Remembering God's Works

Having faith in God does not mean a person is perpetually positive and impervious to pains, struggles, troubles and doubts.  While our human weakness at times can spring from a lack of faith, in our weakness God's strength is made perfect because His grace is sufficient for us.  This idea that the believer becomes superhuman with a biblical worldview cannot be sustained by the efforts of the flesh, knowledge or a formulaic approach to trials.  We believers remain needy:  we need reminders, to meditate on what God has said and done, and proclaim the reality of His goodness in the land of the living.

Asaph arrived at this conclusion as he struggled through a sleepless night in Psalm 77.  When he was troubled and overwhelmed he cried out to God and was heard by Him.  Based on how he felt Asaph wondered if God was done being gracious and merciful, if God no longer kept His promises.  Psalm 77:10-12:  "And I said, "This is my anguish; but I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High." ¹¹ I will remember the works of the LORD; surely I will remember Your wonders of old. ¹² I will also meditate on all Your work, and talk of Your deeds."  Asaph wisely understood his present anguish was not a reflection of how or what God was doing.  Instead of focusing on his troubles, he chose to remember and meditate on all the wondrous things God had done in the past.

In the verses that follow, Asaph considered the amazing deliverance of God's people from slavery and bondage in Egypt.  He remembered them miraculously departing Egypt and how they passed through the Red Sea that stood at attention before God who led them through walls of water on the right hand and left.  They passed through the depths of the sea on dry ground and everyone made it safely to the other side.  The Egyptians who pursued relentlessly with chariots and horses were confounded in the depths, their wheels fell off and they tried in vain to retreat.  God caused the waters to return upon the heads of the Egyptian army and they all perished.  The nation of Israel was birthed out of the Red Sea with rejoicing and celebrated their God who delivers and saves.

Two groups of people went into the depths of the sea:  one emerged rejoicing and victorious by the power of God, and the other perished without hope.  There are two groups of people who experience anguish, troubled minds and sleepless nights, and those who remember and meditate on God and His marvelous works will be ultimately led to joy and peace that passes understanding.  Those who grit their teeth and fight to achieve their aims by their own strength will be cast down and unable to rise on their own.  Praise the LORD He is able to lift up those who cannot stand and free those who are in bondage to fears, cares and worries.  Let us be those who talk of God's deeds often, for it serves to glorify God while reminding and instructing us to consider God Who leads us through the depths to deliver.