We are reading through the Chronological Bible this year. We are several days behind, but we keep plugging along. We have reached the part about Moses and I was struck afresh by his story. The Hebrews multiplying in Egypt, babies ordered to be killed, brave midwives who feared the LORD more than man, Moses floating down the Nile as an infant, Moses’ adoption (and his biological mom being able to nurse him), Moses and the burning bush, God’s specific instructions to Moses and His miraculous signs displayed to help and strengthen Moses.
Exodus 4:5 “This,” said the Lord, {this staff…this miraculous sign} “is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you.”
Soon we will come to The Exodus (where God delivers His people from Pharaoh) and there are many verses in the Bible where God tells His people to remember (to bring to mind, to recall, to recount) when He brought them out of Egypt….
He led and provided in the wilderness– He redeemed, He delivered, He heard and saw and answered them; answered them with His mighty works and outstretched hand; in His timing and way I might add.
This idea of remembering is intriguing. You would think these people, God’s people, would never forget this amazing thing. How could they forget this incredible display of God’s power? Well, they did it seems (I don’t think they kept it in the forefront of their minds because, if they did, their behavior would have been different).
How many times do we not remember (continually) what God has done on our behalf? It seems crazy, but we quickly forget the “the praiseworthy deeds of the Lord, His power, and the wonders He has done” (Psalm 78:4).
the wonders he had shown them.
12 He did miracles in the sight of their ancestors
in the land of Egypt, in the region of Zoan.
13 He divided the sea and led them through;
he made the water stand up like a wall.
14 He guided them with the cloud by day
and with light from the fire all night.
15 He split the rocks in the wilderness
and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
16 he brought streams out of a rocky crag
and made water flow down like rivers.
rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
See how important it is to not forget what He has done?
I want to remember what He has done- because then my faith is strengthened and I hopefully don’t have to keep learning the same lesson over and over again.
I want to remember all the ways that He has been faithful (time and time again).
How He has provided miracles in impossible situations.
How He has led, guided, split rocks…for His glory, purposes, and for our good.
This is going to sound a bit trivial, but, today I got my hair colored. I went back to my roots (pun intended) and my original color- and I love it! Thank you to a sweet secret sister who blessed me with a gift card to our local salon; what a sweet gift. Anyway, going back to this color, reminded me of who I am- a dark brunette. I had forgotten how much I liked it.
Has that ever happened to you? You forget something that you like? And then when you encounter it again, you wonder, “How in the world did I forgot about that?”
First of all, I know there are different seasons in our lives and sometimes we are asked to let things go for a time or we need to let it go for the sake of what is before us. However, there was a time in my life when I forgot how much I liked to sing. I just didn’t do it much, but when the “season of singing” returned I felt like I got a very important part of my heart back (that had been missing in action). I was smiling more, I felt more joyful- I remembered who I was and how God had wired me.
I know this is a small example compared to remembering The Exodus; but it hit home. I need to remember who I am and the things that God has set before me to do, to be. I can be way too serious sometimes (okay a lot of the time), and yesterday, as Hubby, the kids and I were flying down the tubing hill getting buried in piles of white dusty snow…I remembered.
I remembered that I like adventure. I like to play. I like to take risks and be a bit dangerous and experience the thrill of the run. When I was a toddler I went on “The Flume” ride at Busch Gardens with my Poppy, and I loved it. I wasn’t held back by “what will others think?” or “what if this thing breaks?” or “what if we get hurt”? I just enjoyed the “unknown, scary, fun thing” with my whole self.
Deep Breaths:
So today, will you join me in remembering who we really are and who He really is?
Deuteronomy 7:17-18 “If you should say in your heart, ‘These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the Lord your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the Lord your God brought you out. So shall the Lord your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.”
