Recounting Miracles

            Psalm 77 is a good read for believers who are confused, feeling abandoned, living in hard circumstances.  It provides a clear path to God.  One of the best ways to pull your mind away from despair, doubts and accusations against God and into peace is through recounting God’s miracles.

The Psalm starts out with the same questions most of us have for God.  Will the Lord reject forever? Will he never show his favor again? Has his unfailing love vanished forever? Has his promise failed for all time? Has God forgotten to be merciful? Has he in anger withheld his compassion?  Your life circumstances may make you wonder similar thoughts.  When we question God’s love and presence in our world, we are left with despair.  The answer to our despair is to look for God in spite of our doubts. 

 We could go on and on and be stuck forever reviewing the harsh realities we have experienced in this world.  There are so many hard-to-understand experiences down here on earth.  In the midst of the pain, there is the hope of God.  We have hope because of God’s character, not because of our circumstances.

Psalm 77:14 is a turning point for the Psalmist:  You are the God who performs miracles; you display your power among the peoples.  When the Psalmist focuses his mind on who God is, the tone of his life changes.  He doesn’t even require answers to his questions.  The realities of life that created the questions are still full-force in front of him.  He moves from despair to hope when he simply recounts God’s miracles.

This is a good daily practice for us all. Each day is a new miracle.  God gives us every reason to believe He is there for us because He provides what we need, air to breathe, a sunrise on which to set our hopes,  His love pouring down from heaven into our spirits.  He may not be doing the miracle you believe you need today, but He is at work in your life in mysterious ways. 

Every year I pray for a word and verse on which to focus.  This year the word God gave me was miracle.  I have been keeping a record of a miracle that I can notice each day.  My daily practice of looking for a miracle each day has opened my eyes to how many miracles have gone unnoticed for most of my life.   God is active in our daily lives; we are just so preoccupied with what we have to do to survive that we often miss His miracles.  I have to concentrate to find one that I can truly see as a supernatural act of   God, but when I do, I find it.

Mainly I see God ordering up my day in ways that are better for me than I would ever have been able to perceive.  Often I don’t know what is best for me, so He just changes my plans ahead of me and shows me what I could not see.  What I may have considered a disappointment because things didn’t go the way I wanted, I now see as a miracle and praise God for it.

Next time you feel in despair, read Psalm 77 and follow the pattern of the Psalmist.  Get out all your questions, then stop and consider the miraculous works of God.  Get out pencil and paper; you can’t count them all in your head!

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