The Grammar of Remembrance Text: Psalm 78:12-16
Introduction: The Sin of Amnesia
We live in a generation that has made a virtue of forgetting. Our culture is not just adrift; it has deliberately thrown its historical maps and compasses overboard, assuming that it can navigate the deeps of reality by the flickering light of its own immediate desires. We are told to "live your truth" as though truth were something you invent in the moment, rather than something you inherit, something that has been delivered. But the Scriptures teach us that the root of apostasy, the very seedbed of rebellion, is the sin of forgetfulness. When a people forgets what God has done, they will inevitably forget who God is, and consequently, they will forget who they are.
Psalm 78 is a long and sober history lesson, a multi-generational epic poem. It is what Asaph calls a maskil, a psalm of instruction. And the central lesson is this: tell your children what God has done. Recount His mighty acts. Drill them in the grammar of His faithfulness. Why? So that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments. Hope, memory, and obedience are a three-legged stool. Kick one leg out, and the whole thing comes crashing down. The reason our culture is a mess of disobedience is because it is a culture of amnesia, which has resulted in a culture of hopelessness.
In the verses before us today, the psalmist begins to unpack the highlight reel of God's mighty deeds. He is not just listing facts for a history quiz. He is laying down the foundation stones of Israel's identity and calling. These are not just stories; they are covenantal realities. These are the mighty acts that constituted them as a people. To forget these things was not just a memory lapse; it was spiritual suicide. And for us, as the Israel of God, grafted into this same story, it is just as essential that we remember. For these events are not dead history; they are living typography, shadows and patterns that find their ultimate substance and meaning in the Lord Jesus Christ.
The Text
He did wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan.
He split the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the waters stand up like a heap.
Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire.
He was splitting the rocks in the wilderness And so gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths.
He brought forth streams also from the cliff face And caused waters to run down like rivers.
(Psalm 78:12-16 LSB)
God's Public Miracles (v. 12)
The psalmist begins his recital of God's mighty acts where the story of redemption kicks into high gear: in Egypt.
"He did wonders before their fathers In the land of Egypt, in the field of Zoan." (Psalm 78:12)
Notice the nature of these wonders. They were not done in a corner. They were public, undeniable, and aimed squarely at the heart of a pagan superpower. "The field of Zoan" refers to a major city in the Nile Delta, a seat of Pharaonic power. God did not perform these miracles in some remote wilderness for a private audience. He stepped onto the world stage and picked a fight with the most powerful empire on earth and all its pretended gods. Each of the ten plagues was a direct assault on a specific Egyptian deity. The god of the Nile was turned to blood. The sun god Ra was blotted out by darkness. This was theological warfare. God was demonstrating, in the most dramatic way possible, His absolute sovereignty over all creation and over all the pathetic idols men erect in rebellion against Him.
This is a foundational lesson for us. God's power is not a private, sentimental feeling. It is an objective, historical reality that intrudes into time and space and rearranges the furniture. Our faith is not based on a philosophy, but on a series of historical events: God did certain things at certain times in certain places. He did wonders in the field of Zoan. He did a greater wonder in a tomb outside Jerusalem. Christianity is historical, which is why our secularist opponents must dedicate so much energy to rewriting history. They know that if these things really happened, they are not free to invent their own reality.
God's Impossible Salvation (v. 13)
From the judgment on Egypt, the psalmist moves to the great act of deliverance.
"He split the sea and caused them to pass through, And He made the waters stand up like a heap." (Psalm 78:13)
This is the central, defining miracle of the Old Testament. Israel was trapped, with the sea before them and the most powerful army in the world behind them. There was no military solution. There was no diplomatic solution. There was no human solution at all. And this is precisely where God loves to work. He brings His people to the end of their own resources so that they are forced to look to Him alone. He doesn't just help those who help themselves; He saves those who cannot help themselves at all.
