Thought for Today: “God’s Purpose For Remembering”

The word, “remember,” means to bring something back to mind, or to think again about it. But, in remembering we must remember (this might be a pun) not to live there, but to use it to spur us forward, either through learning a lesson or to garner strength for the future.

I love what the Lord says through the prophet Jeremiah about our need to remember.

“Therefore behold, the days are coming,” says the Lord, ‘that it shall no more be said, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ but, ‘The Lord lives who brought up the children of Israel from the land of the north and from all the lands where He had driven them.’ For I will bring them back into their land which I gave to their fathers.” (Jeremiah 16:14-15)

God wants us to remember what He had done so we can expect something greater, that is, His new deliverance.

Further, as far as living in the past, the Lord wants to make sure that we look forward to the new thing He wants to do.

“Do not remember the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I will do a new thing, now it shall spring forth; shall you not know it? I will even make a road in the wilderness and rivers in the desert.” (Isaiah 43:18-19)