I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. Psalm 77:12
What I love about the different psalmists is their honesty – not just about their circumstances, but about their honest wrestling with what they believe about God and His character in the midst of them. In psalm 77 we watch Asaph talk himself from despair to hope, and it is absolutely fascinating.
He is deeply troubled about his situation and he pleads with God, day and night, for an answer, because his ‘soul refuses to be comforted’ (v2) and his ‘spirit faints’ (v3). Then, in the middle of that darkness something shifts, and he says:
“Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart.” (v6)
This is the turning point. Asaph searches his own heart and he asks himself a succession of rhetorical questions: “Will the Lord never again be favourable? (v7). Has his steadfast love ceased? Are his promises at an end (v8), and has he shut up his compassion?” (v9). No, of course not, he reminds himself; those thoughts are too ridiculous, for ‘what god is great like our God’? (v13).
His focus now shifts from looking down and inward, to looking up and out as he remembers the deeds of the Lord and His wonders of old. Weighing up all the marvellous things that God has done before convinces him that this same power is still at work. Whatever his current situation, the faithful God of yesterday is still the faithful God of today.
We too need to ponder the mighty works of God and consider thoroughly what the Lord has done in our lives, and in the lives of others. When we do, we will never fail to see the power of God at work, past and present – which also serves to assure us that it will continue in the days to come.
Meditate, reflect, ponder, and let the truth of God’s continued favour, love and compassion lift you to a higher place, for our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
Picture credit: Photo by Wallace Chuck on https://www.pexels.com/photo/lens-of-modern-video-camera-7796509
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