God administers His perfect memory well for His glory and our blessing. I will for their sake remember the covenant with their forefathers, whom I brought out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the nations, that I might be their God: I am the LORD (Leviticus 26:45). Yahweh reminds Himself continuously that He is a covenant keeping God, meaning, in spite of Israel’s or our foolishness and sins, He will show Himself to be glorious. When the bow is in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and every living creature of all flesh that is on the earth (Genesis 9:16). Not only does God place the rainbow in the sky to remind mankind of His promise to every living creature, but as a reminder to Himself of the everlasting covenant He made and will never break.
As we are unlike God in so many ways, memory serves as a good evaluation tool of our faith, as it allows us to relive and catalogue the lessons of the past as well as those in the present. Moses instructed Israel to remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not (Deuteronomy 8:2). Don’t just recall the favourable past, and don’t unduly linger on the painful parts either, but give consideration to the whole way in which God has providentially led you over the years. In spite of our many unwise decisions and inconsistent patterns of behaviour, God has faithfully kept us within the boundaries of His will and purposes. Give thought to the many silent and invisible ways God’s grace has protected and preserved you, provided for you, directed you, and woven His will into your life.
Remembering the whole way that the LORD has led us should firstly imprint into our wayward hearts that He does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities (Psalm 103:10). In all circumstances of life within this wicked world, our LORD shows compassion to those who fear him (Psalm 103:13).
The apostle Paul, who suffered more earthly pain than any other New Testament believer, was sure that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ (Philippians 1:6). It is good for us to remember daily the certainty of eternal life in Christ and God’s commitment to walk us through our mortal lives into His presence. Wise memory management is an essential part of a healthy Christian life, as it keeps Jesus Christ central in our thoughts. A wisely administered memory is informed from Scripture of who to forgive and the offenses to forget. It tells us often the path worth walking based upon past lessons. It warns us of the dangers of doing things our way rather than God’s way. It instructs us where to go for wise and compassionate counsel in times of confusion. But most of all, it informs us to remember Jesus Christ, risen from the dead, the offspring of David, as preached in my (Paul’s) gospel (2 Timothy 2:8).
Today, may you remember Him who is able to keep you from stumbling and to present you blameless before the presence of his glory with great joy, to the only God, our Saviour, through Jesus Christ our Lord, be glory, majesty, dominion, and authority, before all time and now and forever. Amen (Jude 1:24-25).
