Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Do You Remember?

This is another devotional that I wrote for "On the Road"


Do You Remember?

Psalm 78:9-11

They forgot what he had done, the wonders he had shown them.

Psalm 78:11 (NIV)

If you want to look at one of the most incredible reoccurring themes in the Bible, it is the issue of men of God forgetting all that God had done for them. It is very often followed by the phrase, “and again they did evil in the sight of the Lord.”

As men, we have this incredible propensity of “living for the moment.” Yesterday is long gone and tomorrow is out there somewhere. What really counts is today. The problem with that mentality is that we miss so much of the strength that God has intended for us.

We should draw strength from remembering (and remembering often) all that God has done for us. As if salvation was not enough, there is always so much more, for which to be grateful.

God uses the majority of Psalm 78 to remind the Israelites of all that He had done. It also emphasizes that after all of the incredible wonders that He had shown them, they continued to turn their backs on Him.

Today, most of us Christian guys live in a “what have you done for me lately” world often forgetting that God has a long history of loving us more than we can begin to love Him back.

Not only is it important for us to remember all that God has done for us, but it is critical that we pass that history of God’s love on to our children and our children’s children.

When we begin to recall God’s faithfulness, it is important that we do not just focus on the really big blessings, but remember even the smallest of blessings. Equally important is that we remember that God has done all these things out of his incredible love for us.

Our grandchildren love to have us tell them the stories of God’s love and faithfulness in our lives because it also speaks of His love for them since we are family. When God blesses our family, He blesses all of us. They draw strength from a history of blessings.

We tell the stories to remind them of the past so that they can draw strength and know that they can trust God in the future in their own lives.

As you consider your life, have you given thought to what God has done for you; and have you shared that with your family?

If you do not remember, how can they remember?

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