Focus on Faithfulness
Sometimes in life we have stress and problems that weigh on us. I have had countless times where I will wake up in the middle of the night because I am wrestling with a problem either at work or in my personal life. Have you encountered those times where you had no idea what to do? I was in one of those times as I was in my quiet time this morning. There were all these problems that I had to solve for a client and I had to fight to quiet my mind so I could read the Bible. Here is a verse that I read this morning.
He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children Psalms 78:5
It is amazing how God will speak to the situations you are in when you read His word, here are two thoughts that came out of this verse.
He establishes a testimony - I read this phrase this morning and it grabbed me. God established a testimony for the people of Israel through the mighty things that he did for them. How he brought them out of Egypt, took care of them through the wilderness, and defeated their enemies before them. These stories caused me to reflect on His faithfulness in my life, how he set me free from my past, how He gave me my amazing wife, how He brought me into blessing that I did not deserve, gave me children by His sovereign hand. What are things that he has done in your life to establish a testimony? When we turn our focus toward His faithfulness it saturates our speech and is expressed in the way we live.
He commands the fathers to teach - This is something that I meditate on frequently, and we have discussed before. The pattern of teaching our children about all the mighty deeds that He has done in our life. As I read this today there was a new light shown on the reason for this principle. When we teach the younger generation about what God has done and the practice of reflecting on His goodness, it establishes a trust that will carry us through the hard times. The reason that God had the fathers tell the next generation about being delivered from Egypt is because they would need to rely on that testimony to conquer the giants of the promised land. It is the remembrance God's faithfulness that empowers us to press through the trials and stress of today. No matter the problems that need to be solved today, when we thank God for the testimony He has worked in our lives it will carry us through the moments of today.