“I remember the days of long ago; I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done. I spread my hands out to you.”
Psalm 143:5-6a
Remember “the days of long ago” when we could gather and hug and sit close to worship? Remember when we would fill our coffee cups and stand around the donuts or offer to hold someone’s baby? Remember concerts and farmers markets and movies? They certainly do feel like long ago, and we wonder about and long for the return of that normalcy.
In Psalm 143, David, too, is in a season of remembering because his “spirit is overwhelmed within [him]. . . and [his] heart is dismayed.” The “enemy has persecuted. . . [and] crushed [his] life to the ground.” But unlike our longing to return to comfort and convenience and safety, David had a different focus.
“I remember the days of long ago;”
David is recalling the stories of God’s miracles and victories. The God of Abraham who chose His people and spared Isaac from the knife. The God who plagued the Egyptians and delivered the Israelites. The God who heard their cry in the desert and fed them with the bread of the angels. The God who sprouted water from a rock. The God who felled Goliath with a stone from a shepherd’s sling. These, I’m sure, are the memories David is recalling; all the history of Israel he had heard as a boy which created a mighty picture of his God, the God of Israel.
David REMEMBERED.
“I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.”
Quarantine, social distancing, home schooling, online church, and Zoom meetings have shattered our norms. Whether you’ve been isolated from family and friends or surrounded by a loving hoard, these past months have fractured our life rhythms and interrupted our lifelines to community. Rare moments of quiet easily evaporate with whispers of fear or eruptions of frustration. Perhaps prolonged days of solitude allow the mind to run wild with worries and concerns. We ask, “When is this going to end?” We wait and ponder the future.
David, too, cried out, “Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications!” But then he meditated–he pondered–the works of God’s hands. His focus shifted from the difficult situation to the amazing Creator. Maybe he looked at the night sky and wondered as Isaiah did,
“. . . see who has created these stars, the One who leads forth their host by number, He calls them all by name; because of the greatness of His might and the strength of His power, not one of them is missing.”
Isaiah 40:26b
David MEDITATED.
“I spread my hands out to you;”
I love this visual, this beautiful picture–David raises his hands to God. In surrender to the situation? In complete dependence of a mighty God who has proven Himself over and over? In prayer to the only One who can answer? Yes, to all of those! David, in his desperate situation cries out to his faithful and righteous God. David acknowledges the depth of his weariness, but then he remembers, refocuses, and releases it all to God.
As a daughter of Christ in these difficult days, what is your focus?
Remind yourself of the knowable love of Christ that brought you to salvation. Refocus your thoughts on the bounty of His daily blessings–new mercies, daily grace, wisdom, perseverance, and eternal perspective. And then, in trust and humility, open your hands to Him and release your burdens, your weariness, and the heaviness of your heart.
REMEMBER, as David did, and then REST in those promises.