Tonight’s Bible study began looking at the historical psalms (Ps 78, Ps 105, Ps 106, Ps 114, Ps 135, Ps 136), psalms which specifically draw on aspects of Israel’s history in order to encourage us to remember all that God has done, learn from the mistakes of the past, urge us to obedience, teach the next generation and help us to worship God.
History is not always seen as useful or relevant, with verses such as Is 43:18-19 apparently always encouraging a forward glance. There is a world of difference between being tied to the past in a nostalgic or morbid way (like Miss Havisham in Dickens’ ‘Great Expectations’), however, and looking to the past in order to learn from its examples (‘those who forget history are doomed to repeat it’, Winston Churchill once remarked.) 2 Tim 3:16-17 reminds us that all Scripture is inspired by God and useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness and Rom 15:4 reminds us that everything that was written in the past was written to teach us. Far from being dusty history or irrelevant examples, the historical psalms have many useful purposes and are valuable not simply as ‘potted histories’ but as instruction manuals for how to live a life of faith.
Miss Havisham, jilted at the altar, living in the past…