remembrance
“And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
An elderly man who spoke at a banquet. With a broad grin and twinkle in his eye, he said, “I know I am old because there are three things I can’t remember: I can’t remember names, I can’t remember faces, and I can’t remember the third thing I can’t remember.”
We may say, forgetfulness is not all bad, isn’t it? After all, without it the pain of our failures and losses would be almost unbearable. But that is only one side of the equation; the other side is to remember–remember God.
We hear the psalmist crying out to himself, “not to forget.” And he goes on to make a list of all the benefits that we have as His children.
“Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits.” (Psalms 103:2)
Remembering God and His goodness leads to a grateful heart. We often need to remind ourselves and do this type of self-talking. In fact, this is the very intent of the content of this verse–to remember God as the source of all the blessings, resulting in thanks, praises and worship out of a grateful heart. This keeps us from glorifying ourselves.
The Saints of God often fail to realise this precious truth: “Though we live our life forward, we always understand it backward.” Remembrance brings memories that bind us to events that forget us, and to moments of God’s goodness that few people values. It is about looking backward and counting those blessings and naming them one-by-one and seeing the things that the Lord has done in your life. And as you name them, you can’t stop, but give praise and glory to God. Pause for a moment to remember God and his goodness.
