Remember
August 21, 2019·Tiffany Wortley
Confession…
I’ve got the memory of a goldfish.
I’d like to say that’s an exaggeration… but, if you were to ask my family, they’d tell you that Dory and I have a few things in common.
The other day, I was watching the original Toy Story with my niece and nephew — a movie I have seen a thousand times — and I found myself on the edge of my seat once again. And, as I bit my nails, wondering how Buzz and Woody were ever going to make it out alive, I realized my family might be right. (A statement I’m sure they’ll love to hear.) I just don’t remember.
I think, perhaps, my brain is too busy dreaming up new ideas for tomorrow, that it can’t be bothered to think about what happened yesterday. And it certainly doesn’t want to waste time thinking about what happened last week. How boring.
I want to think about what’s next — what’s new — what’s coming up! I’m one of those people who LOVES change, and the past just seems so tedious, because it’s set. It can’t be changed. And who wants to spend time thinking about that?
But, as I was reading through the Psalms today, my attention snagged on this verse…
“Remember the wonders He has done…” (Psalm 105:5).
Remember.
And, as the psalmist recounts the many, many wonders God has done for His people, this word continued to echo in my mind, “remember… remember… remember…”
I don’t know what situations you’re facing right now, but, for me, this year has brought several knees-to-the-ground, face-to-the-carpet moments of crying out to God. And I know, for many of us, we can relate to the psalmist when he says, “I mingle my drink with tears” (Psalm 102:9)..
But, then he calls us to remember. To remember who God is. To remember what He has done.
And, as I remember, my perspective begins to shift.
As I remember, my fears begin to still.
As I remember, my hope begins to rise.
Because our God is a God of miracles… He made a covenant with a childless Abraham to give him more descendants than the stars. He brought a near-death Joseph out from a literal pit and raised him up to be seated beside a throne. He turned the world upside down with one miraculous sign after another, in order to free His people from slavery and sent food raining from the sky that His children might not go hungry.
And He has been faithful in my own life, time and again.
For me, remembering does not come naturally. My eyes look to the future, and my heart lies in what is ahead. But, as I turn my face to the road before me, I choose to remind my anxious heart of the wonders my Heavenly Father has already done. And it is there, in the remembering, that I find peace.
As we sang this past Sunday…
“I’ve seen You move, You move the mountains. And I believe, I’ll see You do it again.
You made a way, where there was no way. And I believe, I’ll see You do it again.”
(Elevation Worship)
Pastor Tiffany Wortley
