Imago Scriptura 78 - Psalms 26-28 - History
The Lord is the strength of his people; he is the saving refuge of his anointed. O save your people, and bless your heritage; be their shepherd, and carry them forever.
Yesterday, we hiked around through Dinosaur National Monument and then later when on a driving/hiking tour of the area. On the hikes/tour we saw amazing beauty and several really wonderful specific stops. The first was a wall where we could still see a bunch of fossils, including several large dinosaur bones and a few other things that we weren’t sure what they were, but we also came to walls where the pictographs of ancient peoples still remain. Some of the pictographs date back several thousand years to an unknown people group while others date back “only” about a thousand years to a group known today as the “Furman People.”
We saw pictographs of people, animals (such as what is in this picture - a bighorn sheep, along with lizards, and several others), musical instruments, and several other things that we weren’t quite sure what they represented. We were told not to touch them, but it was amazing to be that close to history from thousands of years ago - to stand in the place where some people took months to scratch these images into the sandstone.
These pictographs came to mind as I came to the end of the Psalm readings today, especially this last verse of Psalm 28. Having read through the Psalms several times before, I know how much the heritage and history of the peoples figure into the songs shared in this amazing book. There are some songs that are simply a recounting of the history of the people and there are others such as this one that just link back to the history - reminding people of who and what has come before. Our histories teach us to much about our living today and I think of the famous quote that “those who don’t know history are doomed to repeat it.”
Its not simply a negative view of history here though but a reminding back to the lessons learned, the wisdom gained, and the stories of those who have laid the foundations for us today. I am grateful for those who are in my life today who are able to impart their wisdom and stories to me but also the countless who have come before whom I will never know personally but whose lives impact my own today.