Bible Reading: Psalm 44; Revelation 3:12-22
“We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their days, in the time of old” – Psalm 44:1 (KJV).
It is always good to recount past helps and past deliverances one has received from God. Such account and memory have a way of boosting one’s moral and strengthening one’s faith to look unto God and not waver in faith because of present challenges. The challenges may not necessarily be the same but faith works for various challenges when once it is developed.
Testimony of past victories and past interventions are necessary to boost today’s faith for today’s battle. We can learn from the mistakes of our fathers or be encouraged by their faith and God’s commitment to their wellbeing. If he did it then, he can do it again today. The children of Israel always referred to God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob because of records of God’s interventions and faithfulness. In the times of these fathers, confronted by River Jordan, Elisha called on the God of Elijah because he witnessed God part the river in the days of Elijah. The God of Elijah showed up to path the River Jordan for him (2 Kings 2:14).
“Now all these things happened unto them for examples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come” – 1 Corinthians 10:11 (KJV).
Each time we read the scriptures, we see the great things the God of our fathers did in the past. We learn his principles to imbibe values and our faith is built up as we see the power, the mercy and the love of God in his timely interventions and in his various dealings with them. We see various ways he revealed himself to our fathers. We believe that the God that parted the red sea for them to pass and closed it to drown the Egyptian soldiers is a committed God who can do same for us today. We see God close the mouth of lions and quenched the violence of fire.
All these help to boast our faith as we face similar trials and challenges today. It is expedient that we, like the children of Israel, continue to rehearse the past wonders of God.
PRAYER: Help us Lord never to forget past help.
Rev. Vincent Diolu