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Psalms 77:20
You led your people like a flock. You led them by the hands of Moses and Aaron.
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Psalms 105:39-41
The Lord spread out a cloud to cover his people. He gave them a fire to light up the night.They asked for meat, and he brought them quail. He fed them well with manna, the bread of heaven.He broke open a rock, and streams of water poured out. They flowed like a river in the desert.
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Psalms 78:14-72
He guided them with the cloud during the day. He led them with the light of a fire all night long.He broke the rocks open in the desert. He gave them as much water as there is in the oceans.He brought streams out of a rocky cliff. He made water flow down like rivers.But they continued to sin against him. In the desert they refused to obey the Most High God.They were stubborn and tested God. They ordered him to give them the food they wanted.They spoke against God. They said,“ Can God really put food on a table in the desert?It is true that he struck the rock, and streams of water poured out. Huge amounts of water flowed down. But can he also give us bread? Can he supply meat for his people?”When the Lord heard what they said, he was very angry. His anger broke out like fire against the people of Jacob. He became very angry with Israel.That was because they didn’t believe in God. They didn’t trust in his power to save them.But he gave a command to the skies above. He opened the doors of the heavens.He rained down manna for the people to eat. He gave them the grain of heaven.Mere human beings ate the bread of angels. He sent them all the food they could eat.He made the east wind blow from the heavens. By his power he caused the south wind to blow.He rained down meat on them like dust. He sent them birds like sand on the seashore.He made the birds come down inside their camp. The birds fell all around their tents.People ate until they couldn’t eat any more. He gave them what they had wanted.But even before they had finished eating, God acted. He did it while the food was still in their mouths.His anger rose up against them. He put to death the strongest among them. He struck down Israel’s young men.But even after all that, they kept on sinning. Even after the wonderful things he had done, they still didn’t believe.So he brought their days to an end like a puff of smoke. He ended their years with terror.Every time God killed some of them, the others would seek him. They gladly turned back to him again.They remembered that God was their Rock. They remembered that God Most High had set them free.But they didn’t mean it when they praised him. They lied to him when they spoke.They turned away from him. They weren’t faithful to the covenant he had made with them.But he was full of tender love. He forgave their sins and didn’t destroy his people. Time after time he held back his anger. He didn’t let all his burning anger blaze out.He remembered that they were only human. He remembered they were only a breath of air that drifts by and doesn’t return.How often they refused to obey him in the desert! How often they caused him sorrow in that dry and empty land!Again and again they tested God. They made the Holy One of Israel sad and angry.They didn’t remember his power. They forgot the day he set them free from those who had treated them so badly.They forgot how he had shown them his signs in Egypt. They forgot his miracles in the area of Zoan.He turned the river of Egypt into blood. The people of Egypt couldn’t drink water from their streams.He sent large numbers of flies that bit them. He sent frogs that destroyed their land.He gave their crops to the grasshoppers. He gave their food to the locusts.He destroyed their vines with hail. He destroyed their fig trees with sleet.He killed their cattle with hail. Their livestock were struck by lightning.Because he was so angry with Egypt, he caused them to have great trouble. In his great anger he sent destroying angels against them.God prepared a path for his anger. He didn’t spare their lives. He gave them over to the plague.He killed the oldest son of each family in Egypt. He struck down the oldest son in every house in the land of Ham.But he brought his people out like a flock. He led them like sheep through the desert.He guided them safely, and they weren’t afraid. But the Red Sea swallowed up their enemies.And so he brought his people to the border of his holy land. He led them to the central hill country he had taken by his power.He drove out the nations to make room for his people. He gave to each family a piece of land to pass on to their children. He gave the tribes of Israel a place to make their homes.But they tested God. They refused to obey the Most High God. They didn’t keep his laws.They were like their people who lived long ago. They turned away from him and were not faithful. They were like a bow that doesn’t shoot straight. They couldn’t be trusted.They made God angry by going to their high places. They made him jealous by worshiping the statues of their gods.When God saw what the people were doing, he was very angry. He turned away from them completely.He deserted the holy tent at Shiloh. He left the tent he had set up among his people.He allowed the ark to be captured. Into the hands of his enemies he sent the ark where his glory rested.He let his people be killed by swords. He was very angry with them.Fire destroyed their young men. Their young women had no one to marry.Their priests were killed by swords. Their widows weren’t able to weep.Then the Lord woke up as if he had been sleeping. He was like a warrior waking up from the deep sleep caused by wine.He drove back his enemies. He put them to shame that will last forever.He turned his back on the tents of the people of Joseph. He didn’t choose to live in the tribe of Ephraim.Instead, he chose to live in the tribe of Judah. He chose Mount Zion, which he loved.There he built his holy place as secure as the heavens. He built it to last forever, like the earth.He chose his servant David. He took him from the sheep pens.He brought him from tending sheep to be the shepherd of his people Jacob. He made him the shepherd of Israel, his special people.David cared for them with a faithful and honest heart. With skilled hands he led them.
