Thursday's Thought-Remembering

We live in a very fast-paced society. We are always moving forward. We can’t afford to slow down, stop, or—God forbid—take a look backwards. We value progress and change above all else and see the past as a necessary step to getting where we are today and nothing more.

If we are Christians, though, should this be our attitude about the past? In the Bible, God was very intentional about making sure His people remembered the past. Starting with creation, God made a weekly celebration—Sabbath—to commemorate His work. He was so passionate about His people remembering His work of creation that in Numbers 15, a man is stoned for gathering sticks to build a fire.

God also gave His people numerous other reminders throughout the Bible of His previous work. The rainbow is a gift to help us remember God’s faithfulness to keeping His promises. The Passover was given to the Israelites to remind them how great a salvation God had given them from the land of Egypt (and that one was such a big deal to God that if someone failed to keep it properly, they were excommunicated from the nation of Israel). When the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they built a pillar of rocks next to the place where they crossed the Jordan River on dry ground so when future generations asked about the stones, they could tell the new generation about God’s faithfulness to them in the past. Throughout the Old Testament, God is wildly passionate about His people remembering in an intentional way what He has done for them. This theme even carries over into the New Testament, where Jesus institutes the Lord’s Supper as a reminder to His followers of His death. Each time we celebrate this, it should be an intentional act of remembering what God has done for us in the past.

But what difference should this make in our lives (besides inspiring us to take communion the next time they have it in church)? One thing that I have found in my life is that reflecting on God’s past faithfulness is one of the best tools available to give me hope of His future faithfulness. Reflecting on times in the past when I was in a situation where I had no idea how anything could ever work out for good but I can now see how God used it to shape me and mold me into who I am today, I am encouraged to persevere (with faith) through today’s trials because I know the same God who got me through yesterday will get me through today.

P.S. As far as last week's post goes, I didn't totally skip it, but it is in the form of an inspirational video, and I wanted to wait until my new computer got here to load it, since my old one would take forever to load it. The new computer is here now, so it should be up soon.