Bible Bonk 08: Talking about God is in remembrance of God.
+Why I am utterly thankful to God for His people.
A big hello to all the new subscribers that have joined this publication! Very happy to have you here. Letters from the Train is for all seeking to see beneath the surface of things and I hope your vision truly changes after reading a post from this newsletter. Our ongoing theme for this month has been concerned with how we use our words and our language to determine things. Do read up on the last post here if you haven’t, so you are guaranteed the smoothest and most coherent read through this month. We are going to have a lot of fun here, and 2024 is going to be eventful and prosperous for us all offline and online!
And on to today’s word…
Psalm 77 is a whirlwind. For this week’s Bible Bonk we will be looking at this 77th Psalm and others. So, let’s dive into it!
Remembering God within your anguish shows great spiritual maturity and development. And if you don’t have this, keep asking, for the Spirit is a comforter to all who confess unto the name of Jesus Christ (1 John 4:2-3). Or if you know you have the Spirit but haven’t reached this level, read and study this Psalm with me and we may uncover how to get you there.
If you are British or European (or also American which I found out through Google), you know that the month of November is remembrance month. Although we only hold remembrance on a day, 11/11, the entire month sort of gets strewn in with it. In this remembrance month we wear poppies in memory of war veterans who did all they could for their country so very long ago. If you are a public serving person or a public-centred person (e.g. the rich and famous) and are to appear on a national or even global platform, you must be sporting a poppy or it will be regarded as the highest offence (to the British and kin of the brave deceased). A large part of the reason as to why we carry out this act is because many of the deceased have families still alive today, bloodlines still going strong and with the love still fresh and significant. Remembrance is a sign of love. Hold on to that.
The Psalmist in Psalm 77 (NKJV) expresses, ‘This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High.’ In The New Sarah J Version my brain translated it as, “this may be my problem and my grief and my turmoil, but I will push that aside or shift it far far beneath me and place the goodness and immaculate track record of the Lord above it.” As you read further in the Psalm, its like his eyes opens back up as his heart is opened back up to its blessed source. As if his vision shifted from black and white into vibrant colour. He carries on remembering and says in verse 12, ‘I will also meditate on all Your work and talk of all your deeds.’ This shift into praise and testimony instantly reminded me of one of my cherished verses, Psalm 105:1, ‘Oh, give thanks to the Lord. Call upon His name, and make known His deeds among the people.’ To revert back to the month of remembrance we are in, the kin of the deceased veterans, in love and adoration, are making known their deeds among the people by wearing these poppies and conversing relentlessly about their bravery. Conversation and testimonials are what will develop and mature the Spirit in you. When we talk and testify, we are strengthening the holy bloodlines when we talk about God. We are sporting His love when we converse with all people, His and the soon-to-be His.
I’m always grateful for the way God moves and just absolutely blows my mind with His intelligence and goodness and just all the great great stuff He does. This gratitude and praise is ignited when I ponder on the one good thing that has come out of this implosion of podcasts in our media: conversation. Conversation has expanded Christendom. A bold claim I know but I truly believe it has. We are seeing so many Christians actually speak out about the Lord, as opposed to the former one-way conversations between the preacher and the preached at, the pulpit and the general pit. Our conversations have been opened up in numerous ways and now recognisable in numerous, diversifying sounds. We are opening up conversation in any tiny place we desire and letting it be distributed to the body of Christ all over the globe. It is also to be said that when we talk about the Lord our problems either lessen or dissolve entirely. Look at Psalm 77 once again. He starts out fretting but then in remembering the Lord’s hand this anxiety seems to trail away the more and more he articulates the majesty and power of God. By the end he is confessing of all the things God has done which proves Him rightly so as God. And, lest we forget, in articulating it, we are brought into conversation with the psalmist as he personally takes us on a journey into his deepest thoughts, as far as to the solution to exterminate those creepers once and for all.
In watching Godly-related discussions for an hour or so, my problems are ultimately silenced as I sit in on this intimate talk between two of my brothers or sisters in Christ. It then opens up discussion for myself to have between friends or siblings about the topics which had been treated and the opportunity to empty ourselves of all our hidden and suppressed worries through the power of relatability. This talk for however long in the Spirit replaces the talk of the flesh that would much rather prefer we drown in our complaining and become overwhelmed, refusing our souls from being comforted the only way it needs to be (77:2-3).
When I say talking is in remembrance of God, it isn’t to be confused with the remembrance that comes with reflecting on the dead. God is very much alive. But we are to talk because it keeps Jesus alive and fragrant in our hearts and such scent attracts other hearts to step into the same conversation (Mark 16:15). If you have no-one physically to conversate with for whatever reason this is why this community, this online family, exists. Talking is a wonderful mental health tool also, as well as being a great teacher. I learn more than you know talking with you, reader. Community is Christ-like and quite possibly the only self-rewarding heavenly tool to receive the things of the Father. The Prophet Isaiah confirms that, ‘Behold, the Lord’s hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, That it cannot hear’. God’s has the only ear that is never closed.
Let God’s goodness lead you into the flock of conversation.
All my love, Sarah J.