Thought for the Week-Remind Me

Good Morning Girlfriends!

Have you ever forgotten something important?  Let me clarify.  maybe you haven't really forgotten, you've just become desensitized to the scope of the thing.  Several months ago I flew out to San Diego to visit my sisters.  I stopped by my parents apartment to check out their new place, and while I was there I felt (not merely heard) the unmistakeable roar of a 747 flying so low I thought I could've tickled the belly of that plane if I'd been on the roof.  I grabbed the kitchen counter and braced myself, knowing for certain that plane was going to land smack dab on me!  My sisters, on the other hand, didn't even flinch.  Why?  They were used to it.  My parents live about two blocks from the San Diego airport.  They forget how loud those planes flying overhead actually are. 

Now, I told you that story to tell you this one.  This past weekend our nation remembered the tenth anniversary of 9/11.  Memorials went up.  Speeches were made.  Images of the events that played live on national television ten years ago were replayed over and over again.  Words across countless TV screens and church bulletins read, "We Will Not Forget".  Over the last ten years, our lives have moved forward.  But for one day each year, we stand united together, linked by tragedy, disbelief, grief, anger, fear and pride in our country and pride for those who died that day...stating "We Remember."

What about God?  Amid the most dastardly deeds and tragic events, we ask did God forget about us?  The answer, Sweet One, is No.  He has not forgotten...He will not forget...ever.  I was curious about the word "remember" and how many times it was used in the Bible.  God knows that we get side-tracked.  He knows we are the ones that need reminding.  During some of the darkest times in human history, when it seemed that God had forgotten His people, He was merely setting the stage for something that would render Shock and Awe throughout the ages.  I looked in a couple of different sources, and short of turning my Bible page by page, I have found that the word remember, or some derivative, is mentioned more than 165 times in the NIV.  Many of those times referring to when God Himself delivered His people from the hands of the Egyptians by way of the Red Sea.  We read in Exodus 14:21-22, "...all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land.  The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left."(emphasis added)  Let me ask you, if you walked through a parted ocean, would that be something you could forget?  You wouldn't think so.  But once the Israelites gained some distance (a few hard knocks, perhaps) they became a bit desensitized to God's mighty works.  They forgot the atrocities they were subjected to as slaves in Egypt.  God reminded them, through Moses.

God reminds us through His Word.  Everyday we are faced with a new trial.  A new problem that requires our attention.  While we have to focus on our daily lives, we tend to forget God's Shock and Awe power play that He has planned for us.  We live in a fallen world---there is no escaping that.  Ugliness will infiltrate our world.  It will cause things to crash down around our ears.  But I promise you that when things are at their absolute darkest, that's when God's Light shines the brightest.  Open His Word, let Him remind you how much He loves you.  Turn to John 3:16 for a good place to start.  The Cross stands tall, when everything else falls down.  We remember.  Have a blessed week.