Remember What God Has Done
Remembering what God has done is an important part of Jewish worship. After God delivered the Israelites from Egypt, He instructed the people to remember His words. He told them to diligently teach His commands, and to talk about them in their houses,when they walked, when they were lying down, and when they got up in the morning (Deuteronomy 6:7).
The Israelites were told to constantly remember what God had done, who God was, and what He had said.
And so, in Psalm 85:2, the Psalmist engages in an act of remembrance by reflecting on God’s forgiveness:
“You forgave the iniquity of your people; you covered all their sin.” (ESV)
The Israelites had sinned against God many times, and many times over God forgave them. The author of Psalm 85 didn’t want Israel to forget God’s great kindness, so he crafted a Psalm that would remind anyone who repeated it of God’s mercy, forgiveness, power, and love.
The Psalmist appeared to know that purposefully remembering what God has done is a powerful practice—and it’s a powerful practice we should take part in.
Remembrance helps us think about the grace and love of God.
Remembrance provides reassurance that we are right with God through Jesus.
Remembrance fills us with hope that God will be faithful to do what He’s promised.
Remembrance strengthens our faith in God and His Word.
Remembrance helps us worship God for what He has done and be grateful for all that He will do.
Developing a practice of remembrance will keep our minds fixed on God, and keep our hearts connected to His grace.
So what are some of the things you can purposefully reflect on and thank God for? Here are a few ideas to get you started:
Remember He sent His one and only son to die for the sins of the world.
Remember He created the world, and praise Him for it.
Remember He has filled you with His Holy Spirit to remind you of His words and transform you into the likeness of Jesus.
Remember the grace and love He has for you.
Are You Ready?
The greatest measure of who we are and what we love is how we spend our time.
Where do you spend most of your time? Most of us spend our days with family, at work, or on hobbies. All of those are important things that we should invest in, but Jesus says there’s another thing that we need to spend time doing.
There are a lot of different ideas people have for when Jesus will return but, ultimately, Jesus says that nobody will know the time and date. He will come at a time when we least expect Him.
So until He does come, He says that we should be ready. We tend to spend most of our time working on finding the right career, or pursuing certain relationships, or building wealth and possessions. And yet, none of those things will prepare us for when Jesus returns.
So what can we do to prepare?
The first thing is to put your faith in Jesus, by believing that He gave His life so that you could have eternal life. Next, commit to spending time with Him, confessing your mistakes and ...