Read Psalm 77:10-15. 10Then I said, “I will appeal to this, to the years of the right hand of the Most High.” 11I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. 12I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. 13Your way, O God, is holy. What god is great like our God? 14You are the God who works wonders; you have made known your might among the peoples. 15You with your arm redeemed your people, the children of Jacob and Joseph.
As the psalmist, Asaph, mourns the fall of Judah into the hands of the Babylonians, as he seeks comfort for his soul, as he begins to reconstruct his faith (see yesterday’s reading), his appeal goes all the way back to the Exodus. Asaph chooses to remember. To look back on the wonders of old. To meditate on the mighty deeds of God as he brought his people out from under the oppression of their Egyptian slave masters.
Paul makes a similar appeal in Romans 8.
Romans 8:32. He who did not spare his own Son but gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?
If God did that, won’t he also do this?
If God did the greater thing, won’t he also do the lesser thing?
If God brought us out of Egypt, won’t he also bring us out of Babylon?
If God gave us his Son, won’t he also give us all things?
If God the Son went to the cross for us, if he faced separation, death, and hell for us, to rescue us from condemnation, won’t he also rescue us from the trials and tribulations of this life?
If to live is Christ and to die is gain, then won’t Christ bring me through any fire and any flood I face either by life or by death?
Prayer. Jesus, you’ve already done the hardest thing ever, the rest is easy. Help me to remember the cross each time I am tempted to lose hope. Amen.
To Live is Christ 