How Remembering Rejuvenates Us

Psalm 77:12

This week our small but growing community has been focused around “remembering.” What a gift it is! It is part of marking the season of Lent, which my family celebrated growing up. We aren’t Catholic, so some people were confused by this, but it is a season the church has celebrated for many years to help train us to seek God more intimately. Based off of the 40 days Jesus spent in the wilderness, the concept of Lent is found in Matthew 4:1-11. One of my favorite parts of Lent was, and still is, how we can use this time to make space for God.

Of course, God doesn’t need anyone to make space for Him since He occupies all space and time. But as a little child, abstaining from candy or television for 40 days in order to focus on God more gave me a simple but deep appreciation for how much honor God deserves in our lives. He deserves our time and attention. He deserves our first and our best. He deserves all things since it is from Him all things come.

This psalm, written by a Levite named Asaph tells of the emotional struggles we face when trials come into our lives. I think it aligns well with Lent because Lent is a way to work through struggles with the Lord without letting the struggle  consume us. The psalmist opens up his heart and reveals his pain before the Lord. He doesn’t try to hide it from him. He doesn’t wear a mask. But he also doesn’t wallow in his pain either.

We can learn from Psalm 77 several ways to approach any struggle in a God-honoring way:

1. Let’s bring our hearts to the Lord honestly. When we face trials we can’t pretend that that we aren’t struggling and expect to be healed. God can do anything, but He wants His children to have a relationship with Him. This means we have to share our hurt with Him.

2. We must call to mind God’s goodness and majesty even in the midst of any struggle. The verse that is the pivotal point in this psalm is the one right before this week’s memory verse “I will remember the works of the LORD; yes, I will remember Your wonders of old.”

3. We point back to specific times God provided what we needed. This not only strengthens our faith, but it also encourages others as well. When we can stand firm on what God has done for us we are trusting him. Truly trusting him means not just shallowly saying we do but then living a life of fear. When we do this, we make a statement to the world that Daniel and his companions made (the full story is in Daniel 3), which essentially said, we know God can do whatever he wants to save us, but even if he doesn’t, we won’t bow to this fear and we trust the Lord instead. This is a powerful testament to the Lord and a wonderful way to honor and meditate on him.

So, friends, this week as we memorize Psalm 77:12, let’s keep meditating on God’s mighty deeds!


4 comments


  • Lydia

    My goodness, Carrie, thanks so much for sharing that. That story is one of my favorites in all of Scripture. Their response, bravery and boldness for the Lord gives me chills every time! For anyone wanting to check it out here is the link: the link <https://biblehub.com/daniel/3.htm>


  • Carrie

    Wow… just read that again slowly… your mighty deeds. He is mighty. And He can and will do everything… but His everything is often different than ours. i love the reminder of Daniel… even if God doesn't answer the way we want, He still answers and He knows what's best and I trust Him, in His time.


  • Lydia

    Hi Kelli! Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts and stopping by! God uses our pain and suffering in so many ways, but you are right, it can be easy to be sidetracked by our circumstances and lose sight of the Lord’s leading us through them. Praise God that He always finds a way to gently lead us back to Him. I’m so glad you found this encouraging and helpful. It’s always my prayer that these devotionals will be used to bring some peace, joy or light to someone! I really appreciate you sharing.


  • Kelli

    Thank your for the reminder that in the midst of pain and suffering we must remember that God is good! I’ve been struggling with chronic illness and it’s easy to be consumed by circumstances but this devotional reminds me of Col 3:2 – to set my mind on things above! Also, your reminder of Daniel and his incredible faith that God may not rescue him from the fiery furnace yet God is to be praised. God’s ways are not our ways. So love the James Method of studying – thanks you for blessing all of us with it!❤️


Leave a comment

Please note, comments must be approved before they are published

This site is protected by hCaptcha and the hCaptcha Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.


You may also like

View all
    1 out of ...