In Alayo the second edition – the newsletter I send out to my subscribers, I mentioned that I’ve been studying the book of Psalms. While reading through the chapters, I realize there’s an importance of History.
How? You may ask. There’s something intriguing about the book of Psalms. It takes you through the various stages at which Israel was in the old times. And, through the eyes of the writers, you see the changes in the Psalms. You see their history; where they were earlier on and what is in progress.
What is History?
If you could define History, what words will you use? The Cambridge dictionary defines History as “(the study of or a record of) past events considered together, especially events of a particular period, country, or subject“.
In truth, God fought a lot of battles for old-time Israel, some of which were passed through generations. Although, there are some records which didn’t make it past one or two generations.
How does history contribute to the big picture?
Why should this be important to you? The Holy Spirit had been teaching me to search through history. You need to know history to make the right decisions. From my viewpoint, knowledge of history prevents a recurrence of events.
Psalm 44:1 highlights the importance and transfer of history from one generation to the other:
‘We have heard with our ears, O God, Our fathers have told us, The deeds You did in their days, In days of old:‘ Psalms 44:1
In my family, I’m usually the one asking a lot of questions. There’s a genuine interest to know the history behind everything. On some occasions, it is a simple story but on others, it’s an insight to the future. For this reason, You should never get tired of learning history, because herein lies its importance.
For the subsequent generations of Israel, it was easy to misbehave because they had no history. There was no fore knowledge of the battles God had subdued on their behalf. Psalm 78 provides an insight to how these generations behaved; they simply forgot all the works of God.
Within the same Psalm 78, verses 4 and 6 emphasise the importance of history.
‘We will not hide them from their children, Telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord , And His strength and His wonderful works that He has done.‘ Psalms 78:4
‘That the generation to come might know them, The children who would be born, That they may arise and declare them to their children,‘ Psalms 78:6
History will continue to be repeated as long as history is not known. With this in mind, How well do you know your history?
