Seventh day of the seventh year

Yesterday, which was the first Sunday of the new Year of Our Lord, was the seventh day of this seventh year of the Twenty-first Century (also the Thrid Milennium). So it was 01-07-2007.

My daily m.o. upon rising from sleep is to have my devotions and prayers, or "quiet time". For this I use "The Upper Room"; this year I am also reading the Spanish version of this Methodist-published (Nashville) devotional periodical. It's called El Aposento Alto.

And lo and behold! for this seventh day of the seventh year the scripture reading for the day's devotion in "The Upper Room" was Psalm 77! Since I attribute significance to certain numbers, as I confessed in a previous blog-post, I do not see this as mere coincidence!

Psalm 77 is a plea to God from one in trouble (here the composer is not David but rather Asaph), wondering if the Almighty will come to the rescue. But even as he questions, he remembers. He remembers God's mighty acts of rescue of the past. The song wraps with images of water: a rainy thunderstorm, and the sea, and God's unseen footsteps in the seabed. Lest the reader miss that this last alludes to the parting of the Red Sea for the escaping Israeli slaves, Asaph concludes by affirmation that God led Israel by means of Moses and Aaron.

So, even tho' there is the darkness of current trouble in Psalm 77, there is the much brighter remembrance of God's past works, to include the defining moment in history for His chosen people Israel. And the clear implication that God WILL be there to help. To which I would add: "in His time!" Thus the psalm is great for meditating at the change of years, as we say good-bye to the old one and commence the promising new year.