Remember

Let’s do a study today on the word remember. To remember anything is to recall it to our minds and ponder it and consider it. There are things that are good to remember and there are things to forget because they do not bring positive results in our lives. I think all of us have a human tendency to gravitate toward the things in our past that were detrimental to us, even though we say we don’t want to “go there” again. What the Lord wants us to do is to remember His Word and what He does for us.

In Psalm 20:7 we will remember the name of the Lord our God.

In Ecclesiastes 12:1 we remember our Creator. Let me camp on that verse for a moment. When we remember our Creator, we are remembering that everything we see around us was created originally by Almighty God, whether it is in the form of material matter or an idea that He placed in someone’s mind to create material matter. Look around you. Everything you see was created. Look outside at the trees, the flowers, the grass, the animals, the insects. Look at yourself. What a wonderfully created body God has given us. All of the parts work together for smooth operation, according to His plan. Of course, we all know that smooth operation is interrupted on this earth by the “stuff” the curse has brought on the earth----disease, impure air and water and poison in the ground from what we have sprayed and “chemicalized.” But isn’t it marvelous that there is so much around us, everywhere we look. Even in the worst conditions, there is still something around us. I stand in awe at my Creator.

In Deuteronomy 8:18 we remember the Lord our God for it is He Who gives us the power to get wealth that He may establish His covenant which He swore to our fathers. What a statement! It is God Who gives us the power to get wealth. That wealth is not to be consumed on our own lusts but to establish His covenant on the earth. Yes, God wants us to have excellent things, but He doesn’t want those things to consume us or become our priority. Our priority must always be God and His Kingdom. Still, He uses wealth to bring people to His fullness in the earth.

And look at Psalm 105:1-8. We give thanks to the Lord and call upon His name and make known His deeds. We sing praises to Him. We are to meditate and talk of His marvelous deeds. We are to rejoice and glory in Him. We are to seek Him and His strength; we are to seek His face, His presence forever. We are to remember His marvelous works and wonders. You see, He remembers His covenant and His Word to a thousand generations.

Then we are admonished in Isaiah 43:19 and 46:9 not to remember the former things nor consider the things of old. Why? He is doing a new thing.

We are to focus on God and the new things that He is doing in our lives, even in the midst of the old “rotten here and now” things that may be happening in our lives. Are you at a place of dismay and disappointment, wondering when it is going to turn around for you? Focus on God and His Word and the new things that He has planned for you. Are you thinking that healing will never manifest in your body? Focus on the new things of health that God is producing in your body. Are you wondering how you are going to pay those bills? And do you wonder if you will still have your job? Focus on God and His provision. He tells us that He watches over us and cares for us. He takes care of the birds of the air and the lilies of the field. How much more He cares for us!

It is all in our focus. Satan has one goal in mind: He wants us to focus on what is happening to us that is bad. If he succeeds, he has us down. At that point we are not thinking on God and His new things that He is doing for us. What we all have to realize is that God’s workings are sometimes invisible to us in the natural world as they are working. We must trust Him that He is working all together in a beautiful way for the wonderful plan He has for our lives. Remember that it is God Who is accomplishing His plan for our lives. We must focus on that fact always, even when it looks like we are “going down for the last time.” God always has good for us. We must remember that forever.