Psalm 42:1-8
Where is your God? Has anyone ever asked you that? Perhaps you suffered a severe crisis of life, and those who mocked your trust and faith in God taunted you in such a way.
Psalm 42 was written during the time the Israelites were in captivity in Babylon. Day after day their captives would laugh and mock them: “Where is your God now?” “Why has he abandoned you?” “Is He not powerful enough to deliver you?”
Prisoners of war have said it was their memories of their past that kept them alive each day and gave them hope for the future. In Psalm 42, the writer remembered how wonderful it was to worship in that temple; how they went in joyful procession up those temple steps, and into the worship of God. And then he says: “As the deer longs for flowing streams, so my soul longs for You, O God.”
In many ways, the unbelieving world could ask us that same question today. In light of the darkness and depravity of our day, where is our God? Why does he allow for such evil and barbaric behavior?
According to biblical prophecy, even darker days are ahead, and our freedom to worship God and express our Christian Faith could be limited, if not forbidden.
Should that happen today, what would be in your museum of memories to give you the strength you need to remain faithful unto God, and to remain assured of God’s love? Would you remember the great worship services of your past? Would your children?
For many people, that dark day has already come, and all they have left is their memory. In leading the chapel services in the nursing homes, senior adults would talk about how they “used to” gather around the piano at their home or their church and sing until their voices were gone. Many of these precious ones have lost their immediate memory, but not their past. Just start playing one of their favorite hymns, and you will see their minds come alive, their voices raised, and their hands and feet move.
Create a memory in the lives of your children today by stirring the memory of a senior adult! Give them a recording of their favorite worship music and watch their faces. Then you will understand Psalm 42.