Actively Remember {DWITW 365}
In Ezekiel 16:1-14, we see a picture of a cast out infant left for dead, but God in His divine mercy and love not only rescued that baby, but also cleansed, swaddled, and nourished her into a healthy vibrant and lovely daughter fit for her marriage vows. This imagery depicts each one of us individually but also corporately as the bride of Christ, before and after God made a covenant with us and our journey of redemption through Christ began.
But He didn’t stop there! He helped us thrive and grow into a beautiful mature daughter and He robed us in His righteousness and covered our shame with His glory and adorned us with a crown and declared His marriage vows over us. He made a covenant with us cleaning us from all of our unrighteousness and anointing us with the fragrance of Christ.
Interestingly enough we see this child of God, while she has been taken care of well and clothed in all her glory, she has still forgotten the former days of her childhood and all that God had done for her. And in this forgetting she soon committed lewd and abominable acts - in spite of God’s great love and mercy.
When we are prospering and life is going “well” we also can be quick to forget all that the Lord has done for us.
Sound familiar? We, too, are that daughter. When we are prospering and life is going “well” we also can be quick to forget all that the Lord has done for us. God is ready and willing to forgive our wandering idolatrous hearts, but He also gives us insight throughout His word as to the significance of actively remembering all the works He has done for us. For instance, Deuteronomy 4:9 says:“But watch out! Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Do not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.”
We are called, just like the Israelites were in Joshua 4, to not only never forget but also to actively remember all that the Lord has done for us. When all the people had crossed the Jordan, the LORD said to Joshua, “Now choose twelve men, one from each tribe. Tell them, ‘Take twelve stones from the very place where the priests are standing in the middle of the Jordan. ...We will use these stones to build a memorial. In the future your children will ask you, ‘What do these stones mean?’ Then you can tell them, ‘They remind us that the Jordan River stopped flowing when the Ark of the LORD’s Covenant went across.’
Are we being like the Israelites and presenting the miraculous works God has done in our lives to the future generations? Or, are we forgetting to actively recall and recite the work that the Lord has done in our lives? When we actively remember God’s redemptive work in our lives we are laying out a living memorial for all to see and worship the one true God!
It is vitally important in the maintenance and implementation of a vibrant walk with our Savior to recall His faithful love toward us because we are so prone to forget. Life has a way of creating meaningless as well as meaningful distractions and disruptions. These make it challenging for us to stay focused on the goodness of the Lord in our lives. We must encourage each other to actively remember what the Lord has done otherwise we can forget His goodness toward us and walk with idolatrous hearts before Him.
Similarly, Isaiah 46 is a call to come out of our idolatry and bondage by remembering the things that the LORD has done: “Do not forget this! Keep it in mind! Remember this, you guilty ones. Remember the things I have done in the past. For I alone am God! I am God, and there is none like me.”
Christ came down and rescued each one of us out of deep darkness
Christ came down and rescued each one of us out of deep darkness, as recounted in Psalm 18. He prophesied, “Live!” over us in Ezekiel 16:4-14 when we were born into sin and corruption. When we were unwanted and rejected, He came and had mercy on our helpless, filthy state and declared LIFE there!
Isaiah 61:3 also gives us a beautiful picture of God’s loving care for us as His bride - He has promised to “… give [us] a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair.”
Look what the Lord has done!!! Yet, we turn and worship lesser gods in our lives like status, wealth and comfort and exchange our beauty for deception just as Adam and Eve did in the garden.
So, instead of forgetting, let us recall today how God swooped down to rescue us out of the darkness and restored our innocence as depicted by the psalmist in Psalm 18:
... Mounted on a mighty angelic being, he flew, soaring on the wings of the wind. He shrouded himself in darkness, veiling his approach with dark rain clouds. Thick clouds shielded the brightness around him and rained down hail and burning coals. The LORD thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded amid the hail and burning coals. … He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters. He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me. They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the LORD supported me. He led me to a place of safety; he rescued me because he delights in me. The LORD rewarded me for doing right;”
What a glorious picture of God’s saving tenacious love over our lives! Therefore, in all our doing today may we see the dire need for actively remembering all that the LORD has done in our lives so that we never forget and we may honor Him. We must passionately and resolutely set up stones of remembrance in our lives by sharing our redemptive journey with others, so that we are not building pagan shrines on the altars of our hearts. This only leads us away from the knowledge of God into idolatry, with our hearts then against our faithful Father.
Karen Savage wants to live in a world where Christ is Glorified. When she's not serving her family, you can find her serving others. Her favorite Scripture is John 15:7-8 ESV.