Remember, Ponder, And Meditate Series

Introduction

We know from the way the New Testament writers used the Psalms that the Psalms were the book of praise and meditation for the early church.

In other words, the early church did not say, “Well, Christ, the Messiah, has come now, so everything written of old is out of date and unhelpful.”

On the contrary, they saw Christ in the Psalms, and they saw their own experience in the struggles and triumphs of the Psalmists.

So we should read the Psalms like they did.

Christ didn’t come to abolish them, but to fulfill them (see Matthew 5:17). So we should read them as fulfilled, not as abolished.

They should be fuller and richer for us, not nullified.

So, for example, when the Psalms call us to meditate on the word of God we should not say, “We don’t need to do that, we have the living Christ and his Spirit.”

Rather we should say, “We have a richer, fuller word of God, including the Gospels and the Epistles—the testimony of the Apostles—as well as of Moses and the Prophets.”

So our meditation becomes richer and deeper—at least, it should.

Most of you know this intuitively because when you read the Psalms you see yourselves in them so often. The experience of the Psalmist is your experience. And that is no accident.

God put the Psalms in the Bible not only to call us to great heights of praise and worship but also to comfort us in very dark seasons of discouragement and doubt.

The strategy of fighting this kind of darkness is what I want us to look at today.

Indeed it’s the strategy for living the whole of the Christian life.

It is the same strategy that we should use.

Only we now have so much more truth and more history and more of God in Jesus Christ than the Old Testament saints did.

But the design of the strategy is the same, even if our arsenal of truth is larger than theirs.

Scripture

Let us read Psalm 77:1-20:

TO THE CHOIRMASTER: ACCORDING TO JEDUTHUN. A PSALM OF ASAPH.

1 I cry aloud to God,

aloud to God, and he will hear me.

2 In the day of my trouble I seek the Lord;

in the night my hand is stretched out without wearying;

my soul refuses to be comforted.

3 When I remember God, I moan;

when I meditate, my spirit faints. Selah

4 You hold my eyelids open;

I am so troubled that I cannot speak.

5 I consider the days of old,

the years long ago.

6 I said, “Let me remember my song in the night;

let me meditate in my heart.”

Then my spirit made a diligent search:

7 “Will the Lord spurn forever,

and never again be favorable?

8 Has his steadfast love forever ceased?

Are his promises at an end for all time?

9 Has God forgotten to be gracious?

Has he in anger shut up his compassion?” Selah

10 Then I said, “I will appeal to this,

to the years of the right hand of the Most High.”

11 I will remember the deeds of the LORD;

yes, I will remember your wonders of old.

12 I will ponder all your work,

and meditate on your mighty deeds.

13 Your way, O God, is holy.

What god is great like our God?

14 You are the God who works wonders;

you have made known your might among the peoples.

15 You with your arm redeemed your people,

the children of Jacob and Joseph. Selah

16 When the waters saw you, O God,

when the waters saw you, they were afraid;

indeed, the deep trembled.

17 The clouds poured out water;

the skies gave forth thunder;

your arrows flashed on every side.

18 The crash of your thunder was in the whirlwind;

your lightnings lighted up the world;

the earth trembled and shook.

19 Your way was through the sea,

your path through the great waters;

yet your footprints were unseen.

20 You led your people like a flock

by the hand of Moses and Aaron.

Lesson

And so, as we approach 2024, I want us to review the Bible’s strategy for living the Christian life.

I. Christian Living Means Living on the Word of God

My main assertion today is this: Christian living means living on the word of God.

We live on the word of God.

Day by day, the written word of God in the Bible is the means of our relationship to Christ.

We fellowship with Christ by knowing him in the written word.

We talk to him in prayer based on what we know of him from the written word.

We hear him speak to us through what he has shown us of his character and purpose in the written word.