Remember what I told you . . . (John 15:20)

Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead . . . (2 Tim. 2:8)

What riches await us when we take up the Scriptural reminders to remember Jesus Christ, and all He has taught and told us! What treasures we have stored away within our hearts – lessons learnt, truths absorbed and experiences lived – all stored away in our subconscious, which is the repository not only of every experience we have ever have had, but also of every emotion and reaction that accompanied them. At any time the Holy Spirit can ‘activate’ and draw on these to remind us of something that is important for Him and us, as well as of the actual words and promises that He has given us. (See Jn.14:26)

Jeremiah knew how precious – and just how necessary – it is to draw treasures out of the storehouse of our memory. In the face of all that the enemy had thrown at him and at his beloved land, when Jerusalem had been laid waste, and people were at their wit’s end, he yet found that remembering gave him the strength to lay afresh an intentional foundation that was able to rekindle a sense of hope in his own heart and in those of the people around him.

This I call to mind, (he affirmed and reassured himself)
and therefore I have hope:
The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
His mercies never come to an end;
they are new every morning;
great is Your faithfulness.

‘The Lord is my portion,’ says my soul,
‘Therefore I will hope in Him.
The Lord is good to those who wait for Him.’
(Lam. 3: 21-25)

We must have sung these words a hundred times in church – and every time we do so, it as if we are joining the great legions of those who have laid hold of God’s faithfulness in every time and clime, entrusting themselves to His ever-watchful care and compassion. This is an act of worship, as well as a spiritual investment in the future.

Remembering builds relationship

Look at the pronouns in these verses from Lamentations. The prophet starts by calling to mind (that is, remembering) the deep truth that the steadfast love of the Lord (third person) never ceases. But rather than keeping God at arm’s length, as it were, he turns to face the Lord and talks not about Him, but to Him: ‘Great is Your faithfulness.’

This is a beautiful picture of what remembering does – it (re)builds relationship and community. As we remember, it is as if we are turning once again to relationship. We remind ourselves of truths we have long known and loved, as we turn ourselves to face the Lord of those truths. Perhaps this ‘turning’ is one of the reasons why dementia is so devastating: as loved ones lose their capacity to call to mind shared history and life, so they lose the ground of relationship and identity. It is so comforting to know that the Lord does not forget our shared history, and will not forget our work and the love we have shown him as we have served and helped His people. (Heb. 6:10)

At the heart of Marcel Proust’s monumental work A la Recherche du Temps Perdu (The Remembrance of Times Past) lies his discovery of what he termed ‘les associations.’ He observed how particular smells, sights, or touches trigger associations with some long-gone experience. In his case, this led him inexorably backwards into the perceived security of childhood, when his sensory perceptions were at their strongerst, and life felt more like an adventure to experience rather than an obstacle course to negotiate!

This is not the way of the Holy Spirit though. As the author of our senses, He certainly finds ways to make use of sights, smells, and many other ‘associations’ to remind us of those things He wants us to remember, but this is not for the sake of nostalgia! Instead, they lead to inspired understanding, and offer us keys to unlock present-day challenges, often by recalling to mind people in need of prayer, or who we would do well to contact. The Holy Spirit’s reminders are thus a foward-looking investment, rather than Proust’s backward-facing reaction.

The value of taking time to reflect and remember is that it enables us the Lord to direct our spirits towards issues that are on His heart, and to discern links and patterns and to respond accordingly. As Richard Foster wrote in his excellent book Freedom of Simplicity, ‘The real prophets of our day are those who can perceive what is happening in modern society, see where it will lead us, and give a value judgement upon it . . . We should not just absorb facts, but think about their significance.’

The Holy Spirit, of course, is not the only one who desires to bring things to our remembrance. The enemy has a very long memory, and he loves to dredge up unhelpful recollections and dreary thoughts in an effort to overwhelm us. Perhaps this is why the writer of Proverbs prompts us to guard our hearts with vigilance –  the springs of life really do flow from it, and it is right to tend to the sluice gates! (Pr. 4:23) All the more reason, then, to make every effort to hide the word of the Lord in our hearts (Ps, 119:11) as Jeremiah did. His mindset could easily have been so cram-full of the cruel sufferings he had been through that he had no mental space left to remember the steadfast love of the Lord, let alone any active concern for others. Such was the depth of grace in his heart however, and so great his fund of experience and personal encounters with God, that he was able to intentionally build an platform of expectancy in his heart from which he was able to view every new morning with hope. I am quite sure that your heart is well-stocked and funded too!

