“When Israel came out of Egypt, the house of Jacob from a people of foreign tongue, Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion. The sea looked and fled, the Jordan turned back; the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs. Why was it, O sea, that you fled, O Jordan, that you turned back, you mountains, that you skipped like rams, you hills, like lambs? Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.” Psalm 114:1-8 NIV
The word remember is so full of emotion. It can be dressed with great joy, deep pain, tenderness, even doubt. Remembering places, events, people, books read, foods tasted, aromas triggered, songs hummed, this is the stuff of life.
All through Scripture, we are told to remember. To the Children of Israel, the LORD God said, “Remember” with specifics attached to this doing word. Read the Psalms and you hear it over and over.
The eight verses of Psalm 114 tell the history of the Hebrews and their journey from slavery to Promised Land people. Look at how the psalmist captures the remembering. It is a prayer song full of memory.
“When Israel came out of Egypt…” What scenes of joy and utter shock must come to mind: packing up their captivity and walking away from what they have always known. Stop and recall a time when God the Father brought you out of a hard place. Looking back can you remember the breath of life He gave as He moved you from a hard time to new freedom?
“Judah became God’s sanctuary, Israel his dominion.” No longer a forgotten people but ones called by Yahweh’s name and the place where He abides. They must have remembered doubting his love for them during slave days but now they see His faithful love was always at work. Stop and put your name into these verses as you remember when your heart became the dwelling place of a personal redeeming God.
“The sea looked and fled, and the Jordan turned back” provide images of the Red Sea walls and the steps into the Jordan River for bewildered Israelites. Remembering the desert scenes and Mt. Sinai, the psalmist describes the awesome presence of God as “the mountains skipped like rams, the hills like lambs.” Jehovah was present and revealed Himself to them in incredible ways. Stop and remember a way God made for you, a provision given, an answer long in coming.
Psalm 114:7-8 “Tremble, O earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob, who turned the rock into a pool, the hard rock into springs of water.” Here is the call, not just to Israel, but to all the earth. It is for us today. This tremble means to worship, be in awe, to be reverent in the presence of God. To remember He is the God who does the unbelievable, unpredictable, unexpected and so many times the undeserved! Stop and tremble before the Father who is Mighty but intimately acquainted with all your ways.
This is your story to remember and His Story to share in the sweet ways that you move this week.
Cindy Gaskins