NOTES for Psa 78:1-33
One of the most important biblical ideas is the need to remember historical experience, and not merely to recall past deeds nostalgically, but to live with an awareness of ourselves within the flow of history. We should not say, “It happened and is over; there is no point even remembering it,” because in reality the past does not pass away; it is constantly with us, which means that it is entirely legitimate to relate the deeds of today to those of long ago. Yet the interdependence of the ages does not doom us to fate, provided that past experience does not become something rigid. If the past is alive, then in resisting evil and sin we will be able to draw on the earlier experience of victory over them.
Retribution for sins is often imagined as various calamities and sufferings, and these do occur when evil deeds lead to sad consequences that return to those who committed them. But the words that the Lord consumed their days in vanity and their years in trouble allow us to see that retribution can also take place amid the “quiet” course of everyday life, when we squander the time He has given us, when we senselessly fritter away the gift of life on trifles and foolishness.