Why does God place us in families? – Psalm 78:1-8

Good morning, church! Hope you’re well. As you all know, it’s Baby Jason’s dedication today, and as a church, we couldn’t be more thrilled for Vijay, Sharon, and Jason. The dedication will happen a little later, but the occasion of a dedication gives us a good opportunity to get some instruction on family life.

So today we’ll take a pause from our Job series and try to answer this question: Why does God place us in families? What is God’s purpose in family life? Specifically, what’s God’s purpose in parenting?

Because when you look at the world around you, it’ll give a wide range of answers. When you talk about family life and children, a lot of people will tell you that it’s because of social expectations. You’ll hear things like “You’ve been married for a few years, so when’s the baby coming?” It’s social pressure or social expectation which makes us think about having children. If we don’t have children, then that’s going to invite a lot of questions from people around us.

Another reason that was true of our parent’s generation was that they saw their children as an investment. They would invest heavily in their education, giving them the best that they could with the hope that their children would one day become really successful and repay the favor. This investment that they’ve made in their children would reap multiplying dividends.

And then there’s a reason that is more common to our generation which is viewing children as a means to prove our self worth. I’m going to raise my children as a personal project of mine so that at the end of the day people will recognize and appreciate me for being a standout dad or mom to my kid. I’m proving my self worth through my children. The worst thing that could happen to me is for my children to make me look bad in front of others.

There could be many more reasons that you’ll find on why people choose to have families, choose to have children. But there could also be reasons to not have children which is increasingly becoming the case among people living in urban cities.

One of the reasons is financial strain – “How can we take care of another human being in such an expensive world? We only have enough for ourselves, and if we have children, that’s going to add a financial strain in our lives.” Another reason is the fear of losing our freedom – “Right now there’s a lot of freedom & space that we experience as a couple. That will be taken away from us the moment we have children. It’s too much of a responsibility”. So children are viewed as a burden rather than a gift to the family. 

Where am I going with this? I want all of us to take a minute to analyze what we think is the purpose of a family? Some of us are already parents here. Some others would be parents sometime in the future. If you’re neither of these two, you definitely know someone who is a parent right now. It’s something that all of us can relate to: What’s God’s purpose in parenting?

That’s what we’ll try to address this morning as we look at Psalm 78. Before we proceed, I’d love to pray for us.

Pray

This Psalm was written by Asaph who was a worship leader in David’s time. He wrote 12 Psalms and some were songs that were sung by the whole congregation. In fact if we see the caption under the title of this Psalm, it says a “maskil” by Asaph. It was probably a note or a scale on which the song was being sung. Almost like it was saying “to be sung on E minor”.

This was most likely a song that was regularly sung by the congregation. For us modern day believers, this would seem like a strange, unusual worship song. It probably wouldn’t make it to our worship setlist. Why? Because a lot of it, especially the latter part of Psalm 78 talks about sin, rebellion, God’s judgment.

We’re not used to hearing these themes being preached, let alone singing about it during worship. And yet in David’s time, they had no such problem. Singing songs during worship wasn’t about feeling good or experiencing an emotional high. Singing songs of worship was a time of instruction where their hearts were being instructed on how to be faithful to God.

The context is that this was an instructive, warning worship song. Within this instructive, warning worship song, it addresses the question: Why does God place us in families? What is God’s purpose in parenting?

1. Parents are God’s instruments to reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord (V1-4)

1 Give ear, O my people, to my teaching;
    incline your ears to the words of my mouth!
2 I will open my mouth in a parable;
    I will utter dark sayings from of old,
3 things that we have heard and known,
    that our fathers have told us.
4 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 that he has done.

The Psalm starts out by Asaph calling for people’s attention in V1. He’s urging people to pay careful attention to what he’s about to say. There’s an urgency to what he’s saying. This is absolutely critical for God’s people to know. He’s basically telling them “You need to drop what you’re doing and pay close attention!”

In V2, it says that he “will utter dark sayings from of old”. What are these dark sayings? When we use the word “dark” we refer to subjects that are sinister or evil or disturbing. But that’s not what is referred to out here. It’s referring to “difficult to understand” subjects, perplexing topics that when God’s people spend time talking about it, it will prove to be beneficial to them.

And in V3, he clarifies that this isn’t “brand new information”. This is not “breaking news”. These are stories about God which their forefathers have considered to be so important, so significant that they have delicately passed it down through generations.

In V4, Psalmist is saying that it’s not just relevant for our generation, it’s relevant for the next generation as well. That’s why we are not going to keep this hidden from them. The next generation ought to know this. What is that?

the glorious deeds of the Lord, and his might,

    and the wonders that he has done.

Notice it doesn’t just say “deeds of the Lord”. It says “glorious deeds of the Lord”. The deeds of the Lord that He’s performed for His people are nothing short of glorious. These are praiseworthy actions. These are astounding feats. As you look through OT history, these are unbelievable deeds that God has actually done. Parting the Red Sea so that His people could walk on dry ground. Feeding His people with manna from heaven for 40 years every single day.

It goes on to say “and his might, and the wonders that he has done”. The glorious deeds of the Lord reveal His might and power. If we all read the miraculous accounts in the Bible, we would be left with only two choices – either it’s all a lie – too good to be true OR it’s actually true and that the God of the Bible is all-powerful, almighty God! One of the amazing stories in the Bible is that God made the sun stand still for an entire day so that God’s people could defeat their enemies. For 24 hours, the sun didn’t go down. Either it’s a lie or it’s true and the God of the Bible is the all powerful, almighty God. Josh 10:14 – that passage ends by stating “Surely God was fighting for Israel”.

