Psalm 77:1-3 - I
cried out to God for help; I cried out to God to hear me. When I was in distress, I sought
the Lord; at night I stretched out untiring hands
and my soul refused to be comforted. I remembered you, O God, and I
groaned; I mused, and my spirit grew faint.
"Selah"
Asaph found himself so troubled he could not sleep…so he
cried out to God. His prayers through
the entire night began to request God to fix this and that….but somewhere in
the midst of one of those requests….he remembered something God had already done
for him. And as he began to recount the good times his troubles melted into a
time of thankfulness and worship.
I call them sweet memories…like the huge empty parking lot
of ice and snow I passed yesterday when I took my son to the doctor to get the
stitches out of his shoulder. It made me think of how I would cringe at the
prospect of going with Mitchell to do wheelies at 3 am when it snowed….but for some
odd reason I found myself laughing and doing just one wheelie…while Andrew
stared at me and reminded me that security would surely come and give me a
ticket. I laughed partially at the sweet
memory …and more from the shock on my son’s face…as I pulled back off the
ice.
That is the way that God begins to heal us from the pain of
the deepest wounds that life inflicts. He wraps us in sweet memories of all he has
done in the past…and transforms our worries and pain into worship of him. We can’t be worried or sad anymore…for we see
all that we should be thankful for instead.
Father…thank you for the reminder that I need to bring all
my worries and pain to you…so you can begin to replace the pain with your great
love. Thank you for the sweet memories that
bring a moment of joy to my heart…and the smile that powers the courage to move
a little further away from the pain. Help me to always follow Asaph’s model…and let my prayers of
pain and sorrow…melt into a worship that fades all the pain and sorrow from my
heart...as I worship you. Amen.
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