Remember

We all have memories....

... our first time at the zoo, and how BIG the elephants were...
... our first kiss...
... the last time we saw each other...
... what he said then, that made all the difference...
... the time when we ____...

Some are funny, some are sketchy, some are sad, some are life-changing, others are mundane moments that became monuments for us... all of them are permanently glued in our minds by our memories.

The Bible also talks about memory many times. The word "remember" appears in Scripture 233 times... Repeatedly, God reminds his people to remember what he's done for them in the days gone by:

Exodus 3:15
God also said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'The LORD, the God of your fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, the name by which I am to be remembered from generation to generation.

Nehemiah 4:14
After I looked things over, I stood up and said to the nobles, the officials and the rest of the people, "Don't be afraid of them. Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight for your brothers, your sons and your daughters, your wives and your homes."

Even outside of the direct wordage of "remember," God repeatedly identifies himself with things done in the past, when calling the Israelites to something in the future:

"I am the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob..."
"I am the God who brought you out of Egypt..."

Why? Why is it important for the Israelites to remember?

• What do you do when you're in a relationship that you're committed to, but that's going through a rocky spell at the moment? You remember the days when it was good. You cling to those in the hope that the future will likewise hold something good.

• What about when you're picking a doctor for a major surgery? You look at his track record, to see how he's done on surgeries like this in the past.

• What about when you're interviewing someone for a job? You call their references, past employers, and friends, to see if in the past they have been reliable.

• Even when you're buying a used car... you go to one of those cheesy "Am I buying a lemon?" websites, to see if the past track record has been good...

See here's my point: I think all of us hit points in our lives when it is difficult to believe that God has got our best interests in mind... when it is difficult to believe that God is good... when it is difficult even to believe that He exists.

And in those moments, the unchanging God of the universe, the great I Am, reminds us to remember. To remember his faithfulness to us in the past, as a reminder that He will continue to be faithful in the future. ..

• To remember that He is the God who brought us out of Egypt, and He will again bring us out of captivity, even if it takes 70 years.

• To remember that He is the same God who was faithful to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he will continue to be faithful and good to us.

• To remember the time when God met you... when you felt his fingerprint on your life and knew that He was good... to be reminded that He continues to have your best in mind.
  

Sometimes it's hard to see God's faithfulness in the present tense, and in those instances, God reminds us to remember: to look at His track record, and to rest in the assurance that I AM does not change. He who has been faithful in the past will continue to be faithful in the present.

We remember as a foundation of faith, as an act of faith, and as a hope for faith.