Psalm 56

Psalm 56
The Message (MSG)

  1-4 Take my side, God—I’m getting kicked around, stomped on every day. Not a day goes by but somebody beats me up; They make it their duty to beat me up. When I get really afraid I come to you in trust. I’m proud to praise God; fearless now, I trust in God. What can mere mortals do?
  5-6 They don’t let up— they smear my reputation and huddle to plot my collapse. They gang up, sneak together through the alleys To take me by surprise, wait their chance to get me. 7 Pay them back in evil! Get angry, God! Down with these people!
  8 You’ve kept track of my every toss and turn through the sleepless nights, Each tear entered in your ledger, each ache written in your book. 9 If my enemies run away, turn tail when I yell at them, Then I’ll know that God is on my side.
  10-11 I’m proud to praise God, proud to praise God. Fearless now, I trust in God; what can mere mortals do to me?
  12-13 God, you did everything you promised, and I’m thanking you with all my heart. You pulled me from the brink of death, my feet from the cliff-edge of doom. Now I stroll at leisure with God in the sunlit fields of life.

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  I think verse 12 is the key to this--God, you did everything you promised.  The only reason this shouldn't jump off the page and give us deep joy and hope in our hearts is because of our short memories.
  It's only human to forget.  The Israelites forgot that God liberated them from slavery in Egypt.  Once they lived in the Promised Land, they forgot all that God had commanded them.  The disciples forgot about Jesus' promises to rise from the dead.
  We forget God's promises.
  If we constantly remembered that God has promised us eternal and abundant life, that God has promised us hope and peace in him, that God has promised that he will always be with us and that nothing will separate us from him, we would be a people overflowing with joy, because we would remember that the strength of the Lord is working within us to bring all things together for good.
  Instead, we often forget, thinking that God has forgotten about us or is not near.
  So remember.  Remember the promises of God, and that God is a promise-keeper.

May you find joy in Christ today