Recently at one of our Sunday gatherings, we spent time worshiping through several great songs from the past 20-30 years. These songs included “You’re Worthy of My Praise”, “Heart of Worship”, “We Fall Down”, “Shout to the Lord”, “Open the Eyes of My Heart” and “Rain Down on Us”.
The goal of worshipping together with these old songs came from the Psalms:
“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. I will consider all your works and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
Psalms 77:11-12 NIV
Each of these songs has had a significant impact, both globally and at our church. I can remember singing some of these older lyrics when working through grief, during times of celebration, through seasons of dealing with sin, and countless other times in my life.
Singing these songs is like hanging out with one of your best friends who you have not seen in many years and you pick up right where you left off. We had a sweet time of remembering the deeds of the Lord and thinking of his goodness in our lives. It was great getting to hear about how people were able to meet with the Lord during that service.
Just like Psalm 77 says above, remembering is powerful.
When we pull back from the day to day busyness of our lives we can see so many ways that the Lord has blessed us, how he has provided for us, how he has grown us, and how he has brought us up out of dark seasons.
It is really important to remember these times as we move forward into new seasons of life.
How have you seen God move in your life? How has he provided for you and your family? What good deeds in the past can you thank Him for today that give you hope for tomorrow?
“Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows. He chose to give us birth through the word of truth, that we might be a kind of firstfruits of all he created.”
James 1:17-18 NIV
My hope is that every one of our corporate worship services are a time for not only thanking God for what he has done, but also declaring his character traits – redeeming, mighty, omniscient, merciful, just, loving, steadfast, gracious, trustworthy, good, awesome, forgiving, righteous, holy, sovereign.
It is important that we sing familiar songs in our gathered times, but in studying the scriptures we are also instructed to sing a new song to the Lord multiple times.
God is unchanging, however, He is the God of creativity and is constantly encouraging us to be creative in how we worship and respond to His work in our lives. Next time you worship, remember your past and look to your future with hope.