The language here is emphatic. God "split the sea." The waters were not just rolled back by a convenient wind; they were made to "stand up like a heap." This is the language of raw, omnipotent power. God suspended the laws of nature that He Himself wrote. This was not a lucky break; it was a creative act. The God who created the world by His word here uncreates and recreates a pathway through the deep. This event is the Old Testament picture of salvation. It is a picture of baptism. As Paul says in 1 Corinthians, they were "baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea." They went down into the water and came up on the other side a new nation, leaving their old life of slavery drowned behind them. And this points us directly to Christ, who passed through the deep waters of death and judgment on the cross, and came out the other side in resurrection, creating a path for us to follow, from the slavery of sin into the freedom of the people of God.
God's Personal Presence (v. 14)
Having saved them, God did not then abandon them to find their own way.
"Then He led them with the cloud by day And all the night with a light of fire." (Genesis 78:14)
This was not a distant, deistic God who wound up the world and let it run. This was God tabernacling with His people. The pillar of cloud and fire was the visible manifestation of the presence of God Himself, what the later rabbis would call the Shekinah glory. It was their GPS, their sunshade, their heater, and their bodyguard. By day, the cloud shielded them from the brutal desert sun. By night, the fire gave them light and warmth and kept the predators at bay. It was a constant, undeniable reminder that Jehovah was with them.
This is a picture of God's moment-by-moment guidance in the life of the believer. He does not just save us and then hand us a map and wish us good luck. He leads us. The Holy Spirit is our cloud and fire. He guides us through the Word, He illuminates our path, He convicts us of sin, He comforts us in our afflictions. The Christian life is not a matter of trying to find God, but of learning to follow the God who is already with us. He has promised, "I will never leave you nor forsake you." Our task is to keep our eyes on the cloud.
God's Lavish Provision (v. 15-16)
Finally, the psalmist recalls God's provision for their physical needs in a barren land.
"He was splitting the rocks in the wilderness And so gave them abundant drink like the ocean depths. He brought forth streams also from the cliff face And caused waters to run down like rivers." (Psalm 78:15-16)
Again, notice the extremity of the situation. They are in a wilderness, a place of death, and they are thirsty. There is no water. And God does not just provide a trickle. He provides "abundant drink like the ocean depths." He causes streams to run down "like rivers." This is not the language of bare subsistence; it is the language of lavish, overflowing grace. And where does it come from? It comes from a rock. God brings life out of the most lifeless, unpromising source imaginable.
The apostle Paul tells us exactly what this rock was a picture of. "For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ" (1 Corinthians 10:4). In the first instance, at Horeb, Moses was told to strike the rock. And this was a picture of Christ, who would be struck by the rod of God's law and judgment on the cross. And from His smitten side would flow living water for a thirsty world. Later, at Kadesh, when the people grumbled again, Moses was told to speak to the rock. But in his anger, he struck it twice. The water still came, because God is gracious, but Moses was barred from the promised land for this act of disobedience. Why? Because he marred the type. Christ was to be struck once for all. Now, we do not need to strike Him again; we simply come to Him and speak. We ask, and we receive.
Conclusion: Remember and Believe
These are the things Israel was commanded to remember. The wonders of judgment against God's enemies. The miracle of salvation through impossible circumstances. The comfort of His constant presence. The lavishness of His provision from the smitten rock. And what was their response? The rest of the psalm tells the sad story: "Yet they still continued to sin against Him... they put God to the test... they spoke against God" (vv. 17-19).
They saw the wonders, but they did not believe the God of the wonders. They drank the water, but they did not trust the Rock from which it flowed. And this is the great warning for us. It is possible to be surrounded by the evidences of God's grace and still have a heart of unbelief. It is possible to sing the songs of deliverance and still be a slave to your own appetites.
The purpose of this history lesson is not to make us feel superior to stiff-necked Israel. It is to make us look to the true Israel, Jesus Christ. He is the one who remembered His Father perfectly. He is the one who trusted His Father perfectly. He is the one who obeyed His Father perfectly. All of these mighty acts of God in the Old Testament were signposts pointing to Him. He is the greater wonder who judged the gods of this world at the cross. He is the greater Moses who leads His people through the waters of baptism and death into a new creation. He is the true pillar of cloud and fire, the light of the world who guides us home. He is the Rock, struck for us, from whom flows the living water of the Holy Spirit.
Therefore, let us do what Israel failed to do. Let us remember. Let us set our hope in God. Let us tell the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, so that they too may not forget, but believe.