Here is another example of how the Old Testament saints (this time Asaph) dealt with the crushing blows of their present circumstance by remember the events of the past. In this case, Asaph (again, or one of Asaph's followers) remembers the days of the Exodus. During the time of the exile, references to the Exodus were powerful reminders of God's grace. After all, the exile lasted less than a hundred years, while slavery in Egypt lasted a few hundred years. Certainly, if God could deliver the Israelites from Egypt, God could deliver the Israelites from Assyria/Babylon/Persia. That sense of rootedness in history allowed the Old Testament believers plenty of space to mourn, doubt and have faith.
One of my worries for contemporary spirituality is that we have lost the storied sense of history that the Bible holds so closely. The danger of losing a rooted history is that a timeless spirituality leaves a person in desperate need for "universals." In other words, every moment is a commendation or indictment of present faith. Ultimately, this spirituality is self-serving as it assumes that each event in our lives is somehow designed to teach "me" a lesson or is a result of what "I" have done. This can be exhausting, to be sure. Instead, let us find ourselves rooted in a deep faith centered on a God who has been faithful from all generations.
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