Most married couples either videotape their wedding ceremony or hire a photographer to chronicle the happy day’s events. Some do both!
Why?
Well, most couples find themselves caught up in the whirl of emotions and thoughts and find that they have a difficult time remembering the details of the day. Things move so fast; the whole day seems like a blur! Having a video or a photo album allows them to go back and reconstruct the events. It helps them remember. They may not go back and review things every day, but on special occasions it’s nice to be able to recall what it was like to be so young and idealistic and in love.
Love fades sometimes — well, the emotional part of it. Marriage is not for the fainthearted. We wear rings as symbols and have pictures to remind us of the commitment we made in front of God and everyone else. We celebrate our anniversaries annually because we must remember our vows to love and honour and cherish “until death do us part.”
It’s been said that no woman ever forgets that she’s married. But a husband or a wife can sometimes fail to act like he or she is married, so having built-in reminders is a good thing. And it’s a similar story for people and their relationships with God. It was certainly the case for the Israelites in the Old Testament. It was impossible for them to forget that God had delivered them out of Egyptian bondage and into a land flowing with milk and honey. But they often failed to act like it.
God desperately wanted His people to remember where they’d come from and how He’d delivered them, so He built in some reminders. Every year, they observed the Passover. Periodically, they offered sacrifices. There were special meals, days of fasting and days of feasting. Much of their lives was oriented around activities designed to prompt their memories. God knew that if they failed to live with the memory of deliverance fresh in their minds, they would repeat the destructive patterns of an enslaved people again and again, leading them back into more extreme forms of bondage.
Today, take some time to remember what God has done for you. Specifically, remember the deliverance He has offered you, at no expense to you whatsoever. Remember how He brought you out of your own personal form of slavery — slavery to sin and selfishness and destructive patterns of behaviour. Remember how He delivered you from loneliness and alienation, how He brought you into a land of purpose and meaning and relationships, taking you off the path of certain destruction and transplanting you onto a path headed for an eternal home. Remember how He took your sorrow and gave you joy in return, took your anxiety and gave you peace, took your fear and gave you confidence.
Christianity expects certain things of its adherents. Christians are expected to give and serve, love and forgive others and offer thanks to God on a regular basis. It could be that those things would flow more easily from our hearts if we would regularly take time to simply remember.
Prayer
Father, You have never left me alone. Even when I feel that You are distant and removed, I know that I am still in Christ, seated with Him at Your right hand. You have allowed seasons of fullness and of dryness, times of abundance and of profound need. I know that You are more interested in my character than in my comfort, and that You use everything to forge godly character in my life. You have called me to fidelity to the process rather than to live only for a product. Give me the grace of holy remembrance, so that I will frequently review all that You have done for me during my journey with You. May I call to mind Your faithful acts, Your provision, Your patience and Your great acts of deliverance. Apart from You, I have nothing and am nothing.
In Jesus’s name, Amen
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