Psalm 78:29-41

So 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.

Psalm 78:40-57

It is entirely possible that one of the reasons that Israel had the difficulty that they had was because they were bystanders, looking on at what was going on in the lives of those hapless Egyptians that God—whose power He was breaking and the pride that He was destroying—was doing. They did not have to do very much at that time but stand aside and watch God work.

In what we are involved, we find that God is putting us through drills, if I can put it that way, and that we have to go over things very frequently. We can also add to this that mankind is "thick" where God is concerned. Does not Romans 8:7 say that "the carnal mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God neither indeed can be"?

There is a natural resistance to the things of God and that is largely because we are so self-centered. Our world usually consists of that which is going on around us and so that is what our mind is focused on. Those are the kind of things that we remember and most of those things are what we are caught up in the everyday rush of events. And so events like the Holy Days, and their traditions and practices must be commanded by God to be repeated over and over for many years so they will motivate us to good and positive things in relation to Him.

Psalm 78:40-42

David is drawing here on Numbers 21:4-6 and what they did is they disbelieved in God's mercy and goodness by presuming to tell Him what He should do and what He should give them. It was not, "Thy will be done." It was not humble and yielded, but they became impatient (like a child nagging his parents) by requiring unreasonable proofs from Him.

If you read through Psalm 78, over and over again He shows the proofs He gave these people that He loved them, that He cared for them, that He was providing for them, that He protected them, but they always wanted more. It was never enough. So they wanted unreasonable proofs of His presence, of His help, of His goodness, and all the while they really failed to try Him to supply their needs. What did they do? They took things into their own hands. That was always the end and they ended up sinning.