Remember and Walk in Trust

I’m sitting in the passenger seat of the car as my sister glides down the exit ramp toward the stoplight.  As we roll to a stop she says, “Do you see that old building, there on the corner?  That is where grandfather went to elementary school.”

I’ve driven past this building many times on my way home since moving to Northside.  I had noticed the building, wondered about it even; but I had no idea that it had a story in any way connected to me.  “Really?” I ask with a bit of doubt, “How do you know?”

“Oh.  Mom would tell me every time we drove by it on our way back from Indianapolis,” she replies informatively.  “She said it so many times that I started to ask her if she knew her father went to school there before she could get the information out.  And then we would both laugh.”

I take it all in.  

The history is interesting; I tuck it away for later. 

The repetition of the story by my mother is very much like her.  It is also very much like me. 

I picture telling my husband again and again about the many landmarks that have meant something to me.  I think of the many times I pull out the photo books or the journals, flipping through them to remember what has happened, memory after memory.  I think of how I’ve told certain stories over and over again, as though they never get old.  And for a long time I have just counted this habit of mine a bit odd. 

I like to remember. 

In this moment, as I think about these things, I’m connecting some dots.  I begin to think that perhaps this is actually a wonderful habit if I can just pause to remember the right things.

A few months ago at a worship service one of our pastors talked about how in this tech-savvy age we don’t really have to remember.  He said we have apps for that.   We have calendars that have programmed reminders for the important events in our lives—birthdays, anniversaries, special occasions, along with the normal every day schedule of events. We have Facebook to post our thoughts and Instagram to upload our memories by way of a jpeg file. 

They remember for us.

Of course we call to mind more than just a word or a picture when we take time to really consider our stored data.  We may have affirming words to share with someone on their birthday.  We may remember a story when we see a particular photo.  However, remembering requires us to pause and reflect. 

Do we want to remember?

I think back to my class on Judaism in college.  My professor was a rabbi at a local reform congregation.  When we talked about the Sabbath he referred to the way the Tanak talked about it.  The writers of the Bible used four words to describe how Israel was to celebrate the Sabbath.  I learned that the first word—zachor—means “to remember.” 

God tells Moses that the Israelites are to set apart this day and remember. 

“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy.  Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns.  For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.” Exodus 20:8-11 TNIV

Remembering is something that God wants us to do.

He tells us again and again.  Remember.  The Sabbath.  The Passover.  The festivals that He wrote right into the Mosaic Law.  The Lord’s Supper.

Each time we are called to remember, we remember something specific. 

We remember what the Lord has done.

He creates.

He rescues.

He provides.

He loves by giving up His own life.

This is part of the rhythm he invites us to embrace.

For by remembering what He has done we are reminded that we are to walk trusting He will be faithful in all that lies ahead.

If he has been faithful in the past, he will be faithful in our present.  He will be faithful in our future.  So walk in trust.

If the way is uncertain—walk in trust.

If the way is hard—walk in trust.

If the way is beautiful—walk in trust.

He has been faithful.  He will be faithful.  Walk in Trust.

Remember.

So what is it that he has done in your life?  Take some time to remember.

This weekend...

Remember the Sabbath.

Pause.  Consider the ways in which God has been at work around you. 

Look.  Pull out your journal, your calendar, a scrapbook, or wherever you store your memories. 

Remember how God acted in the midst of that time period. 

Give Him thanks. 

Participate in this act which reminds us to rely upon Him that we might begin the new week and our work in it more fully trusting in His goodness.

Let's remember and walk in trust.

 ***

Grace and peace be ours in abundance as we pause to remember the ways that God has worked in our lives.  May these memories lead to greater trust that he walks with us in the midst of whatever the present holds and no matter what the future may contain.  May this trust lead to abide in his presence and respond in obedience.

Jessica :)