Remember

Reading through Psalm 77, again.  This one is yet another reminder of the solace I find in the Psalms – because the cries of David are so raw and relevant. In 77, we can feel the sting of his despair. His soul is in pain and he is overwhelmed with a longing for God’s help, for relief. He can’t sleep. He is too distressed to even pray. He asks this gut-honest question – “Have God's promises permanently failed? Has God slammed the door on His compassion?”.
 
Haven’t we all been here? At what feels like the bottom of the pit? In my Bible, the Psalm splits here because of a page break so I have these words written in the margin: 
 
KEEP READING…
The Remedy

​Because it would be far too depressing to stop at verse 10.
The next part of Psalm 77 says:

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But then I recall all you have done, O Lord;
I remember your wonderful deeds of long ago.
They are constantly in my thoughts.
​I cannot stop thinking of Your mighty works.

​"O God, Your ways are Holy.
Is there ANY God as Mighty as You?
You are the God of great wonders!
You demonstrate your awesome power among the nations.
By Your strong arm, you redeemed your people…
 
When the Red Sea saw You, O, God, its waters looked and trembled!
The sea quaked to its very depths.
The clouds poured down rain;
The thunder rumbled in the sky.
Your arrows of lightning flashed.
Your thunder roared from the whirlwind;
The lightning lit up the world!
The earth trembled and shook."

These last few verses are perhaps some of my favorite in all the Bible:
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"Your road led through the sea,
Your pathway through the mighty waters-
A pathway no one knew was there!
You led your people along that road like a flock of sheep...”

​How many times has He done this for us? Revealed to us a pathway that no one (including us) knew was even there? A Plan C. An answer to our cry in a way we could have never imagined.
 
At the top of this page in my Bible, I have the word REMEMBER.  He is the Remedy and our job is to remember that. A few months ago – about a year out from my cancer diagnosis, I was cooking dinner with music playing. I immediately recognized the voice - my absolute favorite artist, Lauren Daigle – but it was a song I hadn’t heard yet, called Remember. As the song played, the words gripped my heart. I literally got down on my knees in thankful prayer, tears streaming down my face. I don’t know if this is the Psalm she had in her heart when she wrote these lyrics, but she sure captures its message with incredible authenticity and beauty.
 
My daughter came in and found me kneeling on the floor, my face soaked with mascara marked tears. She sat down beside me and I got to explain to her that they were thankful tears – reminding me of all He had carried us through over the last year – sickness, chemo, surgery, radiation… the list goes on. We pulled up the song and listened to it together, remembering. (Listen for yourself, below).
 
What I’ve found is that Psalm 77, this song and life in general point to a pattern:

We struggle, He rescues, we remember.

We can’t leave off the last part. We must remember His faithfulness. Remembering postures our heart towards gratitude and grace. And sometimes when we come face-to-face with with the cruel struggles of this world, that's all we can do: remember. Cherish His work in your life. Celebrate it. And don't stop there. Publish it. Psalm 96:3, actually says just that:
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"Publish His glorious deeds among the nations.
Tell everyone about the amazing things He does.” (NLT)

Maybe our rescue is not meant for just us. What if we never got to hear the life stories of the saints who have gone before us?  Like David – broken and messy but forgiven and redeemed.
 
Steward your story. One word at a time. Today, tell someone something He has done for you. It doesn’t have to be elaborate or eloquent. Keep your eyes watchful for the opportunities all around you – broken people that desperately need to hear that they aren’t the only ones in the struggle and while the struggle is real, so is our Savior.