Our fathers have told us...

Psalm 44:1-8 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.

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.  The Bible is filled with stories and accounts of the great and wonderful works of God. In Exodus 10:1-2 God speaks to Moses: Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh, for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may perform these signs of Mine among them, ² and that you may tell in the hearing of your son, and of your grandson, how I made a mockery of the Egyptians and how I performed My signs among them, that you may know that I am the Lord.”     In Deuteronomy 11, just before the Israelites crossed into the promised land Moses said: 

 Know this day that I am not speaking with your sons who have not known and who have not seen the discipline of the Lord your God—His greatness, His mighty hand and His outstretched arm, ³ and His signs and His works which He did in the midst of Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land; ⁴ and what He did to Egypt’s army, to its horses and its chariots, when He made the water of the Red Sea to engulf them while they were pursuing you, and the Lord completely destroyed them; ⁵ and what He did to you in the wilderness until you came to this place… ⁷ but your own eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord which He did.

⁸ “You shall therefore keep every commandment which I am commanding you today, so that you may be strong and go in and possess the land into which you are about to cross to possess it; ⁹ so that you may prolong your days on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey…¹³ “It shall come about, if you listen obediently to my commandments which I am commanding you today, to love the Lord your God and to serve Him with all your heart and all your soul, ¹⁴ that He will give the rain for your land in its season, the early and late rain, that you may gather in your grain and your new wine and your oil. ¹⁵He will give grass in your fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied. ¹⁶ Beware that your hearts are not deceived, and that you do not turn away and serve other gods and worship them. ¹⁷ Or the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and He will shut up the heavens so that there will be no rain and the ground will not yield its fruit; and you will perish quickly from the good land which the Lord is giving you.

¹⁸ “You shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and on your soul; and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. ¹⁹ You shall teach them to your sons, talking of them when you sit in your house and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you rise up. ²⁰ You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹ so that your days and the days of your sons may be multiplied on the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens remain above the earth… ²⁶ “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ²⁷ the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; ²⁸ and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.

I am 57 years old. When I was growing up it was common in our culture and society, even in our schools and our entertainment, TV, movies and music, to recount the awesome works of God. The goodness of God was integrated and ingrained into nearly every aspect of life. In the same way that in God We Trust was imprinted and engraved in our currency so too was it ingrained into the fabric of everyday life. Our culture and our society operated in the principle God had laid out for the Israelites. As a nation and a people we were blessed with freedom, provision authority and esteem throughout the world.

By contrast today if it were not for Disney’s depictions of many of the Biblical stories many people would not know of them at all. We have removed God from our schools and our curriculum. While spirituality may be encouraged, Biblical values and God Himself are viewed negatively. The very Bible that is used to swear in our leaders is considered unsuitable for them to lead by.  These days most people want only to speak of God’s love, if they tolerate God at all. The scripture says:  “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: ²⁷ the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, which I am commanding you today; ²⁸ and the curse, if you do not listen to the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way which I am commanding you today, by following other gods which you have not known.  God does indeed love people and He wants to bless us. The blessing though comes through obedience to Him.

If we do not tell of the goodness and the wonderful works of God, how can we expect that our children, our sons and daughters will know them or will know God Himself? If they haven’t heard or been told how can they choose to be obedient?  Why then would we be surprised that as a nation we no longer enjoy the blessing of God?

The psalmist says:  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.  No political party or ideology can bring about blessing to our culture or society.  Revelation 12:11 says: they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony     If we expect to overcome the darkness and difficulties of our time we need to share the testimony of the goodness of God. We need to share the truth of the blood of the Lamb. God does indeed love people, all people. We are called to love others also with that same love. The love of God is demonstrated not in His simply blessing everyone and everything. God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.(Romans 5:8)

Our testimony, like many things with God should be a paradox. It should be both the same, unchanging and be new and fresh every day. We should testify of the unchanging power of the cross and the blood of the lamb, yet every day we should have a new and fresh testimony of the goodness of God in our own lives.

Heavenly Father thank You for the testimony of Your word. Thank You for giving us the eternal reminders of Your faithfulness, Your goodness, Your love and Your great works. May I also be faithful to tell of Your faithfulness, goodness, love and the great works which I have seen with my own eyes. May our children rise up in response to Your greatness and walk in the fullness of Your blessings, through the blood of the Lamb, Jesus Christ our Lord and Savior.   Amen.