God has memories too

Our memories are very personal and often don’t involve anyone else at all, so it is worth reminding ourselves that the reason we remember at all is because we are made in the image of God, and He remembers. The Scriptures are chock-a-block full of His memories. He remembers Noah and his family in the ark (Gen. 8:1), (how could He forget them?) and He remembers Rachel and Hannah in their great longing for children. He remembers His covenant with Abraham (Ex. 2:24) through the millennia, and remembers ‘the word He ordained for a thousand generations’ (Ps. 105:8) – that’s quite some feat of memory!

But the Lord’s memories are not all fragrant with honey and scented with roses. He remembers grievous things too. I once asked Him, not entirely flippantly, how He can bear to see all the distress in the world and not have a nervous breakdown! His answer was to the effect that whereas despair is an entirely human and godless response, true mourning and sorrow have their origins in Him. He is a Man of Sorrows as well as the Prince of Peace and the lover of our souls. He remembers with longing the delight He had in Ephraim as a child, and grieves that He often has to speak ‘against him.’ (Jer. 31:20) He remembers the iniquities of Babylon, for her ‘sins are piled up to Heaven.’ (Rev. 18:5) He remembers with yearning the intimacy of His times with Israel and grieves the loss of that intimacy. (See Jeremiah chapters 2 and 3)

Like a parent longing for a wayward child, God pleads with people to turn to Him so that He can ‘have mercy on them, and freely pardon them.’ He mourns over each soul who backslides, and longs that all will know and love Him with all their heart, soul and mind. (Matt.22:37) He yearns for those who stray from Him, and reaches out to them. He does not forget them. Isn’t this why Jesus came? ‘God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.’ (Isa. 55:7, Jer. 3:22, Hos. 14:4, Luke 15:11-32; Jn. 3:16)

With God, to remember is to act

Because, you see, when God remembers – He acts! The Hebrew word for remembering is zakar, and it signifies far more than passively calling something to mind. It is a very active verb, whereby memories get translated into action. Remembering Noah in the ark, He sends a wind that causes the waters to subside. Remembering His covenant with Abraham, He dramatically and supernaturally delivers Israel from Egypt. Remembering Rachel and Hannah, He gives them sons who will play significant roles in fulfilling His plans for Israel. When He remembers Ephraim, His compassion is stirred: ‘How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? . . . My heart is torn and I have had a change of heart, all My compassion is aroused.’ (Hos. 11:14)

And Babylon? When the Lord remembers Babylon, He announces His judgement of destruction upon her. (Rev. 18:8) God is holy and righteous, and when He turns His remembering into action with regard to her, that action, necessarily holy and righteous, will spell disaster and judgement upon her. ‘The LORD God is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness. He maintains His loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.’ (Ex. 34:6-7)

Thank God for the saving work of Jesus. When we remember some of the things that we have said and done, and how much we have hurt others, it is amazing that He has so longed for us that He has ever sought ways to deliver us from the scrapes and impasses we have find ourselves in. He is prepared to go to the amazing lengths to remember, renew and reiterate His relationship with us. Most astonishing of all, for the sake of His relationship with humanity, the God who is able to remember a promise for a thousand generations, and even for eternity, also chooses to forget for just the same reason. Incredibly, He says:

“I, I am He who blots out your transgressions for My own sake – and I will not remember your sins.” (Is. 43:25)

He does not forget our sin as the result of a power cut affecting His memory banks, but because He chooses to. In remembrance of what Christ did on the cross to remove its eternal consequences from us. Where would we be if He did not choose to forget and forgive? Praise God that He keeps the doorway to repentance open until the very last minute – and that with Him there is forgiveness.’ Thank You, thank You, Lord.

Don’t forget

To help His people not to forget His benefits and blessings, the Lord commanded them to observe many acts of remembrance. Even places were set apart for such very active remembering. At Gilgal, where John the Baptist would one day preach and prepare people for the coming of the Messiah and the Kingdom of God, Joshua set up the Jordan River Victory Memorial Centre.

Joshua set up at Gilgal the twelve stones they had taken out of the Jordan. He said to the Israelites, ‘In the future when your descendants ask their parents, “What do these stones mean?” Tell them, “Israel crossed the Jordan on dry ground.” For the LORD your God dried up the Jordan before you until you had crossed over. The LORD your God did to the Jordan what he had done to the Red Sea when he dried it up before us until we had crossed over.

