We will give thanks to Your name forever.

Psalm 44:1-8 (NASB) from the daily reading in the One Year Bible

Former Deliverances and Present Troubles.

O God, we have heard with our ears,
Our fathers have told us
The work that You did in their days,
In the days of old.
² You with Your own hand drove out the nations;
Then You planted them;
You afflicted the peoples,
Then You spread them abroad.
³ For by their own sword they did not possess the land,
And their own arm did not save them,
But Your right hand and Your arm and the light of Your presence,
For You favored them.

⁴ You are my King, O God;
Command victories for Jacob.
⁵ Through You we will push back our adversaries;
Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us.
⁶ For I will not trust in my bow,
Nor will my sword save me.
⁷ But You have saved us from our adversaries,
And You have put to shame those who hate us.
⁸ In God we have boasted all day long,
And we will give thanks to Your name forever.

Former deliverances and present troubles, when we are experiencing difficult or trying times it is good for us to remember the previous troubles God has brought us through. It is one thing to hope and trust in the promises of God, but our faith is increased as we remember the things God has done. In Exodus 16:32-33, God instructed Moses to preserve some manna as a testimony to future generations.

"This is what the LORD has commanded, 'Let an omerful of it be kept throughout your generations, that they may see the bread that I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.'" 33Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omerful of manna in it, and place it before the LORD to be kept throughout your generations."

God never again provided manna from heaven to feed his people. The message or lesson though to future generations, even to us is that God will provide for us as we trust in Him and depend on Him. Jesus taught the disciples to pray: “give us this day our daily bread”.  He teaches us in Matthew 6:31-34;   So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ ³² For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. ³³ But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. ³⁴ Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.  

Our confidence in the promises of God is increased as we remember, with thanksgiving the deliverance of God.  The psalmist says: O God, we have heard with our ears, Our fathers have told us The work that You did in their days, In the days of old.  Malachi 3:6-7 says:

"For I, the LORD, do not change; therefore you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed. 7"From the days of your fathers you have turned aside from My statutes and have not kept them. Return to Me, and I will return to you," says the LORD of hosts.

God does not change. The victories and deliverance He has provided in the past for others, He will provide again. He says return to Me. Jesus says: “seek first His kingdom and His righteousness”

The psalmist finds confidence for his present situation by recounting God’s faithfulness. He says:  Through You we will push back our adversaries; Through Your name we will trample down those who rise up against us. ⁶ For I will not trust in my bow, Nor will my sword save me.
⁷ But You have saved us from our adversaries, And You have put to shame those who hate us.
⁸ In God we have boasted all day long, And we will give thanks to Your name forever.

While the scriptural accounts of God’s faithfulness are valuable to us, to increase our faith as we face difficulties today, sometimes the things God did then seem so far off and our times and circumstances so different, that it is hard to apply what we see and hear from that time to our situation. That’s why it is important that we too continue to testify of the things God has done and continues to do for us. I personally never experienced God raining down food from heaven, but there was a time when my wife and I were first married, finances were extremely limited. We had a very hard time paying our bills and providing for normal family needs. Our car broke down and the repair was going to be $50.00. We simply did not have it, it might as well have been $500.00 or $5000.00. That day as I walked around outside at work, admittedly worrying but praying with what little faith I had, I walked upon a $50.00 dollar bill. I don’t know how it got there. I tried to make sure it wasn’t one of my co-workers, no one there lost that money. God provides for our every need.

Revelation 12:11 says: And they overcame him (the devil, the accuser of the brethren) because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony…

It is only through Christ, by the blood of the lamb, that we have victory in our lives. But our testimony, faithfully sharing both the big and small things that God has done for us can help others to overcome things in their lives.

May our prayer and declaration today be like the psalmist in Psalm 51:15:

O Lord, open my lips, That my mouth may declare Your praise.  And continue as the prophet Habakkuk, in Habakkuk 3: Lord, I have heard the report about You and I fear. O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years, In the midst of the years make it known; In wrath remember mercy….Though the fig tree should not blossom And there be no fruit on the vines,
Though the yield of the olive should fail And the fields produce no food, Though the flock should be cut off from the fold And there be no cattle in the stalls, ¹⁸ Yet I will exult in the Lord,
I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. ¹⁹ The Lord God is my strength, And He has made my feet like hinds’ feet, And makes me walk on my high places.  

Thank You Lord. Amen.