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Hello my “Walking with Jesus” friends,
This week, as the world news continues to broadcast ‘out of control’ bad news… we’re focusing on a God given pathway for moving OUT of the chaos and crisis of these past many months, and moving forward into a God designed new future. This pathway is in response to a desperate cry for RESTORE coming from so many parts of our world. The first step FORWARD is actually looking BACKWARD for the purpose of Remembering what God has been doing in your life journey. We either learn from our past or we are destined to repeat the hard times, right?
So today I offer this question: HOW does God teach us to REMEMBER the past and learn from it, without the past becoming an albatross of regret or a magnet drawing you to live in the past? May I offer you four?
1. WRITE it down! Consider the powerful story of Moses, Aaron, Hur and Joshua in Exodus 17, at a place called Rephidim. Do you remember the miracle of the water gushing rock in the desert and the attack of the Amalekites who wanted that priceless water for themselves? Moses stood on the hillside, calling on God for His help, overlooking the battle in the valley, where Joshua led the Hebrew untrained soldiers, in defending the miracle rock. Moses’ uplifted arms grew weary, so Aaron & Hur stood on each side of him and held up those arms, and joined Moses in prayer, while Joshua fought and won the battle. Moses records that God said “Write this on a scroll as something to be remembered and make sure Joshua hears it, because I will completely blot out the memory of the Amalekites from under heaven. Moses built an altar and called it Jehovah Nissi, the LORD is my Banner.” (Ex. 17:14,15)
God wanted Joshua to remember, for when Joshua followed Moses as leader of the next generation, and they fought battle after battle to conquer the Promised Land, it was important Joshua remember the link between prayer, seeking God’s guidance, and fighting the enemy… so they wrote down a record of that day, to help them REMEMBER! How do you keep a record of God’s great work in your life journey my friends? Maybe it’s writing in a journal, maybe it’s video or audio recordings? Whatever it takes, it’s important to have an accurate record of God at work in the events of your life! But of course, what good are records if you never review them…so when’s the last time you reviewed some of those things you’ve recorded of God’s great work in your life story?
2. TELL the story! Look closely at Psalm 78:1-8… “I will open my mouth…I will utter hidden things, things of old – what we have heard…what our fathers have told us. We not hide these things from our children; we will tell the next generation the praiseworthy deeds of the LORD, His power and the wonders He has done. He decreed statutes for Jacob and established the law in Israel which He commanded our forefathers to teach their children, so the next generation would know them, even the children yet to be born, and they in turn would tell their children. Then they would put their trust in God and would not forget His deed, but would keep His commands…” Do you see the priority God places on each generation making sure they recount their God stories to the next generation, so nothing will be lost, as each generation grows up understanding the majesty of God and His direct involvement in their family heritage?
Do you see the danger of any generation either distorting the stories or refusing to pass them on, or not having any God stories of their own to add to the family heritage? So how has that worked in your family? Regardless of how well your parents or grandparents did this with you, you now have the privilege of Godly heritage building, as you Remember and carefully pass along the stories of God’s work in your life and family!
3. Festivals are a third way to Remember, holding tightly to the memories of God involved in your past. For the Jewish people, they had several great festivals which told and retold the remarkable stories of God’s involvement in their history. Passover, as you know, annually celebrates the miracle of Exodus 12 & 14 and God’s deliverance of more than 1 million Hebrew slaves from Egypt! The Purim Festival, held on the 14th or 15 day of Adar, celebrates God’s protection of Queen Esther as she unveiled evil Haman’s plot to exterminate all Jews, and God’s deliverance of His people from the execution of this evil plot. (Esther 3&7)
Of course for followers of Jesus we have Christmas, celebrating the incarnation of God in the person of Jesus, and Easter weekend, celebrating the atonement death, burial and resurrection of Jesus. But may I ask, do you have any personal or family celebrations in which you honor God for His direct involvement in your story or that of your family? When you have these celebrations do you recount the great work of God in your life so children and grandchildren understand and cherish these historical, important God events?
4. Finally, may I invite you to consider the power of what I call ‘miracle debris’? These are tangible artifacts which are evidence of God at work in your past. For the Jewish people, the Ark of the Covenant had several things which reminded generation after generation of God’s great involvement in their past. Do you remember what those things were? The stone tablets on which the finger of God inscribed the 10 Commandments. (Exodus 25:21) A jar with an omar of manna (Exodus 16:33,34) and Aaron’s staff which budded. (Numbers 17:8-11)
I wonder what tangible things you have saved from the journey of your life, which help you remember the specific miracles that God has done in your life? Perhaps medical reports, or a Passport which was issued just in time for a missions trip, or a piece of your damaged automobile from a car wreck in which you should have been killed, but God spared your life? Maybe it’s a scar somewhere on your body that reminds you of a miraculous intervention of God in keeping you alive?
I call this ‘miracle debris’ because it’s the tangible, unchanging, physical evidence of a God miracle in your life story. Often I’ve stood with family members near a casket of their dear loved one, and they’ve delighted in showing me a table of memorabilia and telling me the story of their grandparent whom they deeply respected and loved. What will you leave behind to your descendants which will give them the opportunity to tell the story of God’s hand upon your life?
So my friends, what are your favorite ways of REMEMBERING the important events in your life, in which God has directly involved Himself and shaped your story? Have you learned that if you don’t make the effort to remember and tell your story… it will fade in your memory and die with you. Could I invite you right now, to take your journal, and take a moment to Remember. Jot down three or four of the most significant God involved events in your life story… and consider what you can do to learn what God wants to teach you in them and share them with your family who will treasure them?
Bible images provided with attribution to www.LumoProject.com.
Have a comment or question about today’s chapter? I’m ready to hear from you, contact me here.
Pastor Doug Anderson 262.441.8785
“Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, with our eyes fixed on Jesus…” (Heb. 12:1,2)
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