Throughout this wonderful recital there is a perpetual contrast between God's unswerving goodness and the incessant backsliding of His people; and as we read it, we learn that sin is not simply the violation of the divine law, but a source of pain and trouble to our Heavenly Father's heart. For us He cleaves the seas, leads us in the daytime, builds His watch-fires around us at night, and brings streams of blessing from the rocks. But we tempt Him by our incessant unbelief. We say, He certainly did thus and thus, but can He, will He, do this or that? "Can God furnish?" "Can God give bread?"
When shall we dare to believe in our Lord's assurances; first, that "with God all things are possible;" and second, that "all things are possible to him that believeth"? But we must live habitually in fellowship with God before we are able to exercise this faith. As we nourish our souls by feeding on the promises, and studying what He has done in the lives of others, out faith removes all the boundaries with which it had limited the Holy One, and cries, "Thou canst and thou wilt!" [source]
Chapter Summary: Psalm 78
1An exhortation both to learn and to preach, the law of God 9The story of God's wrath against the incredulous and disobedient 67The Israelites being rejected, God chose Judah, Zion, and David
What do the individual words in Psalms 78:14 mean?
And He led themwith the cloudin the daytimeand allthe nightwith a lightof fire
Parse: Conjunctive waw, Verb, Hifil, Consecutive imperfect, third person masculine singular, third person masculine plural
Root: נָחָה
Sense: to lead, guide.