He did this so that all the peoples of the earth might know that the hand of the LORD is powerful and so that you might always fear the LORD your God.’
(Josh. 4:20-24)

The stones commemorated the miracles of God, and were a permanent reminder to the people who were about to take the land – as well as all the generations to come – that He is God the deliverer and He is mighty and to be revered. For us too, every time He rescues us, every time He delivers us from some trouble or predicament, it is as if He has given us another reminder of His love toward us, and one more memorial stone. How much richer and authentic is this than those standing stones whose origins and purposes are lost in the mists of antiquity, but which fascinate so many!

Remember the Lord and know Him

A millennium and more after Gilgal, Jesus inaugurated the most precious act of commemoration of all, inviting His followers to call to mind an even greater deliverance, and an even more astonishing re-membering of community:

He took the bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is My body, given for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” (Lk. 22:19)

We can barely imagine the blessings that have been imparted upon millions upon millions as they have participated in this interior feast. How can we ever thank Him sufficiently? Calling to mind His faithfulness in such ways is like letting down a firm and secure anchor of hope for the soul, and laying hold of His promise to sanctify us completely. (See Heb. 6:19) Even more, it is a way in which to worship Him, and honour His chosen revelation of Himself as the faithful One who keeps His Word.

Our Heavenly Father wants us to be secure in knowing and believing that He is who He says He is. Just as a child might remind a parent of a promised treat, so is He delighted by our pleas for Him to remember us – even when they stem as much from a sense of urgent need as by love.

Nehemiah was so confident of God’s character that, even though he had to confess and remind the Lord of Israel’s profound unfaithfulness, He could still plead with Him to remember His promise to gather the nation back together. (Neh. 1:8-9) And God was pleased to answer his prayer. What a need there is to do the same today!

Jesus’ disciples, on the other hand, were rather slow to understand the significance of the things they saw and even the miracles they participated in. Immediately after the feeding of the four thousand, they forgot to take enough bread for a trip across the lake.

“Why are you talking about having no bread?” asked Jesus. “Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? Don’t you remember? When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?”
“Twelve,” they answered.
“And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of broken pieces did you collect?”
“Seven,” they said.
Then He asked them, “Do you still not understand?”
(Mark 8:17-21)

One can almost hear Jesus’ frustration and the disciples’ bewildered response in Mark’s telling of the story! He expected His friends not only to remember what He (and they) had done, but also to understand it. Being with Him, calling to mind the things He has done is deeply, emphatically about learning to know Him, and remembering what He has done is an act of our ongoing relationship and friendship.

‘Remember what we did together.’
‘Remember the conversation we had.’
‘Remember our relationship and our history together.’
‘Remember how I love you and have provided for you.’
‘Remember who I AM.’

Yes, Lord, empower us to remember the things You want us to fix our hearts and minds upon, and to resist the dreary perspectives that the enemy would dredge up and try to use against us. You love to forgive and to forget so that we can stride forward again in the light of life. (John 8:12) Thank You that good remembering refreshes our hearts with truths that we are already familiar with, and reprocesses the experiences we have had of your goodness, almost as if they were gold bullion that helps us to invest forward in faith, hope and love.

What or who would you remember now before the Lord? Since it can be helpful to intentionally make a space in which to remember, and many of us make ‘memorial stones’ out of particular pieces of music, here is a lovely rendition of a traditional tune – itself a remembrance handed down from generation to generation – to help us do that. It has long since been known as The Last Rose of Summer.

Do you have or hold simple memorials to help you remember special events? Might you find it helpful if you did? See for example this brief section in The Vale of Tears: ‘Ceremonies that facilitate grief.’ 

Is there a community you would like to ‘re-member’ with Him? Your family or church or town or even nation?

Are there any forward investments you might wish to make on the basis of your remembrances?

Let us remember above all, as both Anne Laure Jackson and the Psalmist remind us to do, to hide the word of the Lord in our hearts, for it will cause us to rise up in strength and determination to ask Him to remember us and all the situations that we bring to Him. (Ps. 119:11) This is a really powerful and beautiful song by Anne Laure.

Ruach Breath of Life · Hide Your Word in my heart

It is a joy to introduce you afresh to this lady who has such a heart that all our senses, our whole being, should be alive to Him, as she shares with many through both her spiritual and professional ministry as a sensory processing and integration specialist.

https://www.annelaurejackson.com/
https://www.sensoryhealthservices.com/

Further listening:

Linda Louisa reminds us that with God, there is forgiveness in this precious rendering of Psalm 130.

Since it is always good to call to mind examples of the Lord’s deliverances, you might appreciate this reflection from a crucial moment in David’s life, which we set to powerful music by Brahms.