{"id":12936,"date":"2020-04-15T21:20:41","date_gmt":"2020-04-16T01:20:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=12936"},"modified":"2025-08-20T13:39:00","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T17:39:00","slug":"remembering-gods-faithfulness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/?p=12936","title":{"rendered":"Remembering God’s Faithfulness"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Back in the 1980s when I was a student at Biola University, I took an amazing class on the Psalms taught by Dr. Edward Curtis. He taught us about the many different types of Psalms and opened my eyes to things about them I hadn’t noticed before.<\/p>\n

Today I was reading in Psalm 129. The beginning goes like this:<\/p>\n

“They have greatly oppressed me from my youth,”
\nlet Israel say;
\n“they have greatly oppressed me from my youth,
\nbut they have not gained the victory over me.
\nPlowmen have plowed my back
\nand made their furrows long.
\nBut the Lord is righteous;
\nhe has cut me free from the cords of the wicked.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

That got me thinking about the Salvation History Psalms. Unlike the Lament<\/a>, Salvation History Psalms are defined more by their content than by their form. They are Psalms where the writer reviews what God has done and what God has brought them through. That’s offered as evidence that God can bring them through the current situation.<\/p>\n

Can you see why I got to thinking about them?<\/p>\n

On top of that, I was moved by my pastor’s online sermon on Easter Sunday. He said that in the middle of a pandemic, Easter doesn’t feel like Easter. But he reminded us that the first Easter didn’t feel like Easter, either.<\/p>\n

Before the first Easter, things were very dark indeed. But the light came. And because of what God brought those first disciples through then, we remember now that God is with us in the darkness.<\/p>\n

That’s what Salvation History Psalms were all about. They rehearsed what God had done, bringing His people out from slavery in Egypt in the Exodus, listing out more ways God had delivered them. And because God did that — we know He’s not going to abandon His people now.<\/p>\n

Some examples of Salvation History Psalms are Psalm 78, 105, 106, 135, and 136. The theme of these Psalms is: Remember!<\/p>\n

These Psalms are long, telling stories, so I won’t write out the whole Psalms. But here are some verses that give the idea.<\/p>\n

Psalm 78:4–<\/p>\n

We will not hide them from their descendants;
\nwe will tell the next generation
\nthe praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
\nhis power, and the wonders he has done.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 105:5-6–<\/p>\n

Remember the wonders he has done,
\nhis miracles, and the judgments he pronounced,
\nyou his servants, the descendants of Abraham,
\nhis chosen ones, the children of Jacob.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 106:6–<\/p>\n

We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;
\nwe have done wrong and acted wickedly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 135:3-4–<\/p>\n

Praise the Lord, for the Lord is good;
\nsing praise to his name, for that is pleasant.
\nFor the Lord has chosen Jacob to be his own,
\nIsrael to be his treasured possession.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Psalm 136:10-12–<\/p>\n

to him who struck down the firstborn of Egypt
\n His love endures forever.<\/em>
\nand brought Israel out from among them
\n His love endures forever.<\/em>
\nwith a mighty hand and an outstretched arm;
\n His love endures forever.<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Salvation History Psalms are different from Thanksgiving Psalms<\/a>. Those are more about a specific time when God came through. The Salvation History Psalms tend to be about the history of the people of Israel and how God had a pattern of taking care of them.<\/p>\n

How can we use this in our own prayers? Well, you can think through the collective history of the Church. You can also make it personal and recite more of a history of how faithful God has been to you. Beyond any one incident.<\/p>\n

With all of these: Because God has been with us in the past, we know He is with us now. Reciting the history of how God has been with us reminds us we don’t need to be afraid.<\/p>\n

My plan was to write one and leave it as an example. But it almost feels too personal.<\/p>\n

So for now, I’m going to go offline and make myself a list of ways God has worked in my life when I’ve gone through darkness and He has shown that He is there.<\/p>\n

Will that help me in the midst of a pandemic? Yes it will. Because whatever happens, I do believe the Lord will walk with me.<\/p>\n

As Jesus said to his disciples before his death:<\/p>\n

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Back in the 1980s when I was a student at Biola University, I took an amazing class on the Psalms taught by Dr. Edward Curtis. He taught us about the many different types of Psalms and opened my eyes to things about them I hadn’t noticed before. Today I was reading in Psalm 129. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,51,55,70],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12936","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-devotional-thoughts","category-prayer","category-praying-with-the-psalmists","category-salvation-history-psalms"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12936"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12940,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12936\/revisions\/12940"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12936"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12936"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sonderbooks.com\/sonderjourneys\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12936"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}