a)
Psalm 77 has a note of realism
about it. Sometimes it seems as if today we are given a picture of Christian
experience which is pure fantasy, but this Psalm as God’s Word is real. Have
you ever felt your soul refused to be comforted? Have you ever remembered God
and yet were troubled, so troubled perhaps that you could scarcely speak? Have
you ever felt like asking some of the questions the Psalmist did? I think it
almost certain that most of us can identify only too well with what the
Psalmist says here.
b)
My real reason for turning to
this Psalm, however, is because of the remedy that the Psalmist found – he
remembered, v.10,11. The answer to all his questioning, the remedy for his
anguish was to remember, to look back, to look away from what the present seemed
like, to what God had done in the past.
1
Look back with thankfulness
a)
There is always something to
thank God for and generally speaking Christians don’t have to look very far or
hard to see it. We should be thankful that we are here tonight – not only that
we have the health and strength to do so, but that we have the desire in our
hearts. We are here to worship God; we are here to listen to his Word; we are
here because – at least to some extent – we want to know him better, we desire
his grace and blessing at the end of the year and look forward to the New. God
has kept us through 2012 and we can look to the future trusting to him. We are
here to thank him and to worship him
b)
We should be thankful for the
coming of Jesus Christ. These past few days have been days of celebration and
holiday, but at the heart of it all we remember that Christ Jesus came into the
world to save us from our sins. We have been reminded of the way he humbled
himself, of the astonishing incarnation, of the miracle and mystery of the Son
of God made flesh. We cannot estimate the love and grace displayed in this – we
can worship and rejoice and entrust ourselves in humility and gratitude to him.
c)
We should be thankful for our
homes and families and family life. For most of us, at least, these past days
have been days when we have met with family members; when we have heard from
relatives and friends who live at a distance, when we have received cards,
letters and gifts. It is God who ordained the family; all the blessings and joys
of family life are his gift to us. Even those who now have few family members,
or who find most of them far away, are reminded of old times. Those who are
rather lonely at Christmas – and there are numbers of people who are – can
generally look back and can be thankful for the past.
2
Look back with repentance
a)
I think we sometimes forget
that repentance is a lifetime requirement. We know we start the Christian life
by faith in Jesus Christ and we recognise our need to continue trusting in him
through all the changing scenes of life. Somehow, however, we are inclined to
think that repentance goes along with faith at the beginning but gradually
becomes less important. But that is not true. An honest look back will remind
us of many failures, many sins, much that spoilt our relationship with the Lord
and grieved him, much of which we are ashamed and are glad that others don’t
know about. I am not sure that in our worship and in our walk with the Lord we
give the place to repentance that it ought to have. Let each one examine
himself or herself.
b)
Part of our problem may be the
attitudes in society around us. How often do we hear someone who has done wrong
owning up to having made a mistake? Not committed a sin, not done or said
something that ought never to have been done or said, but made a mistake. Sin
is sin; it is wrong and evil in the sight of God. A mistake is when I misspell
a word in my notes; but when I lose my temper and say hurtful things to a
brother or sister in Christ that is sin. It must be acknowledged as sin and
repented of as sin – otherwise it cannot be properly forgiven. We also hear
people say after they have done something wrong that they deserve a second
chance. You can’t deserve a second
chance. Love, understanding, kindness may give you a second chance but it is
not anything someone can deserve. God gives us second chances, not because we
deserve them, but because he is gracious and merciful.
c)
The sins which we commit now as
Christians are much more serious than the sins we committed before we trusted
in Christ. I was reading a very honest and remarkable book and was startled by
this sentence: ‘I believe that the Lord is more grieved by my current sins than
by my past life as a lesbian.’ The Christian woman who wrote this is right. The
sins I commit now are much worse than those committed when I was a teenager; it
is much more grievous for me to sin after all these years and my repentance
needs to be real and deep – and so it is for you. You are now a year older than
this time last year – you have attended church, read the Bible, heard sermons
over the year. The further we go in the Christian life the more grievous are
our sins and the more seriously we should take repentance.
d)
Repentance can be acknowledged
together, but it usually needs to be carried out privately. It will sometimes
involve apology and asking for forgiveness; perhaps within the family, perhaps
within the church. And that is hard, but it is needful.
