Dear People Who Keep Company With God,
From the very beginning, remembering has been an important part of God’s interaction with us. In the garden after man ate from the wrong tree, God questioned them, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.” (Gen. 3:13) Young’s Literal Translation of Eve’s response says, “He caused me to forget and I do eat.” That reveals one of Satan’s most clever schemes.
The enemy, whether it is through our heartbreaking circumstances, erroneous beliefs or lies slowly and insidiously works on our minds in order to deceive us. He aims to get us to forget the goodness and love of God, His promises and workings in our lives.
In my life, there have been times that I would hear about what God was doing with others and instead of rejoicing I would feel insecure and resentful. Unconsciously, I believed the lie that God was doing nothing in my life. Sure, God may not be doing the same thing, but that has to do with calling and assignment, not the lack of God activity. I started wondering if something was wrong with me. It was like I suddenly came down with amnesia. I forgot what God had done and His promises for my life. I only remembered the bad stuff, what God didn’t do and I spiraled down spiritually.
There are times to remember disappointing and hurtful things, but only for the purpose of healing, learning and gaining new hope. Jeremiah explained it like this, “Remember my affliction and roaming, the wormwood and the gall. 20 My soul still remembers and sinks within me. 21 This I recall to my mind, therefore, I have hope.” (Lam. 3:19-21)
Jeremiah overcame the suffering and loss of his past by placing his hope in the unwavering love, mercy and faithfulness of God (Lam. 3:22-24). If we do this, our past, will become the ground in which grows beautiful things that were planted in the experience of those days gone by.
Joseph, in the Old Testament, is such an inspiring example of a man, who placed His hope in the compassionate and faithful heart of God. He had been betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery, falsely accused of sexual misconduct, thrown in prison and left there to rot. But he didn’t rot. God delivered him and made him a great man.
Joseph had two sons. The first, he named Manasseh, which means forget. The second, he named Ephraim, which means fruitful. (Gen. 41:50-52) Like Joseph, God wants us to let go of the sorrow of our past and be prospered in this new day we are in.
We are called to remember the loving heart of God. Everything beautiful from our past, we are to keep and carry forward with us, but if, in our mind, we linger in the past it will become our prison. We are to focus on what He has or is doing because we are called to live from “glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18) not from “suffering to suffering.” We must be careful to not allow our past brokenness and failures to define who we are and how we think today.
I hope you are hearing the heavenly call to cross over into a new season of hope. Like the Apostle Paul, let us, “Forget those things which are behind and reach forward to those things which are ahead.” There is a reward of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus waiting for us. (Phil. 3:13-14)
Many Blessings, BW