“He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God. Make a joyful noise to the LORD, all the earth; break forth into joyous song and sing praises! Sing praises to the LORD with the lyre, with the lyre and the sound of melody! With trumpets and the sound of the horn make a joyful noise before the King, the LORD!” Psalm 98:3-6
Devotional Thought For The Day
Perception is a very important thing. The psalmist wrote that God had “remembered” His steadfast love and faithfulness. According to his perception, how he had experienced events, it seemed that God had for a time “forgotten” steadfast love and faithfulness to His people, but that now things had turned around with God, and that His heart had changed back into a heart of love and deliverance. Things were much better, the things that could be perceived empirically and with ordinary human reason. So we have this psalm of praise – and again, the theme is “salvation,” what God does to save and deliver His people. And surely we agree that the salvation God has provided for us in Christ Jesus, the forgiveness and reconciliation of the entirety of humanity in the suffering, death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ, is the greatest salvation imaginable! And those who have known and believed this great love of God in Christ Jesus can scarcely keep from breaking forth into joyous song and praise all day long – if our perceptions are accurate!
I believe that the psalmist used the word “remembered” in a much different way than we use this same term. When we “remember” something this means that we had “forgotten” that thing, or had somehow allowed it to pass out of our consciousness. God is love, therefore it is impossible that He somehow “forgets” His steadfast love or that it somehow passes out of His consciousness. So what the psalmist is communicating is that out of a time when things were difficult or tough, when one might conclude empirically that God had forsaken His people, God now pressed forward deliverance, mercy, and faithfulness so that things improved dramatically for the house of Israel. God didn’t forget, but circumstances were so difficult that even believers might be tempted to consider whether or not they were forgotten or forsaken by God completely. When things changed for the better a perception was created that God now “remembered” His steadfast love and faithfulness.
It is comforting that God’s Word makes such concessions to our own predilection to empiricism, and our own “anthropomorphizing” of God. But of course His Word, His revelation of wisdom to us, enables and urges us to be clear in our knowledge of God and our faith in God. So, His Word assures us that trials, troubles, tribulations, and turmoil are not evidence that He has forgotten us, or that He has forgotten His love for us. To be sure, these things come as a result of sin being in the world, and at times it is our own sin that brings trouble to us. Not all troubles are a direct consequence of our own sin though. Regardless, for His own dear children of faith such troubles are always therapeutic, designed to recall us to repentance, and back to faith and trust in His mercy, goodness, and love for us – which are ever present realities no matter what our perceptions or thoughts may be. So also His salvation and faithfulness is an ever present source of strength, hope, trust, and confidence in God. This is what has sustained the martyrs of all ages, in all times and places, even today. And it should also sustain each and every one of us!
Yes, bad things can happen even to God’s people, and life in this fallen world of sin can become a sort of living hell. In the worst of circumstances God still carries His people in love, lifting them up and bearing them as on eagle’s wings, filled with steadfast love, compassion, and mercy toward them. And His salvation in Christ Jesus remains firm and intact, based upon His Words and promises [and God never lies or fails to fulfill His Word], no matter what temporal and empirical experiences we may be enduring. It is difficult to exclude our empirical observations from our perceptions, but with faith and trust in God, based on His Word, we keep our observations from skewing our conclusions about God and His love for us, and from weakening or destroying our faith in Him. So regardless of our circumstances we “remember” His steadfast love and faithfulness, and the certainty of His salvation, and we break forth into songs of praise and thanksgiving, glorying in God our Savior, and glorifying Him!
Prayer For The Day
Dear Heavenly Father, forbid that we should lose sight of Your Word, Your promises, and the reality of Your love, in difficult and burdensome trials and troubles. Help us to know that You always “remember” us and keep us in mind, that we are the apple of Your eye. So help us also to be keen sighted to realize the blessings You provide for us even in the worst circumstances. We too look forward each day to Your deliverance and salvation, and we praise You for Your steadfast love and compassion. Amen.