“My people, hear my teaching; listen to the words of my mouth. I will open my mouth with a parable; I will utter hidden things, things from of old—” Psalms 78:1-2 NIV
Reflection: how are you remembering, and to whom are sharing the stories of God’s hand in your life?
sWithout sharing any specifics, yesterday we got to witness an event that can only be explained as the hand of God. From who and where it came from, the actual event itself, to the timing of it; the whole thing was just too perfect to be a random event. It was truly one of those events that cause you to say with David “I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.” Psalms 23:4b NIV. God saying to us, He is near. We could literally witness His rod and His staff guiding us. And this was significant enough to create a story from, that we could talk about. To pass on to others, in particular family and friends. Because sharing how God is actively working in our lives is very important, to remind ourselves of His faithfulness, and it leads to worship and the strengthening of faith in ourselves and in others.
To remind ourselves who God is.
The Israelites frequently used stories to remind themselves of God’s greatness and faithfulness of the past, often in a form of worship and prayer. Some of the stories we are even familiar with today, thousands of years later, and others more personal, and not as familiar. We have an example in Psalms 78, where Asaph brings up many familiar stories. But, what is interesting here is that he also reminds “his people” of the unfaithfulness of the Israelites of the past, their stubborn and defiant hard hearts despite God’s goodness. And, he points out something we often don’t talk about – while God is good, faithful, even patient and merciful, there is a point where He has had enough. Like the good Father He is, He not only gives us the right way to live, but also tries to “correct” His children through discipline. We read “My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent his rebuke, because the Lord disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in.” Proverbs 3:11-12 NIV.
All of these “collective” stories and lessons from the history of God’s people are there to help us. But, it might be difficult for us to tell those stories, to associate with them, because we didn’t live them. But, we do live with God now. I actually think we are exposed to His glory, His guidance directly in our lives all the time, if we look, that is. If we pay attention. We probably won’t experience God physically parting an ocean for us, as spectacular as He did when He freed the Israelites from slavery in Egypt. But He may do something else, perhaps very meaningful for you, in your life. That story is easy to tell, because you lived it. Like the event that happened to us yesterday.
The question is, when we see His hand at work in our lives, do we write it down? It is easy to be excited in the moment when we get a glimpse of His glory. But, we all know that soon after, we tend to forget. So here is an idea. How about we create our own “book of glory-stories” where we have seen God at work based on our own experiences? That we can use to meditate on, to remember who God has demonstrated to be in our lives, to worship Him for His goodness, His faithfulness, His patience and mercy with us.
Just think, to be able to read and share from our own book of glory-stories with our children and grandchildren, neighbors and friends, so they too can worship Him through our stories.