Memories…

When mom was in the initial stage of memory loss, she accepted it. This made it easy to talk about. I told her that I didn’t think much about the past, so if I lost my short-term memory, my mind would be a total blank. She laughed with me.

Today’s devotional is a reminder that memories of the past can be valuable. If I remember what God has done, discouragement takes a hike. Remembering that God is God is also strength during hard times. Thoughts of past failures can affect humility and remembering what He has taught me should keep me from making the same mistakes. 

I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old. I will ponder all your work, and meditate on your mighty deeds. (Psalm 77:11–12)

While I do not like to remember struggles, this also has purpose with current difficulties because I remember how God brought me through:

But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. (Hebrews 10:32–33)

Other memories are not personal, but come from historical records and remind me that the news of today is not so different from former tragedies and remind me also that the Lord who brought His people through difficulties in the past can do it again.

For instance, in 1893 the Philadelphia and Reading Railroads filed for bankruptcy, great financial trusts began to collapse, and 500 banks failed. The next year 142 more banks failed, one-quarter of all heavy industry was idle, in one seventeen-day period in January there was an eleven-million-dollar run on the gold of the federal treasury. Not only that, a forest fire near Hinkley, Minnesota, destroyed 160,000 acres and killed 400 people.

Other events, like two world wars plus a host of weather-related tragedies, accidents, crashes, and crime can shake faith, yet God's promises still hold and are still a comfort in the times of storms. He says:

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. The wild beasts will honor me, the jackals and the ostriches, for I give water in the wilderness, rivers in the desert, to give drink to my chosen people, the people whom I formed for myself that they might declare my praise. (Isaiah 43:18–21)

Some call the Christian’s future hope “pie-in-the-sky” yet without it, how do we keep going? Those who know Jesus are usually not among those who fall into deep despair and jump out windows or take too many pills to escape their unbearable situation.

PRAY: While it is good to remember Your power and goodness, I also like the advice to not remember former things, but dwell on the glory that is to come. Bad memories can sometimes make me feel like quitting. Future hope never does that, even when my future hope is based on Your past promises and faithfulness. Thank You for the memories and the ability to sort them out and put them where they best belong.