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Articles, Bible studies, and sermons that contain Psalms 78:39:
Psalm 78:29-41
Excerpted from: Self-Examination, Not Self-PreoccupationSo they did not delight in God, resulting in a limitation to God's blessing them. And they suffered greatly when they could have had a great blessing. The idea is that, in their minds, they set a limit to the power of God; by lying to themselves, they convinced themselves that there was a boundary to His power that He could not pass or that there were things that He could not perform. There is, somewhere in the Scriptures, I do not remember where it is, but it is where it calls Satan a liar who has deceived himself. And that is what these people had become—liars who had deceived themselves.
The original Hebrew word translated as limited is taawaah, and it occurs only three times in the Scriptures. In I Samuel 21:13, where it is rendered "scratched" or "made marks"; in Ezekiel 9:4 where it is rendered "set," that is, set a mark; and here in Psalm 78:41, where it is rendered "limited." The word's implication is that of making a mark for any purpose. Also, it implies to delineate or to scroll or to set a mark for a limit or boundary.
So in this context it is applied to God, as if, in estimating His character or His power, the people set limits or bounds on it similar to how the property of a farm or a house's lot is marked to determine its boundaries. They did it in their minds, they limited God. In their opinions, they set a limit to the power of God beyond which they believed He could act. In other words, in their minds, His power was defined and restricted so that beyond a certain point He could not aid them or interfere in their activities or desires or proclivities. Yes, again and again they tempted God and limited the Holy One of Israel. We must delight in God and His commandments.
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