But what does this have to do with parenting you may ask? Parents have a unique calling to be used as an instrument of God to reveal these glorious deeds of the Lord to their children! Take a moment to allow this to sink in. It’s not the Sunday School teachers role, it’s the parent’s role to reveal these glorious deeds of the Lord to their children so that they can step back and be amazed and at wonder thinking about the God of the Bible.

When was the last time we saw our children amazed thinking about the God of the Bible? When was the last time we saw wonder in the eyes of our children as they thought about the God of the Bible? Oftentimes our children aren’t amazed, because they don’t see the amazement and wonder in our eyes as parents. They probably see more excitement, more amazement, more wonder in our eyes for a great sportsperson or celebrity or businessmen but they simply don’t see that when we talk about God.

And so this is deeply convicting because we need to acknowledge that we are sometimes the barrier in keeping God’s glorious deeds from our children. Our confession and prayer should be this “God, would you please help me stand at wonder and amazement at glorious deeds first? Help me to be so amazed by it that comes through as I tell my children about You”.

Not only are Parents are God’s instruments to reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord but

 2. Parents are God’s instruments to set children’s hope in God (V5-8)

5 He established a testimony in Jacob
    and appointed a law in Israel,
which he commanded our fathers
    to teach to their children,
6 that the next generation might know them,
    the children yet unborn,
and arise and tell them to their children,
7 so that they should set their hope in God
and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.

V5 & 6 tell us that it’s not only the glorious deeds of the Lord which need to be taught to our children, it’s also the commands of the Lord which needs to be taught to them. By teaching them the commands, we’re giving them a picture of what it means to be in relationship with Holy God. We’re communicating to our children who is the real boss of our home – are we the boss or is God the boss? We’re revealing to our kids whose approval matters the most in our home – does our approval matter the most or is it God’s approval?

As believers, we’re not obeying God’s commands and teaching our kids to do the same to get God to love and accept us. No, we’re already fully loved and accepted because of the best, perfect work that Jesus did for us. But we obey God’s commands out of loving service. Jesus said in John 14:15 “If you love me, keep my commands. “He is my Master and I love Him” – that’s why we obey Him & that’s why we teach our kids to do so as well.

And what is the Psalmist saying will be achieved by teaching commands to our children? V7. They would set their hope in God. Parents cannot save their children, only the Lord can save their children. But what parents can do is prepare the soil for children to have ample opportunities to place their hope and trust in God. When parents out of obedience make radical choices for their families which seem crazy to the rest of the world, it’ll prepare the soil for their children to have ample opportunities to place their hope in God.

This time of the year is a little tough on our kids because they see their friends participating in many activities revolving around idols. It’s hard on them because they feel like they are missing out but at the same time it’s opening up many opportunities to have conversations with our children on why we can’t participate – it’s because we love and worship our God. We believe that somewhere deep in their hearts, God will use this to prepare the soil to have ample opportunities to put their hope in God.

And the Psalmist goes on to say “and not forget the works of God,
    but keep his commandments;
8 and that they should not be like their fathers,
    a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
    whose spirit was not faithful to God.”

Psalmist’s main concern is forgetfulness and how that translates to gradual unfaithfulness. His concern is that if the parents don’t consistently remind their children of God’s glorious deeds and commands, that they would forget the Lord and gradually become unfaithful to Him. The history of Israel actually revealed that so clearly. Psalmist gives many examples of this in the following verses:

9 The Ephraimites, armed with the bow,
    turned back on the day of battle.
10 They did not keep God’s covenant,
    but refused to walk according to his law.

11 They forgot his works
    and the wonders that he had shown them.

Have you ever considered how dangerous forgetfulness is to your & your children’s spiritual life? Maybe initially, there was this zeal and priority that was placed on God and the things of God. But then, as life gets more complicated, busier, more stuff is added into our schedule, which now competes with our time with God and the things of God. And next thing you know is forgetfulness – where we forget the promises of God, the work of God that He did for us, we forget the call of God to live a holy life, we forget the people of God and eventually that leads us to forgetting God Himself.

So what’s the antidote? God knows that we are forgetful so He’s given us so many means of grace by which we can remember Him. He’s given us His Word. He’s given us our church family. He’s given us the Lord’s Supper by saying “Do this in remembrance of me”. These are all means of grace to keep us from forgetting and being unfaithful to the Lord.

Parents, make sure those guard rails are put in place for yourself and your children so that you are fighting the tendency to forget God and the things of God. We are God’s instruments to set our children’s hope in God.

Brothers and sisters, as we studied today, it’s such a huge calling and privilege to be chosen as tools and instruments of God in the lives of our children. God’s purpose in using us is is two fold:

• To reveal the glorious deeds of the Lord
• To set children’s hope in God

Is that easy for us to do? No. If we’re honest, both of these are impossible to do on our own strength. We know how our own pride and selfishness keeps us from being used as God’s instruments to our children. So we need grace – Grace to first be able to acknowledge our helplessness (parents tend to think they are self sufficient). Grace that makes us run to Jesus for forgiveness (because we will mess up often). Grace to surrender ourselves to God’s purpose in parenting (our tendency is to follow our own purposes. )