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Good morning my “Walking with Jesus” friends, I hope you are well today.
This week we’ve been seeking to learn an important life skill. . .how to move out of dark, difficult, stormy seasons of life, ‘walking the journey with Jesus’. The Coronavirus and the ripple effects in every corner of our world, have drawn all of us into one of those very challenging, long seasons of hard times. All week we’ve been looking at how God, throughout Scripture and history, calls His people to understand the power and importance of looking back, REMEMBER, as we prepare to move forward out of difficult times.
Today consider this, my friends: Remember should draw me to Worship of Almighty, Holy God! Now, we need to watch this carefully, for you see, as we remember our hearts quickly follow our minds. As our minds recall events and the places where they happened, within seconds, our emotions respond… joy, heartbreak, contentment, frustration… memories evoke emotions from deep within us, don’t they?
By God’s design, He wants our remembering to awaken worship from deep within our souls, regardless of the circumstances of our memories. Look with me at Psalm 77. I call it the “u turn” Psalm. You’ll see the first several verses describe a very dark, difficult time which sounds like near despair! “I cried out to God for help…When I was in distress, I sought the LORD, at night I stretched out untiring hands and my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered You, O God, and I groaned, I mused, and my spirit grew faint. (Selah)
You kept my eyes from closing, I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, those of long ago…and I inquired: ‘Will the LORD reject forever? Will God never show His favor again? Has God’s unfailing love vanished forever?’… (Psalm 77:1-9)
I am so grateful the Bible doesn’t pretend, doesn’t try to hide the reality of discouragement and dark times that can overwhelm us. Do you see this author was remembering… but that which his mind remembered, quickly awakened very dark, deep, painful emotions. And that led Asaph to ask very challenging questions TO, and about God!? Do you know that God is big enough, Sovereign enough, omniscient enough, to welcome our hard questions?
Look closely at the flow of Psalm 77, do you see the ‘U-Turn’ between verse 9 & 10? “THEN I thought, ‘To this I will appeal: the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ I will remember the deeds of the LORD” yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago.” Do you see, my friends, the strategic decision point, and what decision Asaph made? Rather than wallowing in the painful memories, Asaph chose to focus his remembering on God’s great, miraculous, majestic deeds, which of course flow out of His great character! And do you see what happens to his attitude as reflected by what he wrote? Despair turns to Worship! That, my friends, is a very, very important key to God’s design for using Remember as the first step OUT of the despair and darkness of stormy times like we’ve been living in recently.
“Your ways, O God, are holy. What god is so great as our God? You are the God who performs miracles; You display Your power among the peoples…” (Psalm 77:13,14)
Here’s another great example… Psalm 126. This is one of the Songs of Ascents. 15 songs (Psalm 120-134) which the Hebrew pilgrims would sing, as they walked up toward Jerusalem for their great festivals. As you know topographically, from which-ever direction you walk toward Jerusalem you always ascend, since it is on Mount Moriah… remember Abraham & Isaac, and the first major event there? (Gen. 22)
Listen…can you hear them singing? “When the LORD brought back the captives to Zion, we were like men who dreamed. Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy.” (Psalm 126:1,2) This is remembering the story of Ezra 1 & 2. King Cyrus had issued an unexpected edict that any and all Hebrew exiles were free to leave Babylon and return to Jerusalem, and He urged them to rebuild the temple of their God! Amazingly the king even provided resources for the construction project and returned the golden artifacts King Nebuchadnezzar had taken by force, when his army destroyed Jerusalem and the temple in 586bc. Oh the memories of that day of rejoicing worship as they returned!
In closing my friends, look closely at the next part of the song in Psalm 126: “Then it was said among the nations, ‘The LORD has done great things for them’. Yes, the LORD has done great things for us and we are filled with joy.” Do you see it my friends? Something special is happening here. The world is always watching God’s people to SEE the evidence of God at work in them and among them! And do you see how remembering caused them to say “We are filled with joy!” Oh don’t you suppose that attitude of joyful worship brings great joy to God in heaven, and perhaps all of heaven joins the celebration!
And finally, this phrase in Psalm 126 “RESTORE our fortunes, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.” (vs. 4) There it is my friends. . .the confidence of God’s people turning from looking backward, to now looking forward into a future they cannot yet see, but they trust their future is fully in God’s Sovereign Hand! Do you hear worship based on God’s great past, is a worship of HOPE in Him as we look into the future! That’s the power of remembering! Remembering should draw us to worship of Almighty, Holy God!
As we begin to look forward, are you anxious? Here’s a link to a great song of worship with the Collingsworth women, “Fear Not Tomorrow, God is already there”. As they lead us in worship, go ahead… remember some of the great events in your life, where God did the amazing, and the only proper response from you is WORSHIP!
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Click to read today’s chapter: Psalm 77; Psalm 126. (At the top you can choose a different translation.)
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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