Remembering the Faithfulness of God
“Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief. Do not bring your servant into judgment,for no one living is righteous before you. The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead. So my spirit 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.” Psalm 143:1-5For those of you who attended church service last week, what was the title of the message and what if anything do you remember that you took away from it and then applied it to your life? Consider this; it was a message shared just a few days ago.We forget things because they are prone to the continual interference of other things that are deemed more important or we simply don’t take the initiative to understand and apply what we’ve heard. At an early age children are taught to remember their name, where they live, their parents names and who to contact in cases of emergency. All of this is vital information in case they get lost or a situation arises where medical help is needed. Our memory plays a significant role in life, in our past, in our present, and in our future.Memory really matters especially when there is no access to search engines and other technology that has taken the place of the need to retain vital data. There was once a time when we had to rely on our memories (the conscious activity of our brain) but the modern world doesn’t see the benefit of it. This is clearly seen when you ask someone a question that they don’t know the answer too. There response is, “let’s ask Siri”. Sure, Siri may be able to provide you with quick answers but are they always the right answers?The psalmist in the 143rd psalm is distressed and in his distress he reaches out to God. One of the things he expresses is his memory of the past. Here specifically, he remembers a time when things weren’t so bad and God was ever present revealing His power and His might. How encouraging it was to remember the good times when things weren’t so bad. It motivated him to pray and cry out to God and it fortified his position to trust in God. And not only that but it would also serve to comfort him until deliverance came.When facing things you’ve never experienced before, faith matters and having a mind that recalls the faithfulness of God will help you through some very tough situations.