TRANSFORMING CPOMMITMENTS: REMEMBER

Where would we be without memory?  It is an important function of our minds and it impacts our daily activities.  As a society, if we do not remember our history, then we are doomed to repeat it.  Pause for a moment and consider the many ways in which memory helps us to function.   It is a common but powerful function that is indispensable in our lives but is also a commitment that we make.  Most of the commitments that we make have an element of memory, such as promises, appointments, contracts, or covenants.  In our sermon series Transforming Commitments, the sermon is Remember.  Remembering is one of the most important and powerful functions of our spiritual life and our relationship with God.   God tells his people to remember his promises, his word, and his covenant with humanity in Jesus Christ.  One of the most transforming commitments of our lives is to remember what God has done for us.  How can we do this?  This week we turn to Psalm 63 and David’s desperate experience in the wilderness of Judah.  This was a difficult and harsh journey and possibly he was running out of water in this barren place. He is tempted to give into the desperation and difficulty, but instead, he remembers God’s goodness and power.  This memory shares with him a rejuvenation and rejoicing that he is not alone in this desolate place because he commits to remember the right things!  You may be wandering through your own wilderness of darkness, desperation, or doubt, but take heart as you read Psalm 63 because God is by your side to give you strength!  It is our prayer that you sense God’s right hand lifting you from your destress and uncertainty as you read Psalm 63: Psalm 63:1-11: A psalm of David. When he was in the Desert of Judah. You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. 2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. 3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. 4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. 5 I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you. 6 On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night. 7 Because you are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings. 8 I cling to you; your right hand upholds me. 9 Those who want to kill me will be destroyed; they will go down to the depths of the earth. 10 They will be given over to the sword and become food for jackals. 11 But the king will rejoice in God; all who swear by God will glory in him, while the mouths of liars will be silenced. (NIV)