Remember

In my devotions this (well, technically yesterday :P) morning, I was reading Psalm 77, and it struck me profoundly:

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 my soul refused to be comforted.

I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; 

    I mused, 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 mused and my spirit inquired:

“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 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.

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, 

    the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. 

The waters saw you, O God,

    the waters saw you and writhed; 

    the very depths were convulsed.

The clouds poured down water, 

    the skies 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.

It resonated with me, because I've been stumbling through a similar situation. Sometimes it becomes so dark, so bleak, so cold and hopeless that you wonder whether the light will ever shine, whether you'll ever make it through. At such times, you doubt everything that you had known before: you doubt God's goodness (is he really a good God?), and in some instances you even doubt whether He is real at all! (despite the fact that you had no problems at all with that fact a year ago!)

For a time, I struggled through the same questions that Asaph (the writer of this poem) had. Has the Lord rejected me? Is He going to stay away forever? Has He had enough of me and decided that He will not bless me with His presence again? Sometimes we even ask very weird contradictory questions, like: Has His unfailing love vanished forever? (Even though the very definition of "unfailing" love means that it would never cease!) Has His promise failed for all time? (even though we know through His Word that God never fails to keep His word). Has God forgotten to be merciful? (How does one "forget" to be merciful anyway! Haha). Has He in anger withheld His compassion? (Is that really what we know of God's Character?)

How does Asaph answer such doubts? What can he turn to in a time of such uncertainty?

He remembers the past. He remembers all the good and great things that God has done for him, and not just him personally but for his entire nation. And not just the things that God did within his lifetime, but the things that happened waaaaay before he was born. "I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds."

Sometimes when we are stuck in the mud of a difficult situation, we find it hard to look anywhere else but the crap in which we're stuck in; we become unable to see anything beyond the here and now. We panic, and start thinking irrationally, saying that things will never come good, that God was never good, that we are all doomed.

But sometimes it pays to look up and about, to look back down the road and remember all the other pitholes and troubles that He has brought us through, and to remember that He will always continue to love His children. His love really is unfailing; He does not "fail" His promises like humans do; He is merciful and He is compassionate. He is the same yesterday, today and forever; He has always loved His children, and He always will. It may be difficult to see when you're stuck in the mud, but once you're out of it you will be able to see that there was good in all the trouble.

So when you're stuck, look up, look back, and remember that the God who loved you in the past in your joy, loves you today in your pain, and will love you forevermore in Eternity.

Amen :)