WE SERVE AN ACTIVE GOD

Psalm 78: 1-4, 12-14
 My people, hear my teaching;
    listen to the words of my mouth.
I will open my mouth with a parable;
    I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
things we have heard and known,
    things our ancestors have told us.
We will not hide them from their descendants;
    we will tell the next generation
the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders he has done.
(...)
He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
    in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
He divided the sea and led them through;
    he made the water stand up like a wall.
He guided them with the cloud by day
    and with light from the fire all night.
 
 
The God that is revealed in Scripture is speaking, creating, working, ordaining, disciplining, sustaining, and redeeming. He has done these things, and He is doing these things.
 
God does all of these acts in His way and in His timing. God is active, yet, he is not always fast. In fact, God is often slow by our own standards. The examples of this in Scripture are numerous. To name a few: God didn’t give Abraham and Sarah their child until 25 years after the promise, Israel was in slavery for 400 years, Israel wandered in the wilderness for a whole generation before they took the promised land, Jesus waited 30 years to start his ministry, he stayed dead for 3 days, and we wait for him to return now.
 
God does mighty and wonderful things on behalf of His people, but sometimes we find ourselves in the season “in-between.” We find ourselves in a place where God seems to be absent, or where His voice is rather quiet. Whether the experience of absence is measured in days, weeks, months or years, what do we make of these times? Are these normal? Am I doing something wrong?
 
Thankfully the Psalms provide us with the assurance that we are not alone. The Psalmists declare “How long, O Lord? (Ps 13:1, 79:5, 89:46, 90:13)” The people of God have experienced the feeling of God’s absence for generations, we are not alone.
 
One of the most significant Christian poets of the 1900s is a man named R.S. Thomas. His poem Via Negativa reflects on the lived experience of God’s absence. In the middle of the poem he writes “He keeps the interstices in our knowledge, the darkness between stars. His are the echoes we follow, the footprints he has just left.”
 
As we experience absence, it feels like we’re chasing echoes or following in footsteps. However, Thomas reflects that God even holds the darkness in between the stars. He holds the gaps in our knowledge.
 
And that’s where I believe Psalm 78:1-4, 12-14 models for us a powerful practice: testimony and remembrance. The Psalmist declares that we will not withhold the stories of God’s mighty acts. We will tell the next generation what God has done. God did miracles to save His people, and we will not keep silent about them! God has worked in history to bring rescue to His people, and we will tell that story to ourselves and to others so that we can be comforted. God brings salvation, He brings provision, He heals. The testimonies of God bringing life to what’s dead gives us hope in the “in-between.”
 
Yes, we wait, but God holds the time “in-between” too.