"Will the Lord reject forever? Will He never show His favor again? Has His unfailing love vanished forever? Has His promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has He in anger withheld His compassion?" Selah. Then I had a thought, "To this I will appeal: the years at the right hand of the Most High." I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds. 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. With Your mighty arm You redeemed Your people." (Psalm 77:7-15)
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I am a cranky and clumsy person at nighttime.
It does not matter how clean our room is or how much sleep I am getting...If I am awaken by a child - which happens more often than not - I will be cranky and I will trip and stub my toe on everything possible.
No joke. Last night, it was a shoe, the top flap of my suit case, and some dumb toy in the hallway.
If there is something on the ground, my feet will find it. And the embarrassing part is that the majority of the stuff that I trip on is mine; meaning I left it there; meaning I should remember it being there.
But in the darkness, I am blind and cranky. And when I get cranky, I do not think to recall what could be all around me. Instead, all think about is that crankiness. And in that crankiness, I trip, fall down, stub my toe, and yell.
Though I would never respond like that during the day, I am shocked by how many times this exact scenario plays out in my faith.
I find myself at a dark place: a long week, a failed battle, a month of dryness, or a plain terrible day. And in the dark, I am cranky and blind. I cannot see anything good around me and I am certainly not happy about my situation.
And in that spiritual crankiness, I forget to think about anything but myself...especially God and His work around me. Therefore, I find myself tripping, falling down, and yelling.
And the odds are that you know exactly what I am speaking of. We have all found ourselves in an unhappy place being unable to think of anything but our unhappiness.
This is where Asaph, today's psalmist, is writing from. He is in a present time of sadness and is pointing an angry finger at God for not helping him in the ways that He had done previously. Every question that he asks the Lord is from the cranky perspective of his current situation.
He is mad that God is not helping him like He has in the past.
But then, Asaph pauses...(say's Selah)...and thinks: Then I had a thought...I will remember the deeds of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago. I will meditate on all Your works and consider all Your mighty deeds.
In the darkness - while the kids were crying and he was sleepy, angry, and cranky (so to speak) - Asaph stops what he is doing and recalls the past; he remembers the day, month, or year before when God showed him His mighty deeds.
Instead of comparing those deeds with his current situation and questioning why God was not doing them again, He simply paused and praised God for doing them in the first place.
Reflecting on God's past deeds allows us to refocus now.
You see, we limit God's power when we blamefully expect Him to show up in the same way, at the same time, and using the same techniques. Our God - though constant and never changing - is completely creative. He does not have to always repeat His previous methods.
But while we get angry at what He is not doing, we miss all that He is doing.
This is why Aspah chose to refocus through praise. This act cleared his mind and reminded him of where God was.
Today, I encourage you to do the same. Recall the great things that the Lord has done in your life; not out of comparison or resentment, but out of praise and adoration.
Seeing the Lord clearly in the past helps us to see Him clearly in the present.
And we would love to know - what are some of the things that the Lord has done in your past? What deeds? What miracles? What works that you need to recall? Let us know in today's IG post! Find it at instagram.com/declareglory.
Blessings,
Greg, Declare Glory
