When it opened in 1883, the Brooklyn Bridge was the world's longest suspension bridge. What began as a passage for horse-drawn vehicles and pedestrians eventually gave way to cable cars, elevated trains and trolleys. In the 1950s, the trend shifted again to accommodate automobile traffic. For nearly a century and a half, the bridge has steadfastly served its purpose. To that end, the New York Department of Transportation estimates that up to 125,000 vehicles cross the bridge each day.
At the time, the bridge was a modern marvel, drawing large crowds. Shortly after its opening, someone shouted that it was collapsing. Panic spread, and people fled, even though the bridge was perfectly sound. Later, to restore confidence, P.T. Barnum marched 21 elephants across it. The bridge’s structural integrity was never in question, only one person’s perception of it was.
Psalm 78 is a command for God’s people to teach their children something specific. It begins, “Give ear, O My people, to My teaching; incline your ears to the words of My mouth!” Then, “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.” It continues, “…that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children....”
What is it that’s so urgent? What must we teach children? We’re supposed to tell them stories! We are to teach them how God miraculously and consistently saved His people. The psalmist accuses the Israelites of horrible sins and attributes their refusal to walk according to His law to forgetfulness!
It turns out that the biblical accounts we were taught as children are truly important to remember. We must never forget the story of Jonah and how he was spared by the great fish. We must keep singing about how God’s people were saved and His enemies punished when the horse and its rider were thrown into the sea. We must never stop talking about the immensity of the flood and how God, in that widespread judgment, saved Noah and his family. Psalm 78:6-7 tells us to teach these to children “so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God but keep his commandments.”
The psalm recounts numerous instances in which God saved His people. He provided water, bread, and meat for them in the wilderness. He manipulated the weather to give them their heart’s desire. Yet they rebelled against God, which led to punishment. And the purpose of the judgment was to cause them to remember!
Back and forth it goes. When God’s people forget His record of salvation, it leads to judgment. Punishment drives people to remember, but upon receiving God’s blessing, they forget again.
Some Christians are like the Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian. The moment they feel uneasy, they panic. They forget that, although their perception is that the ground is giving way, the integrity of God’s promises never wavers. You can choose to live forgetfully from crisis to crisis, or, with a keen memory, from promise to promise.