Deeds and Wonders of God

Excerpt from Educating for Hope by John Piper

"Now the second section of the psalm [Psalm 78] that we look at is verses 1–4, which we will call Asaph's act. We call it Asaph's act because these verses describe what Asaph does in response to God's work in verse 5. In a word, Asaph obeys the command of verse 5 and makes known God's will and work to the next generation.

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 which he has wrought.

The Deeds and Wonders of God

Two things stand out in these verses. One is that when Asaph teaches the coming generation, he focuses on the deeds and wonders of God, not first the commandments. Notice verse 4: " . . . tell to the coming generation the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might, and the wonders which he has wrought." This is why I said it would be important to remember that the testimony referred to in verse 5 is more than commandments.

The Ten Commandments begin, "I am the Lord your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage." So Asaph first declares to the next generation the great stories of rescue and judgment and the glorious deeds of God: like the ten plagues of frogs and gnats and flies and bloody water and darkness and hail, and like the dividing of the Red Sea and the miraculous manna and water from the rock, etc.

That's the first thing that stands out in Asaph's act: in obedience to God's command in verse 5, he teaches the next generation about the greatness of God rather than just about what God demands in his law."