Experience is a matter only few are acquainted with and is utilized by even less. However, it is of much benefit. The proverb says: “Experience is the best teacher.” When we intend to hire someone, we ask, “Does he have experience?” A doctor, captain, or craftsman who has experience will be most in demand. Such is also true in the spiritual realm. Experience engenders the prosperity of the Christian, and thus we also wish to say something concerning this.
Experience is a godly exercise, consisting in a gathering of numerous noteworthy incidents for the purpose of using them to our benefit and that of others.
It is a godly exercise. “A brutish man knoweth not; neither doth a fool understand this,” says the psalmist in Ps 92:6. However, it is one of the activities of the godly who do gather such a treasure. The righteous shall see it, and rejoice, the wise will observe these things, and “they shall understand the lovingkindness of the Lord” (Ps 107:42-43). They exercise themselves in this in a godly manner: with a godly heart, with godly intent, and with a godly objective.
This exercise consists in a gathering of numerous noteworthy incidents. God not only gives commands and promises to His children. These must be heeded with much attention and an obedient heart, for: “Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams” (1 Sam 15:22); “Then shall I not be ashamed, when I have respect unto all Thy commandments” (Ps 119:6). However, God also manifests Himself by numerous works. He frequently delivers His people and specific individuals in a remarkable manner. He comforts them when they grieve most bitterly, and executes extraordinary judgments upon the oppressors of His people. He preserved Noah in the ark, delivered His people Israel with a mighty hand out of Egypt, and fed them forty years in the wilderness with bread rained down from heaven. He delivered David out of the hand of Saul, Daniel from the lions’ den, his companions out of the fiery oven, and Peter out of prison. He destroyed Pharaoh and his host in the Red Sea, and slew 185,000 men in one night by the hand of an angel in the army which had besieged Jerusalem. Yes, the entire Bible is filled with numerous accounts of deliverances of His people as well as of judgments upon their oppressors. God’s children will bring together all such and similar deeds of God. They seek them out, meditate upon them, and analyze them carefully. They imprint them in their memories and, so to speak, establish a mental file.
The Objective of Remembering God’s Dealings
The objective is not to be inquisitive only in order to be knowledgeable and able to talk about them. Rather, their objective is to derive personal benefit from such reflection in order to be comforted and strengthened. The church does so to help and comfort others by recounting God’s dealings with the godly when in need; and also to warn others thereby, relating to them God’s common dealings with such sinners, and thus to arouse them and bring them to repentance.
First, the Lord wills that His people gather together a treasure of experiences and make use of them at all occasions: “And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness” (Deut. . 8:2); “Remember the days of old, consider the years of many generations: ask thy father, and he will show thee; thy elders, and they will tell thee” (Deut. . 32:7); “Remember His marvellous works that He hath done; His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth” (Ps 105:5).
Secondly, we know this to have been the practice of the saints who have given examples to be followed by us. David was thus engaged: “I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Thy works; I muse on the work of Thy hands” (Ps 143:5). Asaph did likewise: “I will meditate also of all Thy work, and talk of Thy doings” (Ps 77:12). “Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart” (Luke 2:19).
Thirdly, we can infer this from the purpose for which God has performed these deeds, has caused them to be recorded, and has decreed that they should be told to others, namely, that the following generation would know them and thus be dissuaded from sinning, be exhorted to godliness, and be strengthened by trusting in God’s help. “I will open my mouth in a parable: I will utter dark sayings of old: which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us. We will not hide them from their children, showing to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength, and His wonderful works that He hath done. For He established a testimony in Jacob, and appointed a law in Israel, which He commanded our fathers, that they should make them known to their children: that the generation to come might know them, even the children which should be born; who should arise and declare them to their children: that they might set their hope in God, and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments” (Ps 78:2-7).
If to that end God has done so many great deeds for His people, and has caused these deeds to be recorded for this purpose as well, it is our duty to give heed to them, attentively take note of them, and commit them to our memories, so that we may have them readily at hand when they are applicable to our circumstances.