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"You let men ride over our heads; we went through fire and water, but you brought us to a place of abundance. I will come to your temple with burnt offerings and fulfill my vows to you\u2026 (Psalm 66:12, 13).

As promised last Thursday, I want to spend another day with these verses. Last time, I reflected on the creative tension between of our personal and corporate faith. Some of us swing more to one side than the other, but we need both in order to grow up into our faith.

Today, I want to reflect on another creative tension point in our Christian faith. It\u2019s the tension of living in the present. To put it differently, the tension of living between the past and the future. I\u2019m not sure that helps much, but it does set up what\u2019s coming. Reformed people have often talked about the already/not yet reality of God\u2019s kingdom. That\u2019s part of the tension, too, this psalm speaks into.

There is an important truth about the Christian faith that we need to bring up here. It\u2019s this: The Bible is to be read as a whole. Even though it has 66 different books, it is one book. It took over a millennium to write. Those who wrote the later material often referred back to things already written. Thus, when we read Psalm 66, the composer wants us to hear echoes of Exodus 15. That is the song of Moses which was sung after God delivered Israel from Egypt.

It begins this way, \u201cI will sing to the Lord, for he is highly exalted. Both horse and driver he has hurled into the sea. The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father\u2019s God, and I will exalt him\u201d (Ex. 15:1-2).

But here is the thing, in Revelation 15 John hears the creatures of heaven singing Moses\u2019 song, \u201cGreat and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty\u201d (15:3). It\u2019s a paraphrase, to be sure, but John says that this is the song of Moses and of the Lamb, connecting the deliverance of Israel from Egypt with the greater deliverance Jesus accomplished for us all.

Now back to Psalm 66. We don\u2019t know what was happening in the life of the Psalmist that inspired this song, but it wasn\u2019t good. At the end of the psalm we find these phrases, I cried out to him with my mouth. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has \u201cheard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!\u201d

As he went through his own valley, the psalmist looked back to God\u2019s great acts of redemption. It encouraged him to call out to God to save his people again. The book of Revelation invites us to look forward as well. To believe that God has not yet finished his work of redemption. Jesus will be coming back to renew all things.

Living in the present is rarely easy. We often wonder why God doesn\u2019t just send Jesus back to make all things new. Psalm 66 helps us to live with confidence in the turmoil of today, that that day will come.

Like the Psalmist, we look back and see the great acts of God in the Old Testament. Like John, we look back and see the great act of redemption in Jesus Christ: his birth, his life, his death, his resurrection, his ascension into heaven and the pouring out of his Spirit. But we are also invited to see this Lamb upon his throne.

We also look ahead to his return in power and glory.

It is difficult to keep hope alive. That\u2019s why we need a song like Psalm 66.

But that is also exactly what the Lord\u2019s Supper is about. It looks back to Christ\u2019s redemption on the cross. But it also looks forward, to the return of our Saviour and King. It helps us keep hope alive. If this is true, don\u2019t you wonder why we don\u2019t sit and eat it more often?