His Encouragement #255

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Welcome to His Encouragement Thursday! I don’t know about you, but Thursdays are my struggle day of the week. By Thursday, I have already been working hard at school and at home, and I just wish it would hurry up and be Friday already. LOL! I definitely need a little extra Jesus time on Thursdays.

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I remember the days of old; I meditate on all that You have done; I ponder the work of Your hands. I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah.

Psalm 143:5-6 (ESV)

For the last year or so, I have definitely been remembering the days of old. I am a child of the 80s. We had the best music, TV, and toys. We had imagination and play time. We had Hooked on Phonics and Speak n’ Spell and Simon Says and Play-Doh. We had freedom to explore. Our parents didn’t hover over us every second of the day because things were safer in the 80s — well, at least it felt safer. I don’t know if this world has ever been safe.

I have also been remembering church time, school time, and family time. Things were so different when I was younger. Church was something you dressed up for. It was a big deal. School taught reading and writing and arithmetic. And family time was always the event you looked forward to — grandparents and their stories, aunts and uncles, cousins everywhere, and food! I tell my husband all the time that we didn’t know how good we had it at the time. Growing up in the 80s was a magical, blessed time. At least that’s how I see it when I remember the days of old.

It’s easy to get sucked into a sense of nostalgia and then get a little blue. But that is not the point of Psalm 143:5-6. The psalmist isn’t getting stuck in his bygone days, but rather he is focused on all the amazing deeds of God, the work of God’s mighty and capable hands. Things like creation, leading Abraham away from gods to God, the promises made to the forefathers, the Exodus, the fall of Jericho, and many more instances of God’s mighty works.

This portion of Psalm 143 is all about perspective. Am I focused on myself or on God? It’s not about remembering my cool childhood from the 80s and feeling sad that 2024 is a dumpster fire comparatively. NO! It’s about looking back on my whole life and seeing all the ways God worked mightily in my life. It’s seeing Him call to me when I was 6 years old. It’s seeing all the times He rescued me from myself in my teen and early-adult years. It’s remembering God saving my life, and the life of my daughter, in a truly miraculous way during my pregnancy. It’s remembering God’s constancy. He never, ever gives up on me!

In this remembering, I stretch out my hands, just like the psalmist, and worship God. I long for Him because the remembering of all He’s done for me in my past, in my days of old, makes me so, so grateful. God, the Creator of all, wants a relationship with me. He has illustrated this countless times throughout my life. And He will continue until I take my last breath. God is my Constant and I am in total awe of Him and His glorious deeds. I am so blessed to worship a God like our God!

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NOW, IT’S YOUR TURN!

WHAT BIBLICAL VERSE IS ENCOURAGING YOU TODAY?