Highlight Reel (Friday Devotional)

‘“Will the Lord spurn forever, and never again be favorable? Has His steadfast love ceased forever? Are His promises at an end for all time? Has God forgotten to be gracious? Has He in anger shut up His compassion?” And I say, “It is my grief that the right hand of the Most High has changed.” I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember Your wonders of old. I will meditate on all Your work, and muse on Your mighty deeds.’

- Psalm 77:7-12

When your team is down by 5 runs going into the 9th inning, it’s difficult to muster up much excitement. You’ve already been watching the game for three hours, most of the crowd has already filed out to the parking lot hoping to beat the traffic, and most of all, you know the chances are slim that you’re going to go home celebrating a victory. So you slump down in your seat and hope that the last three outs will come quickly. Your hope for a rally is all but extinguished.

Suddenly, the scoreboard lights up with a video montage. As you watch, you realize what you’re seeing: highlights of late-inning comebacks from earlier in the season. You watch and remember the based-loaded double that erased a three-run deficit, then the bloop single that broke a scoreless tie, and then the numerous walk-off homeruns that sent your team and its fans into happy hysterics. And as the replays accumulate, as you watch comeback after comeback, your team’s current deficit starts to feel less insurmountable. Flooded with memories of previous victories, you believe they can do it again.

Sometimes the best path to present hope is the memory of past faithfulness. The writer of the seventy-seventh psalm comes to God from a place of crisis, unsure if God will even hear his cry. “My soul refuses to be comforted,” he laments. “I think of God and I moan.” Hope is distant for him; it is barely imaginable, much less visible.

But in the eleventh verse, the tone of the psalm changes dramatically when the psalmist begins to remember the glorious things God has done in the past, reciting a montage of God’s mighty works. Reflecting on God’s power over creation, His deliverance of Israel, and His leadership even in uncertain times, the psalmist finds hope for his own situation—after all, if God took care of His people then, why not now?

In your own life, there will undoubtedly be times when God feels distant and hope elusive, when circumstances make your faith unsteady. You may even be going through such a time now. When darkness is all around and your search for light is futile, follow the psalmist’s lead and remember the times God has shined most brightly—for you, for your family, for your church, and for His people throughout history. Dwell on the countless examples of His faithfulness and immerse yourself in those stories, and praise Him for His faithfulness then even as you pray for His faithfulness now. Let those memories serve not only as reminders of what God has done in the past, but of what He can do today.