Psalm 77:11-12 (NASB)
11 I shall remember the deeds of the LORD; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.12 I will meditate on all Your work And muse on Your deeds.
How quickly we forget the faithful work of God in the past. Israel did it. The disciples did it. So do we. No matter how trustworthy God proves to be in times of crisis, we have a tendency to forget what He did for us in the past as we murmur about present trials.
It will do us good to remember His deeds. To think upon them recounting them. Like the old song, "Count your many blessings name them one by one and it will surprise you what the Lord has done." Do we take time to do this? Surely all of us have testimonies of prayers answered, burdens lifted, and problems solved when God answered prayers. It is good to go back from time to time to remember those things.
We need to remember His wonders. His marvelous miracles. Where would we even begin? You can't get past the first verse in the Bible in the first book on the first page before you see God working the marvelous miracle of creation. With nothing but a spoken word He created solar systems, galaxies, stars, and planets. He created the earth. Deserts, rain forests, oceans, lakes, rivers, prairies, hills, and mountains. He also created every specie of tree, plant, and flower. Don't forget about the animal kingdom made up of multiple species of fish, reptile, mammal, both historic and prehistoric. It does not take long to get lost in the created genius of God on the first page of the Bible. Remember.
Wait. There is more. Consider the awesome wrath of God displayed in the flood and His grace to save mankind and the animals on the ark. There are the wonders in Exodus too many to mention. The Bible is a fascinating recounting of God's wondrous works. I did not even mention the work of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the New Testament. Go one step further. Remember the wonders He has done in our lives starting with salvation.
We meditate too little on the works of God. Meditation gets a bad rap. We picture some eastern guy sitting crossed legged with his palms held upward resting on his thighs lost in a trance. Meditation simply means to ponder and study something. Ponder the works of God. Study His faithfulness in all generations. Trace His steady and dependable hands working in the affairs of people from the beginning to now. Are all of His works understandable? No. Many times, people puzzled scratched their heads at the ways of God. He is often mysterious. His ways and thoughts are higher than ours. How much time do we devote to pondering God works? Even when we do not understand. What if we kept a list of just the prayers He answered? That would turn into a long list.
The psalmist also challenges us to muse on the deeds of God. His actions and exploits. The word muse means to consider and speak. What if we all mused on the exploits of God and then testified to others about them. Faith would be inspired. Doubts would be erased. Joy would overflow. Gratitude would fire our worship.
We are too busy. Life moves too fast to take time to do things like remember, ponder, meditate, and muse. Pioneers of old had a distinct advantage over us. They had built in times for meditation and musing in their daily lives. As they walked. When they rode a camel, donkey or horse for transportation. They had time to think. Time to reflect and remember. We are in our vehicles with music blaring, cell phones ringing, while driving at breakneck speeds surrounded by other people in a hurry all trying to get their intended destination. Our lives are filled with noise and busyness. All of this distracts us from musing until we go to bed at night. Then we muse on all the wrong things, like our problems, griefs, anxieties and things that disturb us.
Stories from history would serve us well. Jonathan Edwards used to ponder while riding his horse from place to place. He would muse on a topic and then take a scrap of paper and pin it to his coat. He had a coat full of these scraps by the time he reached his intended destination. He would sit at a table or his desk and one by one remove the scraps of paper and write on the subject he had mused on while horseback. Some of these scraps became sermons and books. John Wesley used to read while horseback. Both men wanted to use their time profitably. They exercised their minds. They mused. They recounted the faithful work of God in their midst. Both men had much to be thankful for. God used both Edwards and Wesely to revive their countries on both sides of the Atlantic.
What about us? Will we make the time to slow down to remember and reflect? It might just surprise us at all that God has done for us, in us, around us, and through us.
- Recount the last wonderful work of God in your life.
- Choose any Bible story of a wondrous work of God and refresh yourself by reading it.
- Take a stroll down memory lane recalling things God has done for you in the past.
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