Thankful For The Past

Quickly! Look over your shoulder! What do you see?

If you are like me then you see your past unfold in your mind. The good, bad, ugly, and downright stinky! We gloss over the bad times, and magnify the good times, but when you consider the complete picture… Well. It may balance out between the highs and lows, but you cannot ignore the bad and accept only the good.

Why? We are a composite of our entire past. What we thought, said, produced creates the image of our past. Is it bad? Well, if you are only balancing your life based on your past you are not taking the present or future into consideration. That’s okay, because our past requires us to examine it alone, in detail, and completely aware of everything.

What Is Your Past?

We can look at segments of our past and consider the good and be thankful for them. Toss in those things we’re not proud of, or even ashamed by, then the level of accomplishment of our past teeters and may totter over.

King David is a prolific recorder of his present, but when you look through the lens of his life from the future, then the past speaks volumes. He pens words in situ (2 Samuel 22:1-4) as a result of deliverance from his enemies, and from the hand of King Saul. His words are compiled in the Psalms, and they are read and used many times.

Think about it. David probably dipped back into his repertoire of memories and pulled this Psalms out of the past and refreshed his relationship with God over again.

This is a song of a man who reflects on the past relationship with God and expresses his memory with gratefulness of the victory God brought to him. In his past! Who helped him? God, and God alone!

David Writes

To the chief Musician, A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, who spake unto the LORD the words of this song in the day that the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul: And he said,
I will love thee, O LORD, my strength.
The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer;
my God, my strength, in whom I will trust;
my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.
I will call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised:
so shall I be saved from mine enemies.
Therefore will I give thanks unto thee, O LORD, among the heathen, and sing praises unto thy name.
(Psalms 18:1-3, 49 KJV)

Adjusting Our Past

Oft times we see the past with perfect vision, even if it requires us to see the past differently. One study (I cannot find my notes on this) states that every time we remember a detail, we often update the memory with more vivid colors and expressions than the original event.

Could it be, with our present-day eyes we see things differently than when we were in the midst of the situation?

With more mature eyes, I believe we can see the past with Gratefulness!

Sometimes we are stuck in our present dilemma. Yet, we are a present product of our past! Celebrate what you have learned thus far. Celebrate who you have become as a result of what you have experienced!

So, let me share with you a couple of views on the verses of David’s Psalms that lets us realize he is looking at the Past with a Grateful view.

The Lord is my ROCK

David focuses on stability, faithfulness, and protection. He knew where his strength came from in the midst of one of his toughest challenges.

Think about it! Jesus teaches us to build our life on a strong foundation. It requires hard work, digging in deeply, and building with strength.

Whoever comes to Me, and hears My sayings and does them,
I will show you whom he is like:
He is like a man building a house,
who dug deep and laid the foundation on the rock.
And when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently against that house,
and could not shake it, for it was founded on the rock.
But he who heard and did nothing is like a man who built a house on the earth
without a foundation, against which the stream beat vehemently;
and immediately it fell. And the ruin of that house was great.”
(Luke 6:47-49 NKJV)

Paul picks the theme up and describes that Rock as Christ Jesus! (1 Corinthians 10:4, Romans 9:33) God is the Rock! Christ is the Rock! Without that Rock in our life then we are simply building a crumbling life.

The Lord is my FORTRESS

Through time we’ve learned that a fortress is impenetrable unless it is built with weakness. But God builds a Fortress around me that NONE can penetrate!

As long as we take refuge in Christ, the enemy cannot gain access to us, nor cause us to despair. Even when life brings us some challenges! Remember, in the midst of whatever our present storm may be, we will look over our shoulders and see the past with better vision!

And we know that all things work together
for good to them that love God,
to them who are the called according to his purpose.
(Romans 8:28 KJV)

Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
As it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long;
we are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.
Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors
through him that loved us.
For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels,
nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come,
Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
(Romans 8:35-39 KJV)

The Lord is my DELIVERER.

Why do we need a deliverer? Because we sometimes get stuck and need someone to bring to safety, to cause to escape. We were held captive by the sin of this world, but Jesus, not we ourselves, have brought us to safety. He has caused us to escape from the sin of the past.

