Psalms 78:34-55

When he cared for them they ignored him, but when he began to kill them, ending their lives in a moment, they came running back to God, pleading for mercy. They remembered that God, the Mighty One, was their strong protector, the Hero-God who would come to their rescue. But their repentance lasted only as long as they were in danger; they lied through their teeth to the true God of the Covenant. So quickly they wandered away from his promises, following God with their words and not their hearts! Their worship was only flattery. But amazingly, God—so full of compassion—still forgave them. He covered over their sins with his love, refusing to destroy them all. Over and over he held back his anger, restraining wrath to show them mercy. He knew that they were made from mere dust— frail, fragile, and short-lived, here today and gone tomorrow. How many times they rebelled in their desert days! How they grieved him with their grumblings. Again and again they limited God, preventing him from blessing them. Continually they turned back from him and provoked the Holy One of Israel! They forgot his great love, how he took them by his hand, and with redemption’s kiss he delivered them from their enemies. They disregarded all the epic signs and marvels they saw when they escaped from Egypt’s bondage. They forgot the judgment of the plagues that set them free. God turned their rivers into blood, leaving the people thirsty. He sent them vast swarms of filthy flies that sucked their blood. He sent hordes of frogs, ruining their lives. Grasshoppers consumed all their crops. Every garden and every orchard was flattened with blasts of hailstones, their fruit trees ruined by a killing frost. Even their cattle fell prey, pounded by the falling hail; their livestock were struck with bolts of lightning. Finally, he unleashed upon them the fierceness of his anger. Such fury! He sent them sorrow and devastating trouble by his mighty band of destroying angels; messengers of death were dispatched against them. He lifted his mercy and let loose his fearful anger and did not spare their lives. He released the judgment-plagues to rage through their land. God struck down in death all the firstborn sons of Egypt— the pride and joy of each family. Then, like a shepherd leading his sheep, God led his people out of tyranny, guiding them through the wilderness like a flock. Safely and carefully God led them out, with nothing to fear. But their enemies he led into the sea. He took care of them there once and for all! Eventually God brought his people to the Holy Land, to a land of hills that he had prepared for them. He drove out and scattered all the peoples occupying the land, staking out an inheritance, a portion for each of Israel’s tribes.