Highlight reels of life.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“Pray for peace in Jerusalem. May all who love this city prosper. O Jerusalem, may there be peace within your walls and prosperity in your palaces. For the sake of my family and friends, I will say, “May you have peace.” For the sake of the house of the Lord our God, I will seek what is best for you, O Jerusalem.” ‭‭Psalms‬ ‭122‬:‭6‬-‭9‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In this psalm David starts off ecstatically and enthusiastically expressing how he feels coming to the temple, the highlight of the city of Jerusalem. “I was glad when they said to me, “Let us go to the house of the Lord.” Jerusalem, being the city of God, and the temple representing the presence of God, this psalm was sung as the Jewish people made their way back to their homeland after 70 years of Babylonian captivity. David had written this at a time when all things were good in the kingdom!

You know as people, we love reminiscing and reliving the highlight reels of our life. Remember when things were so good? We talk about the seasons, long gone, that were exciting, and everything worked so well. Maybe it was that season of a grand adventure or vacation, when the children were happy and everyone got along. Maybe it was the time when the church was full and everyone could sense the presence of God. Life was grand, the city, the house, even our job felt like it was all going so well. Those were the kinds of moments David was writing about, while he was king of that era in Jerusalem.

Yet, this psalm was inserted at the end of David’s life. And, this psalm was sung as the people were returning to absolute devastation of their beloved city. There was no temple, no protective walls – houses, businesses, parks and plazas had all been destroyed. This song of remembrance was sung to enlist gratefulness and hope in the hearts of the people. It was not sung to go back to “those” days! Instead it was sung to rebuild confidence and faith that God was with them – therefore He will help them rebuild to make a new Jerusalem, with new memories, fresh moments of glory and peace!

The best way to use the highlight reels of life is not to try to relive them, but to parlay those memories into building new ones. Don’t get stuck, like Chevy Chase in Christmas Vacation trapped in his attic watching old film reels of his childhood. Make new moments! And make them matter!

Thank God for what was, then move on to thank God for what will be.

Ache to create a sense of peace and prosperity of a future city, church, or season where God will meet us once again. Keep moving forward. Moving forward does not tarnish the past, it honors it.

Prayer

​Dad,
It is so hard to have grand and happy memories of past seasons and NOT go back, regressing into wanting something similar to happen in the future. Time is such a bizarre experience as a human! Yet, my head knows that I cannot go back, I cannot experience the past in the present nor the future. I think this has a lot to do with faith and trust. You are not just outside of time, with you it is always NOW. We live sequentially. Plus, the fact that we don’t know the future and could not handle it well even if we were told. One thing I get from your Word is that Israel was told time and time again and warned over and over again, yet they had little chance of recognizing your promises coming to pass, even when it happened right in front of them. Even though the disciples were told what Jesus was going to do and what he would go through. I believe that none of them got it until they experienced it in their past. Until Jesus left. I’m convinced it is near impossible to process what happens in the now, trying to understanding what is happening while in the present – while we are in a specific season, good or bad. You have created us to live linear, one season, one step at a time – no skipping, no shortcuts, no tap-outs. It takes courageous boldness to continue to move forward in faith. I think that’s why our faith in you is pleasing to you.

How to return home.

Reading Time: 3 minutes

Praise the Lord! I will thank the Lord with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the Lord! All who delight in him should ponder them. Everything he does reveals his glory and majesty. His righteousness never fails. He causes us to remember his wonderful works. How gracious and merciful is our Lord! Psalms‬ ‭111‬:‭1‬-‭4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Psalm 111 is a tribute, written by Ezra the high priest and scribe, AFTER returning from 70 years of captivity in Babylon. To be clear, everyone knew why Israel was taken into slavery. The citizens had not only walked away from God, disregarding His laws and warnings, they had given themselves wholly to other gods, foreign gods – FAKE gods! God’s prophets, His spokespersons had been warning both the leaders of Israel and the prominent families to turn their hearts back to God. Israel consistently chose to do their own thing. Now, after 70 years, their city, their temple was decimated. Their kings, dead. Their brothers and sisters in the ten tribes that had split off from the whole, lost forever. The only ones to return were the remnants, the “root of Jesse,” as they were called.

Yet, in all this loss and penitence. In their humility, they found their heart for God. In mass they repented and made the journey back to rebuild what had been destroyed. Even though their hope was a flickering flame, a smoldering wick, just barely showing light, they remembered their God. Ezra writes, “He causes us to remember his wonderful works.” In complete misery of loss they remembered God and their own hearts turned, once again, towards Him!

How does one come back from devastation? How does one return to rebuild their entire life? How does one find hope in their future? Israel recognized their sin and remembered their God! Captivity wasn’t God’s fault, it was His love and discipline, going to extremes to keep His people from complete and utter destruction. The human heart, left to its own desires, will crash and burn and destroy everyone and everything around them. We are desperately wicked and strive against God to have our own way and do our own thing. God intervened, putting the nation in timeout until they came to their senses.

Psalm 111 captures the results of them turning their hearts towards God as they make their final assent back up to the city of Jerusalem. Ezra, returning and reflecting on the years of loss, looked up the road to Jerusalem. Then his eyes continued to look up, high into the heavens and thank God. What do you do to return? You look back and see your own decisions that led to devastation. You look up the road to see the restoration of your own future. And, you look even higher, to see God and thank Him for His righteousness, grace and mercy. This is the lesson of Psalm 111. Don’t quit. Don’t wallow. Don’t wait! Come home.

Prayer

​Dad,
What awaits us when we return home? Is it judgment, shame and humiliation? No! What awaits us is exactly what awaited Ezra and Your people – righteousness, grace and mercy. You want us to win. You want us to be well. You want us to live! Thank you oh Lord, for the means of mercy to see our failures and poor decisions. Thank you for the gift of seeing our past with the ability to turn to you and see our future. Thank you for real and genuine hope in the plans you have for us, if we would just turn and return. Amen.