of God not just in parting the Red Sea, but in breaking the bonds of death. We have seen His wondrous deeds not just in the manna from heaven, but in the bread and wine of the new covenant.
So, fathers, tell the story. Tell it at breakfast. Tell it at dinner. Tell it in the car. Tell it when you rise up and when you lie down. Drench your children in the great narrative of redemption. Do not hide it from them. For in doing so, you are not just teaching them history. You are giving them a world. You are teaching them their name. You are setting their confidence in God. You are arming them for the battles to come. And you are ensuring that the praises of our God will echo into the generation to come, and the one after that, until the Lord returns.