I Will Remember

I Will Remember.  A low level of Vitamin B12 has been linked to “impaired cognition and memory along with a sensation of tingling and numbness” (nih.gov PMC7077099). Somehow, that physical deficiency and those physiological symptoms are not the reasons why we are prone to forget God and all his instances of faithfulness. We forget because we are leaky vessels, “jars of clay” (2 Cor. 4:7). Obviously before, yet oddly also after redemption, we are chronically permeable when it comes to the work and the word of God. We suffer temporary amnesia. Although God could and has delivered us in ten thousand ways, we easily forget.

Correspondingly, it is not a surprise that the word remember is mentioned hundreds of times in the Bible and more than a few times in the form of a command, such as: “Remember the wondrous works that he has done” (1 Chr. 16:12) and “Remember Lot’s wife” (Luke 17:32).

Interestingly, the psalmists in various psalms petition God to remember, as if God were like us in this matter, prone to forget. Psalm 74 contains a string of such requests: “Remember your congregation which you have purchased . . . remember Mount Zion where you have dwelt” (vs. 2), “Remember this, O Lord, how the enemy scoffs” (vs. 18), and “Remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day” (vs. 22). But God is not like us; he is not prone to forget. Therefore, the word remember is not about recalling data but action. O God, bring to mind your people, your promises, your power, your provision and, therefore, intervene!

Appropriately, toward becoming more like God in this matter of remembering, of bringing to mind in order to act, we must elicit God’s help. O God, help us to remember. Cause us to connect your faithfulness in the past with our confidence in your faithfulness in the present. Overcome our amnesia! By God’s help, we rehearse God’s faithfulness to our own ears and to the ears of others for the purpose of action. Psalm 77 contains a string of such prayer-infused disciplines, with increasing intensity and intentionality, where we repeatedly place ourselves in the position of remembering. “When I remember God, I moan; when I meditate, my spirit faints” (vs. 3). “Let me remember my song in the night; let me meditate in my heart; then my spirit made a diligent search” (vs. 6). “I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old” (vs. 11). Remembering is not automatic; it is learned. Yet, remembering, if separated from action, is less than the biblical admonition, “Remember the word that I have spoken to you” (John 15:20). As we remember, we obey. And as we obey, we have more and more instances to remember that “the steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (Lam. 3:22-23).