FINDING HOPE IN THE PAST

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In Christ, Mark

The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.

I remembered You, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

“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?”

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago. I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.”

Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as 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, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw You, God, the waters saw You and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, Your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though Your footprints were not seen.

You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Psalm 77

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In order for today’s devotion to take root in full meaning, you’ll need to participate in a rather simple but time intensive exercise. Here’s the task:

I want you to think about all the good things God has done for you. As each one comes to mind, list it on a sheet of paper. You should be listing all the positive things that God has granted you as well as small details of how He helped you. Don’t just list all the things God did for you in good times but ensure you highlight how God brought you out of every negative situation you may have had to endure. Every heartache, every challenge, every illness, every hardship. List them all.

After you’re done, try and list all the good things God has done for your family and friends as well.

If you do this right, your list should be extensive. In fact, you may run out of paper and/or ink in your pen as you individually count every blessing God has given.

So why should you do this?

Because keeping a tight account of how good God has been in our past helps us toward dealing with problems we will face in the future. In other words, we can discover hope by looking at our past.

This truth is highlighted in the 77th Psalm. It’s obvious that the writer is going through a time of difficulty and yearning for God to act. Look at their words:

I cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands, and I would not be comforted.

I remembered You, God, and I groaned; I meditated, and my spirit grew faint. You kept my eyes from closing; I was too troubled to speak. I thought about the former days, the years of long ago; I remembered my songs in the night. My heart meditated and my spirit asked:

“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?”

Our life circumstances can sometimes take on a life of their own and encase us in the dark despair of difficulty and hardship. Maybe you’ve been there. Maybe you’re there right now. Either way, you can relate with the psalmist. You can relate to crying out to God for help in distress as your spirit grew faint, your burdens sapping your strength. It’s possible you wondered if God had rejected you, turning from you in your time of need and removing His love, mercy, compassion, and favor in the process.

Where would the psalmist find hope? Where can we find hope?

The answers lie in the finishing verses of this psalm. Let’s look at the rest of it:

Then I thought, “To this I will appeal: the years when the Most High stretched out His right hand. I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember Your miracles of long ago. I will consider all Your works and meditate on all Your mighty deeds.”

Your ways, God, are holy. What god is as 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, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.

The waters saw You, God, the waters saw You and writhed; the very depths were convulsed. The clouds poured down water, the heavens resounded with thunder; Your arrows flashed back and forth. Your thunder was heard in the whirlwind, Your lightning lit up the world; the earth trembled and quaked. Your path led through the sea, Your way through the mighty waters, though Your footprints were not seen.

You led Your people like a flock by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Where did the psalmist find hope? It was in remembering the good works that the Lord had done in the past to deliver His people Israel, those “years when the Most High stretched out His right hand,” redeeming His people and performing mighty deeds.

Indeed, it was in those times that God revealed His power fully through mighty works and amazing miracles. God had made the waters writhe and convulse in the deepest depths. He caused the rains from the clouds and thunder from the heavens. It was the Lord who sent the lightning flashing from the sky, lighting up the world with its dazzling brilliance. He also caused the earth to tremble and quake. God’s incredible majesty and infinite strength were always on display. They were then and they still are today.

Go back to the exercise and you’ll see how you, like the psalmist, can draw hope in times of suffering and trial by remembering all that God has done in the past. The same God who was present in the latter days, helping deliver you through difficult times and circumstances, is with you in the present and will continue to be with you in the future.

Friends, our God is Emmanuel or God with us, in the good times and bad. Remember all the good things He has done for you and you’ll find yourself encouraged in hope today by remembering all He has done for you in the past. Thanks be to God for His goodness, grace, and love.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it.

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