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Psalms 106:12-48
Then his people believed his promises and sang praise to him.But they soon forgot what he had done. They didn’t wait for what he had planned to happen.In the desert they longed for food. In that dry and empty land they tested God.So he gave them what they asked for. But he also sent a sickness that killed many of them.In their camp some of them became jealous of Moses and Aaron. Aaron had been set apart to serve the Lord.The ground opened up and swallowed Dathan. It buried Abiram and his followers.Fire blazed among all of them. Flames destroyed those evil people.At Mount Horeb they made a metal statue of a bull calf. They worshiped that statue of a god.They traded their glorious God for a statue of a bull that eats grass.They forgot the God who saved them. They forgot the God who had done great things in Egypt.They forgot the miracles he did in the land of Ham. They forgot the wonderful things he did by the Red Sea.So he said he would destroy them. But Moses, his chosen one, stood up for them. He kept God’s anger from destroying them.Later on, they refused to enter the pleasant land of Canaan. They didn’t believe God’s promise.In their tents they told the Lord how unhappy they were. They didn’t obey him.So he lifted up his hand and promised that he would make them die in the desert.He promised he would scatter their children’s children among the nations. He would make them die in other lands.They joined in worshiping the Baal that was worshiped at Peor. They ate food that had been offered to gods that aren’t even alive.Their evil ways made the Lord angry. So a plague broke out among them.But Phinehas stood up and took action. Then the plague stopped.What Phinehas did made him right with the Lord. It will be remembered for all time to come.By the waters of Meribah the Lord’ s people made him angry. Moses got in trouble because of them.They refused to obey the Spirit of God. So Moses spoke without thinking.They didn’t destroy the nations in Canaan as the Lord had commanded them.Instead, they mixed with those nations and adopted their ways.They worshiped statues of their gods. That became a trap for them.They sacrificed their sons and daughters as offerings to false gods.They killed those who weren’t guilty of doing anything wrong. They killed their own sons and daughters. They sacrificed them as offerings to statues of the gods of Canaan. The land became“ unclean” because of the blood of their children.The people made themselves impure by what they had done. They weren’t faithful to the Lord.So the Lord became angry with his people. He turned away from his own children.He handed them over to the nations. Their enemies ruled over them.Their enemies treated them badly and kept them under their power.Many times the Lord saved them. But they refused to obey him. So he destroyed them because of their sins.Yet he heard them when they cried out. He paid special attention to their suffering.Because they were his people, he remembered his covenant. Because of his great love, he felt sorry for them.He made all those who held them as prisoners have mercy on them.Lord our God, save us. Bring us back from among the nations. Then we will give thanks to you, because your name is holy. We will celebrate by praising you.Give praise to the Lord, the God of Israel, for ever and ever. Let all the people say,“ Amen!” Praise the Lord.
