Remember

December 17

Nahum 2-3

Psalm 143:1-6

Proverbs 30:1-6

Revelation 11:1-10

Remember

“So, my heart grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed.  I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all Your works and consider what Your hands have done. I spread out my hands to You; I thirst for You like a parched land.”  Psalm 143:4-6 NIV

We don’t know when David wrote this Psalm.  It could have been when he was in the wilderness being pursued by Saul, or when he was fleeing an enemy on the battlefield.  Or it may have been when his son Absalom was seeking to kill him and take over his throne, but whatever the occasion, we see that he is in perilous danger.  He cries out to God begging Him for mercy.  He lays out what his enemy has done to him and asks God for deliverance.  He is weary and tired.  He doesn’t have the energy to go on.  His heart is dismayed.  We have all been there.  Sometimes it just feels like we are under attack, with blow after blow assaulting us from every side.  Just when we think things are going to get better, something else sneaks up from behind and knocks us off our feet.  What do we do when that happens?  Do we give up?  Do we put a smile on our face and pretend everything is ok when we are really crumbling inside?  Neither of those things are the best option.  David gives us a much better example to follow.  When he was overwhelmed and scared, he turned his focus on God. 

First, he remembered the days of long ago.  He reminded himself of all the times God had been faithful to him.  He thought of the times when he had been in distress, he remembered the enemies who had pursued him, and how God had protected him and delivered him in the past.  He encouraged himself by choosing to recall God’s interventions in his life.  Then he meditated on all God’s works.  He not only remembered God’s faithfulness to him, but he also focused on God’s mighty power, majesty, strength, and ability.  This helped him to put his own problems into perspective.  To meditate you must take your eyes off your circumstances and focus them on God.  David then considered or contemplated what God’s hands had done.  He knew that God was able to help him, He had helped him in the past, and now he was assured that God would hear and answer him again.  It took conscious effort to choose to turn his attention from the peril he was facing and place it on God.  We would do well to follow his example.  When we forget what He has done in the past, we begin to doubt what He can do in the present.  Spreading out his hands to God symbolized letting go.  I once heard a preacher say that sometimes we need to physically raise our arms and open our hands to force ourselves to let go of what we have been gripping tightly.  Hurt, bitterness, anger, fear, resentment, and anxiety are negative things that we don’t want in our lives, but sometimes we have been holding on to them for so long that we don’t know how to give them up.  God wants to take them from us and let us walk in freedom, but we must open our hands and release them.  Thirsting after Him like a parched land is something we experience out of desperation.  Coming to the end of ourselves produces an awareness of our need for the wellspring of water only He can provide.