3
Look back with thoughtfulness
a)
Looking back takes our eyes off
the present problems to focus on what God has done in the past. There is an
unprofitable way of looking back, just wishing we could have the old times
back, seeing the past through rose-coloured spectacles; there is also a wise
way of looking back, a thoughtful way. Asaph continues in vv.12-15. Then his
soul is lifted up and he sings out a sort of poetic and dramatic retelling of
the crossing of the Red Sea , finishing with
v.20. The God who is Lord over the sea and all the elements is also the One who
led his people by his servants Moses and Aaron. The same sovereign Lord leads
his people today by ordinary men and women, pastors, teachers, brothers and
sisters. And he will lead us.
b)
The past often shows us that
God has been at work when we haven’t been able to see it. Has God forgotten…? vv.8,9. There are times when it looks as if he
has. The situation Israel
found itself in, in Egypt
c)
Reviewing the past leads to
personal encouragement and then to encouraging others, cf. 2 Cor. 1:3,4; 8-10.
Would Paul have been able to comfort
others as he did, if he had not himself first of all gone through hard
experiences? No, surely not. That’s one reason why pastors so often have to go
through difficult experiences; they have to learn to trust, they have to know
what it is to receive comfort and strength from the Lord so that they can then
comfort and encourage others. That is what is so wonderful about the Lord
Jesus, Heb. 2:17,18; 4:15,16.
d)
Considering what God has done
in the past can bring quietness and peace into the soul. Ps.116, v.3 I found trouble and sorrow; v.6,7. What
a beautiful phrase: Return to your rest,
O my soul. That’s why we sang the last hymn – ‘Be still, my soul, the Lord
is on your side’. How do we know the Lord is on our side? We can know for
various reasons, but going back over his goodness and mercy in the past
demonstrates to us that he is on our side. ‘Be still my soul: the Lord will
undertake, to guide the future as he has the past’. This leads to our final
heading –
4
Look back with anticipation
a)
This doesn’t seem to make sense
– how can you look back with anticipation? Well it is almost a reflex action
and this leads me to a verse from our last hymn: ‘His love in time past forbids
me to think, he’ll leave me at last in trouble to sink; and can he have taught
me to trust in his name and this far have brought me to put me to shame?’ The
logic is inescapable, isn’t it? Does God string us along for a while and then
drop us? Does he draw us with his love and bring us to trust him only to show
us we can’t trust him to carry us on and see us through? No! His goodness and
mercy in time past toward us assure us that whatever we go through he will not
let us go. What can we anticipate?
b)
We can anticipate conversions.
God saves, but he does it in his own way and in his own time. I know that
conversions sometimes seem few and far between, I know that we cannot compel
anyone to believe, but God does and will save. There are times of sowing and
then sometimes times of reaping, times when there is a harvest. We can’t
control that, it’s in God’s hands. Our labour is never in vain in the Lord.
c)
We can anticipate surprises; I
know that there are different sorts of surprises and of course you never know
when a surprise is going to take place. They can take many different shapes and
forms. There are little surprises and sometimes big surprises. I don’t want to
define them any more, we simply can’t tell in what way the Lord might surprise
us.
d)
We can anticipate answers to
prayer. God hasn’t given us prayer in order to mock us. Of course, prayer can’t
force God to do something that is not his will. We must always have the
attitude that Jesus showed, ‘Not my will,
but yours be done’. God does answer prayer; not always in the way we
expect, not always at the time we hoped, but every Christian knows that God
answers prayer – as we look back we can
see that he has in the past and so we know that he will do so in the future as
well.
e)
We can anticipate guidance.
Guidance is not an easy matter, and we must be guided supremely by the Word of
God, and we are to use the minds he has given to us – but in subjection to the
Word. He guides individuals, he guides families, he guides churches – he has
done so in the past so we know he will do it in the future. Ps. 32:8 says: I will instruct you and teach you in the way
you should go; I will guide you with my eye. But it also goes on to say: Do not be like the horse or like the mule
which have no understanding, which must be harnessed with bit and bridle, else
they will not come near you. We mustn’t just rush ahead without thinking as
animals might, be must be humble and teachable and be willing to be led step by
step.
f)
We can anticipate forgiveness. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and
just to forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. There
is scarcely a more wonderful verse in the whole Bible. The past teaches us that
we shall go on failing and falling in the future, the battle against sin is
never over while we are in this world. We must seek to grow in holiness, but
progress is often slow. We must never use the promise of forgiveness as an
excuse for slackness and for easing off. John’s words are so true and
important: My little children, these
things I write to you, that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have
an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And he himself is the
propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.
g)
We can anticipate glory.
Whatever happens, however long or short the rest of our lives might be, for
every Christian the final outcome is not death, it is glory. Moreover whom he predestined, these he also
called; whom he called, these he also justified; and whom he justified, these
he also glorified. But how does looking back enable us to anticipate glory?
God has already raised up Jesus Christ and glorified him and Jesus Christ while
he was here on earth prayed for all who believe in him, including these words: And the glory which you gave me I have given
them.
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