December 23rd, 2012
Today’s reading from Encounter with God

Rehearse; Repeat; Remember

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Opening Prayer

Lord, You are the God of my waiting, the basis of my hoping. Come, O come, Emmanuel. I welcome You.

Read Psalm 78:40-72

[40] How often they rebelled against him in the wilderness and grieved him in the wasteland! [41] Again and again they put God to the test; they vexed the Holy One of Israel. [42] They did not remember his power- the day he redeemed them from the oppressor, [43] the day he displayed his signs in Egypt, his wonders in the region of Zoan. [44] He turned their river into blood; they could not drink from their streams. [45] He sent swarms of flies that devoured them, and frogs that devastated them. [46] He gave their crops to the grasshopper, their produce to the locust. [47] He destroyed their vines with hail and their sycamore-figs with sleet. [48] He gave over their cattle to the hail, their livestock to bolts of lightning. [49] He unleashed against them his hot anger, his wrath, indignation and hostility- a band of destroying angels. [50] He prepared a path for his anger; he did not spare them from death but gave them over to the plague. [51] He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt, the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham. [52] But he brought his people out like a flock; he led them like sheep through the wilderness. [53] He guided them safely, so they were unafraid; but the sea engulfed their enemies. [54] And so he brought them to the border of his holy land, to the hill country his right hand had taken. [55] He drove out nations before them and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance; he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes. [56] But they put God to the test and rebelled against the Most High; they did not keep his statutes. [57] Like their ancestors they were disloyal and faithless, as unreliable as a faulty bow. [58] They angered him with their high places; they aroused his jealousy with their idols. [59] When God heard them, he was furious; he rejected Israel completely. [60] He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh, the tent he had set up among humans. [61] He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendor into the hands of the enemy. [62] He gave his people over to the sword; he was furious with his inheritance. [63] Fire consumed their young men, and their young women had no wedding songs; [64] their priests were put to the sword, and their widows could not weep. [65] Then the Lord awoke as from sleep, as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine. [66] He beat back his enemies; he put them to everlasting shame. [67] Then he rejected the tents of Joseph, he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim; [68] but he chose the tribe of Judah, Mount Zion, which he loved. [69] He built his sanctuary like the heights, like the earth that he established forever. [70] He chose David his servant and took him from the sheep pens; [71] from tending the sheep he brought him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob, of Israel his inheritance. [72] And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.

Scripture taken from the Holy Bible, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 International Bible Society. All rights reserved throughout the world. Used by permission of International Bible Society.

Meditate

“Look to the Lord and his strength; seek his face always. Remember the wonders he has done…” (1 Chron. 16:11,12).

Think Further

Psalm 78 is one of several passages of Scripture in which the acts of God in the past are “rehearsed.” It was an encouragement to the people of Israel to repeat the account of these acts, and in so doing to remember. Comprehensive and detailed, the psalm affirms that every memory matters. At stake is not just knowledge of history. At stake is identity. These are the acts that have formed Israel. The people are called, in the legendary phrase of Walter Brueggemann, “to remember who they are by remembering whose they are.” This connection of liturgy to history is an insight into the very nature of worship. The whole reason we have liturgies and songs, hymns and readings and prescribed prayers, is so that we might remember. We are what we are because of God’s actions in the past. His every promise for our future is secured by these same actions. We speak out about what God has done and, in speaking, are drawn deeper into trust. Remember your past, the psalmist calls to us, and ask God for the eyes to see his hand at work in it.

Standing between the faithfulness of God in our past and the promises of God for our future, we align ourselves to his purposes by remembering. Like an actress learning her lines, we repeat to remember. Like exiles singing stories to our children, we remember to survive. Like travelers with our photographs of home, we let memories define us and shape our onward journey. To lose memory is to lose hope. When our grip on God’s actions in our past slips, our hope in God’s assurance for our future weakens. It is hardly surprising that so many of us have lost hope when we have set aside the habit of remembering.

Apply

We need to forget past failures and successes so we can move on in growth. However, we mustn’t forget what God has done in our lives. Ponder that and praise him.

Closing prayer

Lead me to treasures buried in my past, my God. Amaze me with wonders stored up for my future.

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