Don’t Forget to Remember!
“Rejoice in the LORD, you righteous, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holy name”
Psalm 96:12 NKJV
We are forgetful people. Oftentimes, we roll our eyes at the story of the Israelites in the wilderness and how many times they complained, grumbled, and doubted the God of Israel who led them out of Egypt. Yet, we are no different!
We are tempted everyday to doubt God’s goodness and faithfulness. Part of the curse from the garden is that we are bent to strive for control of our lives instead of remembering to trust in God. Our fallen nature is oriented this way because that was at the core of the lies that Adam and Eve succumbed to: God is withholding from you; don’t you want to be like Him?
Through Christ, though, we have been given a new nature (praise God!) We are new creations, born again of incorruptible seed, His children, set free from sin, dead to ourselves and alive in Christ, righteous, washed, reconciled to God, unconditionally loved, accepted, and indwelt with the promise of the Holy Spirit. This is our identity now! And the enemy wants us to constantly forget it. He wants us to think that we still have to earn God’s favor; he wants us to be insecure about God’s identity (that He is faithful and trustworthy) and resultingly, be insecure about our identity.
This is why Paul says in Romans 12:2 “...do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” Once we become believers in Jesus, we need the transformation and renewal of our human mindset to align with who we’ve been made in Christ.
James gives a similar principle in James 1:22-25: “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. But he who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.”
It is too easy to forget who and Whose we are! On top of our own forgetfulness, everything is working against us to destroy our memory. Access to unrestricted information through the internet, social media, AI, and everything of that sort is keeping us distracted and forgetful. This is scientifically true– our attention spans are shortening and our ability to process information is shallow. But this is part of the enemy’s plan. If he can increase our forgetfulness, then he is getting us to do exactly the opposite of what God wants us to do: remember.
Remembrance of God’s character and our security in Him is the foundation of being able to grow in our walk with God. It’s foundational for our ability to live in His peace that passes understanding. It’s the foundation for us to get through the trials of life. It’s the foundation for being able to walk in His ways.
We see God’s intention to encourage remembrance all throughout the Bible:
The Rainbow
Genesis 9:12-13 “...I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth…and I will remember My covenant which is between Me and you and every living creature of all flesh; the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
The Feasts of Passover and Unleaved Bread
Exodus 12:14,26-27
“So this day shall be to you a memorial; and you shall keep it as a feast to the Lord throughout your generations. You shall keep it as a feast by an everlasting ordinance.” “And it shall be, when your children say to you, ‘What do you mean by this service?’ that you shall say, ‘It is the Passover sacrifice of the Lord, who passed over the houses of the children of Israel in Egypt when He struck the Egyptians and delivered our households.’ ”
13:3,9-10
“And Moses said to the people: “Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten…It shall be as a sign to you on your hand and as a memorial between your eyes, that the Lord’s law may be in your mouth; for with a strong hand the Lord has brought you out of Egypt. You shall therefore keep this ordinance in its season from year to year.”
The Ephod
Exodus 39:6-7
“And they set onyx stones, enclosed in settings of gold; they were engraved, as signets are engraved, with the names of the sons of Israel. He put them on the shoulders of the ephod as memorial stones for the sons of Israel, as the Lord had commanded Moses.”
God established the Sabbath
Deuteronomy 5:15
“And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the Lord your God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day.”
The whole of the Mosaic Law
Deuteronomy 6:20-22
“When your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?’ Then you shall say to your son: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand; and the Lord showed signs and wonders before our eyes, great and severe, against Egypt, Pharaoh, and all his household.”
The 12 Stones from the Jordan River
Joshua 4:3, 21-24
“‘Take for yourselves twelve stones from here, out of the midst of the Jordan, from the place where the priests’ feet stood firm…’ Then he spoke to the children of Israel, saying: ‘When your children ask their fathers in time to come, saying, ‘What are these stones?’ then you shall let your children know, saying, ‘Israel crossed over this Jordan on dry land’; for the Lord your God dried up the waters of the Jordan before you until you had crossed over, as the Lord your God did to the Red Sea, which He dried up before us until we had crossed over, that all the peoples of the earth may know the hand of the Lord, that it is mighty, that you may fear the Lord your God forever.”
Jesus established the Lord’s Supper/Communion
Luke 22:19-20
“And He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.’ Likewise He also took the cup after supper, saying, ‘This cup is the new covenant in My blood, which is shed for you.’”
Jesus promised the Holy Spirit to His disciples
John 14:25-26
“These things I have spoken to you while being present with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I said to you.”
Jesus calls the churches to remember their first love
“‘Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent and do the first works, or else I will come to you quickly and remove your lampstand from its place—unless you repent.’”
The Gates and Foundations of the New Jerusalem to memorialize the 12 tribes and 12 apostles
Revelation 21:12,14
“Also she had a great and high wall with twelve gates, and twelve angels at the gates, and names written on them, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel.” “Now the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and on them were the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.”
If you made it through the list, you can see how it’s in God’s nature to establish memorials and ways of remembrance.
Take a Moment:
Do you practice remembrance?
Here are some practical ways to implement remembrance:
When you start spiraling in your mind, remember God is in control and He cares for you.
When you are tempted to sin, remember who you are because of Christ.
When you don’t see things working out the way you hoped, remember that God’s ways are higher than ours.
When you feel like there is no end to your stressful circumstances, remember the times when He has come through in the past in your life.
Print out a list of scriptures that point to who Christ has made you. Click here to take you to one on the website.
When we remember who we are and who God is, then we are able to live our lives accordingly.
Remembering this is what it means to live by faith.
-Alina