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Remembering Is Relevant

I recently wrote a blog on the importance of pausing and celebrating the many moments in life where God has proven His goodness over and over again. And something in me just couldn’t resist the urge to write even more about this topic. The following Bible verses about remembering what God has done could not be more relevant for us today.

It seems so relevant and yet so ignored in today’s world. The American way is to forge ahead, always racing toward the next thing instead of pausing and remembering all the works of the Lord so far. God sprinkled His faithfulness all throughout life, and we do not pause to recognize or even appreciate it. We also fail to realize that if we don’t stop and see the evidence of His faithfulness through our precious or even painful memories, then we will struggle to believe that He will continue to be faithful moving forward. 

Isaiah 46:9 says, “Remember the former things, those of long ago, I am God, and there is no other, I am God, and there is none like me.” If we ever questioned whether it was right or helpful to look back and remember, then this is reason enough. God Himself calls us to “remember” so that we can recall and refresh ourselves on who He is.

There is none like Him, and the mighty deeds He has done speak loudly of the nature of His character. If we assume that our only way to know Him better is “present” study and “future” revelation, then perhaps we are missing a key ingredient found in the “past.” God has been revealing Himself the whole way through. He longs for His children to look back on all kinds of experiences, and see the heavenly Father’s mighty hand.

Knowing God Through Experiences

He has gifted us story after story of His wonderful deeds for people in the Old and New Testaments, and we can develop a deeper trust and dependence on the love of God from remembering the significant events of their past.

How can we “NOT” be changed by remembering how the Israelites were miraculously delivered from the land of Egypt? How can we not know God better after reading how He graciously called David a man after His own heart? And how can we not be in awe of the Lord God when we know that the Holy Ghost came with a rushing wind and tongues of fire on people’s heads?

The word of God recounts countless deeds of the Lord that can allow us not only to know Him better but also to stand in awe of His glory and to fully trust in His faithfulness. 

We can learn so much from the experiences of others; however, if we do not also have our own personal experiences with God, then we may find ourselves doubting the truth of His character. Yet God delights in giving us moments to remember where He prove His love to us over and over.

Yes…the work of the cross was all the proof we need and more than anything we could have ever deserved. And if He never did a single good thing after that, we would still have reason enough to remember, to praise, and to trust.

But God is an “above and beyond” type of God. He longs to daily prove to us that there is no greater love than His. Hopefully the more memories we have, the more we actually come to believe and receive this great love. 

Reasons Why

So we can see that remembering is important. And I have hinted at some of the many reasons why. But I’d like to dive deeper into three specific ones that stand out to me.

1. Remembering the work of the cross alone helps us walk through our own hardships with grace and gratitude. 

Communion

Jesus Himself emphasized the importance of consistently remembering the cross when He gave the bread and wine to His disciples. Luke 22:19 says, “And he took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.'”

Afterwards, He poured the wine declaring this to be the blood of the covenant which would be poured out for the forgiveness of sins. He gave a very practical and clear way for all believers to remember the sacrifice He was about to make. And to this day, we get the privilege of joining in communion with others and remembering what Christ Jesus did to grant us eternal life. 

Partaking in communion is such a beautiful and clear way to focus on the moment God poured out His wrath for “our” sin on Someone other than us. It helps us recognize what He went through to atone for our sin so we could receive righteousness “and” relationship. When we intentionally do something to remind ourselves of the good things God did for us long ago, we are allowing God to grow our gratitude and increase our awareness of His great love.

Gratitude

As we remember the cross, we can see more clearly how to endure the hardships of this life with an eternal perspective knowing that Christ has already granted us more than we deserve. So many people develop anger towards God due to hardships. They believe that if He were truly loving, then He would not allow His loved ones to walk through trials. 

Yet the greatest hardship of all was our enslavement to sin. And Christ gave His life to free us forever from this bondage and to usher us into a relationship with Him that would last for all eternity. When we recognize the magnitude of this gift, then we can persist through pain and suffering. And we can do this with grace knowing that He gave us the highest form of freedom and fellowship.

The gratitude that comes with choosing to remember the cross helps us not to take for granted the abundant life He died to give us. It makes us want to seek His face all the more. And as we begin to see Him all the more clearly, the things we are going through will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace. 

Losing Dad

Eight years ago, I lost my dad very suddenly to a heart attack. It was and still is the absolute worst day of my life. Everything turned upside down for me. I felt like I was drowning, and I didn’t know which way was up. John and I had been married about three years and had just had our first baby, a girl.

I felt like a lost little girl. God proved His goodness to me time and again by walking me through grief in a personal and intimate way. But He also kept bringing me back to the power of the cross that not only gave me hope for my own eternity, but it also provided a hope that I would indeed see my dad again someday.

I do not know how anyone goes through loss without the daily reminder of the cross. This reminder provided spiritual renewal in the midst of my hardship. It also helped me to see and appreciate the fact that Jesus suffered as well on my behalf. He knew what I was feeling and could relate.

He also knew what it was like to be separated from His Father temporarily. And it was His separation that made a way for my dad and I to be together forever in eternity. I still miss him dearly, but reminding myself of the cross bring comfort and hope of heaven.

