“I will meditate on all your works and consider all your mighty deeds.” – Psalm 77:12This is great instruction. When we focus on the bad, we spiral down. When we meditate on the loss, we suffer more loss. When we consider our works and deeds, they are always second (or worse) to someone else’s out there.
But, when we focus on the greatness of our God, when we meditate on His great victories, when we consider His works and His mighty deeds. Things change.
Your ways, O God, are holy.
What god is so great as our God?
You are the God who performs miracles;
You display your power among the peoples.
With your mighty arm you redeemed your people, the descendants of Jacob and Joseph.
Selah
Psalm 77:13-15
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I remembered you, O God, and I groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint. (Psalm 77:3)
ReplyDeleteMany times in Psalms, and, indeed personally, it’s interesting to see the transformation in spirit when it is completely abandoned to God. Our focus shifts from our needs and fears to recognition of the power and glory that is God’s. What begins with a plea for help, peace, restoration, or safety ends with surrender to the holiness of God. While Asaph begins this Psalm with anguish and a feeling of distress, he ends with a remembrance of the faithfulness and promise of God.
I think it’s a natural transformation that happens anytime we truly turn our focus from ourselves to the one deserving of all our praise. We shift our perspective from six feet of flesh and a limited circle of friends and family, to the entire population and history of mankind – past, present, and future. It doesn’t diminish the anxiety or pain we feel, but provides comfort in the knowledge that the creator of all knows us and loved us enough to send His son.
It was a great reminder today that as I went to God with my “laundry list” of needs, I should end with praise for what He has done and what He has promised to do.