The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears,
And delivers them out of all their troubles.
The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart,
And saves such as have a contrite spirit.
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
But the LORD delivers him out of them all.
(Psalms 34:17-19 NKJV)

Paul describes that our Deliverer comes only from Christ when we are washed, sanctified and justified by everything that defines Christ to us.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God?
Do not be deceived. Neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor homosexuals, nor sodomites, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God.
And such were some of you.
But you were washed, but you were sanctified,
but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus and by the Spirit of our God.
(1 Corinthians 6:9-11 NKJV)

The Lord is my GOD

This word in Hebrew is simply “El” and means “the Mighty One”, as a title of majesty and power, often used in combination with other words.

The titles of God, or the descriptors used to reference His attributes, are many. Here, David is not using any of the ones we have heard of, he is simply saying, “He IS my God.”

Now. I can break down every phrase and define how we see God through our modern eyes looking at our past.

Think About It

This can be an endless list!

• The Lord is “my STRENGTH” = A focus of stability, a place of security and safety. This is very similar to the word “rock” earlier.
• The Lord is “My Buckler” = A shield that goes between us and the enemy! I had to look this up, thinking it was relating to someone who helped to put on the armor. Actually, He is that shield between me and the enemy!
• The Lord is “the horn of my salvation” The “horn” is the emblem of strength and of dignity, “salvation” is deliverance. Sin is devastating, demoralizing, shaming. God is the strength and the dignity brought back into a life through salvation.
• The Lord is “my HIGH TOWER” = similar to “fortress” earlier.
  • Psa 9:9 – 10 (KJV) The LORD also will be a refuge for the oppressed, a refuge in times of trouble. And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.
  • Pro 18:10 KJV  The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe.

With all of this reference to Who God Was to him during the past and his reflection on what he is in the present, the question comes to mind, “What do you do with what you recognize of the Greatness of God?””

The Greatness of God

If we can look backward and see God with a modern lens of perspective, then I believe we can live forward with a better life.

Even David writes to a future perspective of looking at God with this past experience.

“I will LOVE THEE”

Essentially, this means to be compassionate, have mercy, have tender affections, Fondle as a mother would her child. “Love” = Hebrew. “racham”  – (raw-kham’) it is found 47 times in the Old Testament and is translated as the English word mercy (32), compassion (8), pity (3), love (1), merciful (1), misc. (2)

In Hebrew = the idea appears to be in cherishing, soothing, and in a gentle emotion of the mind. To behold with tenderest affection, to compassionate. This is the only time in scripture that this word is translated “love”

“I will CALL upon the Lord.”

To call out is to cry out to, to summon, to call in, or to invite. This is not just a cry of despair, but also an accommodating invitation to join in your conversation and life!

“I will GIVE THANKS unto Thee”

Give? Means “to throw, shoot, cast”. In this sense, it is to cast, throw out praise unto the Lord. “Give thanks” = heb. – yadah (yaw-daw’) is used as “praise” (53) and “give thanks” (32)

• 1 Chr 16:34 – 36 (KJV) ³⁴O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.  ³⁵And say ye, Save us, O God of Isa 25:1 (KJV) ¹O LORD, thou art my God; I will exalt thee, I will praise thy name; for thou hast done wonderful things; thy counsels of old are faithfulness and truth.
• Isa 12:4 (KJV) ⁴And in that day shall ye say, Praise the LORD, call upon his name, declare his doings among the people, make mention that his name is exalted.

“I will SING PRAISE unto Thy Name.”

To “Sing praise” is to pluck or strike with the fingers – refers to making music with an instrument.

• Eph 5:18 – 20 (KJV) ¹⁸And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit;  ¹⁹Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;  ²⁰Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ;
• Col 3:14 – 17 (KJV) ¹⁴And above all these things put on charity, which is the bond of perfectness.  ¹⁵And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.  ¹⁶Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.  ¹⁷And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.

 Are You Grateful for your Present?

You have the past to thank.

Grateful people can: find a blessing, enlarge a blessing and create a blessing. – Scott Jones