Recall what God has done

“But they soon forgot all he had done; they had no patience with his plan.” Psalm 106:3

This Psalm is speaking of the people of Israel who have just been rescued from oppression in Egypt, who saw signs and wonders, but who are now complaining in the desert, distrustful of God’s ability to bring them into the land he promised. They are fearful and quickly lose sight of what God has done for them. And they are impatient. God promised them a homeland, he has a plan for them that is good, he intends to provide for them a place where they can thrive as a people, as his chosen, beloved people. But getting there requires effort, it is a pilgrimage, a journey, which is not and cannot be instantaneous.

Reading this line of the Psalms, reflecting on the attitude of the Israelites, one might be tempted to judge them. Hadn’t they just been rescued from slavery? From cruel task masters and a pharaoh who had ordered the slaughter or all their baby boys? Didn’t they see God split the sea to provide a pathway for them and the destruction of their enemies? How could them forget so quickly? Why wouldn’t they trust so awesome and powerful a God, who had shown himself to be so invested in their lives?

Rather than judgement though, when I read this line during my prayer time this morning, what I felt was conviction. I saw myself in the people of Israel. If we are honest, aren’t we all sometimes like this? It is so easy to forget the good things that God has done in our lives, so easy to become impatient when the plans we hope for don’t unfold exactly as we wish or in the timing we would prefer. I know that I struggle with this tendency both to forget and to become impatient.

Thankfully, there are ways to combat this tendency. One of the most effective is to recall the goodness of the Lord.  Scripture is full of exhortations to remember what God has done. Psalm 78 recounts “the praiseworthy and mighty deeds of the Lord, the wonders that he performed.” (Psalm 78: 4) Salvation history is full of such praiseworthy and mighty deeds, worthy of our recollection.

Our own lives too are full of the wonders of the Lord and taking time to recall them, to thank God for them, to journal about them, or create a litany of gratitude, can help strengthen our memory of God’s goodness so that we will not be so quick to forget the next time we are struggling along the way. This pilgrim journey, the path to our homeland, is long, and there will be times of dryness and of desolation along the way. In those times it is easy to despair, to grow impatient. Praise is a powerful weapon against that temptation. Each day gather up those blessings, those signs of God’s loving providence, so that on those days of darkness you are prepared, well-equipped, ready to call to mind all that God has done.