Daily Lesson for Sunday 3rd of March 2024

The reviews of Israel’s past highlight God’s faithfulness and Israel’s unfaithfulness.

Image © Lars Justinen from GoodSalt.com

They also should teach coming generations not to repeat their ancestors’ mistakes but to trust God and to remain faithful to His covenant. The psalmist uses history as a parable (Psalms 78:2), which means that the people should deeply ponder the psalm’s message and search for the meaning for themselves. Psalms 78:1-72:2 is a prophetic description of Jesus’ method of teaching in parables (Matthew 13:34-35).

The psalm also reflects on the time of the Exodus (Psalms 78:9-54), the settlement in Canaan (Psalms 78:55-64), and the time of David (Psalms 78:65-72). It demonstrates the Lord’s glorious deeds and the consequences of the people’s breaking of their covenant with God. Israel’s history recounts many forms of the people’s disloyalty to God, especially their idolatry (Psalms 78:58).

The psalmist, however, stresses the root of the Israelites’ unfaithfulness: they forgot what God had done for them, did not trust God, put God to the test (Psalms 78:18,41,56), rebelled against Him, and failed to keep His law, His covenant, and His testimonies (Psalms 78:10,37,56). By stressing these specific forms of disloyalty, the psalmist implies that the rejection of Israel in history has resulted from one core sin, namely, the people’s failure to trust the Lord (Psalms 78:7-8).

When reading the psalm, one is overwhelmed with the people’s constant stubbornness and spiritual blindness in contrast to the Lord’s boundless patience and grace. How was each new generation so slow to learn?

Before we get overly judgmental of past generations, we should consider ourselves. Aren’t we, also, forgetful of God’s past wonders and neglectful of His covenantal requirements? The psalm does not encourage people to rely on their own deeds. Instead, Psalms 78:1-72 shows the futility of human will unless it is grounded in constant awareness of God’s faithfulness and an acceptance of His grace. The unsuccessful battles of God’s people (Psalms 78:9, 62–64) elucidate the psalm’s lesson that human efforts apart from faithfulness to God are doomed to end in failure.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-10-the-lords-unstoppable-faithfulness/

Daily Lesson for Saturday 2nd of March 2024

Image © Pacific Press

Read for This Week’s Study

Psalms 78:1-72, Psalms 105:1-45, Galatians 3:29, Psalms 106:1-48, Psalms 80:1-19, Numbers 6:22-27, Psalms 135:1-21.

Memory Text:

“Which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done” (Psalms 78:1-72:3, 4, NKJV).

In numerous psalms, praise takes the form of narrating the Lord’s mighty acts of salvation. These psalms are often called “salvation history psalms” or “historical psalms.” Some appeal to God’s people, telling them to learn from their history, particularly from their mistakes and the mistakes of their ancestors. Certain historical psalms contain a predominant hymnal note that highlights God’s past wonderful deeds on behalf of God’s people and that strengthen their trust in the Lord, who is able and faithful to deliver them from their present hardships.

The special appeal of the historical psalms is that they help us to see our lives as part of the history of God’s people and to claim that past as our own. As we have been adopted into the family of the historic people of God through Christ (Romans 8:15; Romans 9:24-26; Galatians 4:6-7), the historical heritage of the ancient people of Israel is indeed the account of our spiritual ancestry. Therefore, we can and should learn from their past, which is ours, as well.

The final goal is to realize that each generation of God’s people plays a small but significant part in the grand historical unfolding of God’s sovereign purposes in the great controversy.

*Study this week’s lesson to prepare for Sabbath, March 9.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-10-lessons-of-the-past/

The Mission program of the Seventh-day Adventist Church is an opportunity for us to understand the needs of others and share in supporting them. Please click on the image below to watch the Mission Spotlight presentation for this week:

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/mission-spotlight-for-march-2/

What made/makes Jesus the “Good” Shepherd? Join Hit the Mark Sabbath School as they discuss Lesson 9 – Blessed Is He Who Comes in the Name of the Lord.

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Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/blessed-is-he-who-comes-in-the-name-of-the-lord-hit-the-mark-sabbath-school/

Inside Story for Friday 1st of March 2024

By Andrew McChesney

During his first few weeks in the military, Sekule was sent with a company of soldiers to work on a mountain in the former Yugoslavia. On a Friday afternoon, he received orders to shovel coal into the Sabbath hours.

“You have to shovel for 15 minutes, take a 10-minute rest, and then shovel again for 15 minutes,” the commanding officer said.

“I will shovel for 2.5 hours without stopping until the sun goes down, but then I will stop,” Sekule said.

“No one can shovel for two hours,” the officer said.

“I can,” Sekule said.

Sekule, who had learned to work hard while growing up in Montenegro, shoveled as quickly as he could. Other soldiers cautioned him to slow down.

“Why are you working so quickly?” they asked.

“I’m trying to do as much as I can to leave less work for the rest of you,” he replied. “I don’t care about myself. I just want to do the most that I can.”

His words built respect among the other soldiers. They saw that he wanted to help them. To everyone’s surprise, Sekule succeeded in shoveling the required amount of coal by sunset.

But the commanding officer didn’t seem to grasp his desire to keep the Sabbath. On another Sabbath, the officer read a list of duties to the soldiers and declared, “You will work today.”

Sekule stood tall. “Today is my Sabbath, and I can’t do any work,” he said. He knew that he might face prison if he said, “I won’t do any work,” so instead, he chose his words carefully and said, “I can’t do any work.”

“What do you mean ‘can’t’?” the officer asked.

“I’m a Seventh-day Adventist, and I can’t work on Sabbath,” Sekule said.

The officer stood tall and glared at Sekule. “Soldier, who will work in your place then?” he said.

All the other soldiers stood tall. “We will work in his place then,” they said in unison.

Sekule realized at that moment that it was important not only to be faithful to God but also to be faithful to people. Jesus said, “And you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ This is the first commandment. And the second, like it, is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these” (Mark 12:30-31; NKJV). Sekule saw that if he treated others fairly, they also would treat him fairly.

Sekule Sekuli´c is an affluent entrepreneur and faithful Seventh-day Adventist in Montenegro. Read more of his story next week. Thank you for your Sabbath School mission offerings that help spread the good news of Jesus’ soon coming in Montenegro and around the world.

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The post Inside Story: Faithfulness Goes Far: Part 5 appeared first on Sabbath School Net.

Source: https://ssnet.org/blog/24a-09-inside-story-faithfulness-goes-far-part-5/