2. Remembering the wondrous works of the Lord inspires worship.

God’s Constant Goodness

Psalm 103:2 says, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.” How do we bless the Lord?…by remembering. When we remember how He has been “God” in our lives, then a natural yet urgent response of praise emerges. Some people have purely based the goodness of God on the outcome of their circumstances.

When things are going well, then God must be good. But when tragedy hits, that must mean that God is bad. Yet we live in a broken world due to sin. And while God is sovereign, He will not force people to choose the right way. So many will choose the wrong way and will suffer consequences. And others who are near to them will suffer as well from their choices.

I am not, however, saying that we bring all of our hardships upon ourselves. There is also an enemy present, who is fighting tooth and nail for our souls. And He will not stop until the end of the age. Yet none of this changes the character or name of the Father.

The Bible says He is love and He is all holy. Nothing in all the world could ever change the fact that He is good, whether we believe it or not. In fact, if we let Him, He longs to reveal more and more of His goodness to us through our mountaintop “and” our valley seasons.

Worship in the ER

I can recall that day in the hospital when we found out my dad had died. I remember feeling this urge to worship like I had never felt before. And I remember thinking that I had every reason to be angry with God and to run from Him.

But in that moment, I was desperate for Him like I had never been before. I was reminded of and acutely aware of His goodness and nearness. And I just couldn’t help but to pour my heart out to Him. Isaiah 43:7 talks about how He created us “for His glory,” and I unexpectedly yearned to glorify Him that day. 

We do not have to be going through hardship, however, to be inspired to praise. In fact, there are quite a few more obvious reasons to praise Him on the mountaintop. However, it’s interesting that sometimes during our high moments, we tend to lose sight of God our call to worship. We begin to take credit for achieving this type of altitude, and we forget Who brought us to that point.

We begin to relish in all our blessings and gifts, but we forget the wonder of the Giver. This is where remembering the different parts of our lives becomes very important. We must continually remind ourselves of God’s goodness in every season. And we must allow ourselves to be deeply humbled and thoroughly energized to worship Him in spirit and in truth. It is for this privilege, we were created.

3. Remembering His faithfulness in the past helps build our faith for the present and the future. 

Joshua’s Trust

Joshua 1:5b  says, “As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you.” God was reminding Joshua of all the ways that He proved His power and goodness during Moses’ life. He was helping Joshua see that it wasn’t Moses that was not the powerhouse of miracles or the storehouse of greatness; it was God Himself. He had used Moses to free His people from the most powerful man on earth at the time. And God would use Joshua to usher His people in the land of promise.

However, this would require many battles in order to take the land. With each new battle that came along, Joshua could remind himself again and again of all the different ways God had been with Moses. He had been faithful in the life of Moses, and He never changes. So Joshua developed a confidence that God would be faithful during his life as well.

The steadfast love of the Lord would prevail. Joshua had a difficult task ahead of him. He knew personally how big the giants were that lived in the towns they were to conquer. The size of the walls of Jericho had not escaped him. He knew it was going to be a long process with many years of fighting. But God built up his faith on the stories of the past. And Joshua was able to move forward because he remembered what was behind him. 

Perspective on the Mountain

Our picture that inspired the name, The Rugged Face, depicts us climbing a mountain with Jesus Himself. And as we journey upward with our Savior, we begin to shift our focus from the rocky and uncertain “face” of the mountain, to the strong and determined “face” of Jesus. He is Who the journey is all about, and He is Who determines where our personal steps should be.

It is the joy of relationship that allows us to elevate our climb.  Yet there will always be rocky crags and steep slopes that loom up above us. As we look back to the face of Jesus, He may direct us to look down for a bit just to see how far we’ve come.

He may share this viewpoint with us to remind us the many scary places we have already climbed, and to help us have faith for the next part of the journey. We may be afraid of what lies ahead, but Jesus, our sojourner. can show us how much distance is already behind us, and how truly faithful He has been during every part of the climb.

When we experience frightening feats with Jesus, it makes us confident to conquer some more. When we know Who we’re with, and we remember what He’s done, then we can say with confidence, “My God will not fail me.” That was true from day one, but it does help to have experiences to look back on to confirm His faithfulness time and again. And He will be faithful to the end, for it’s Who He is and always will be. 

A Call to Recall

Taking the time to reflect and remember His marvelous works can open your own eyes to the glory of God in a beautiful and special way. He has extended wonderful gifts in the form of experiences from His righteous right hand. And He longs for these not to be forgotten. The Bible verses i gave, as well as many others, can help you understand exactly why remembering what God has done is so important. As you remember the days of your youth, and call to mind how the name of the Lord was displayed in good or evil days, you can be strengthened in grace, inspired in worship, and built up in faith.

You are a holy temple, a righteous man or woman of God, and you possess one of the greatest commandments of the Lord…to go and make disciples of all nations. And one of the best ways to do this is to remember and retell His wonderful stories in your life. O Lord, help us to remember and not forget how you’ve made yourself known in the past so that we may continue to know you better today and every day. 

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