It Starts Small

As Christians, we draw from the well of our memories and history to find a refreshment in our mind and heart, God’s track record of faithfulness. Throughout God’s Word, God’s people remember God’s works, promises, and character. It is not merely a swapping of stories and remembering the good ole days. We must remember because when we look back we find grounds to trust in God.

Read: Psalm 105

Psalms 105 opens with David encouraging the Israelites to remember God’s works and show gratitude to Him for those works. Something I realized in reading this Psalm is to always be grateful for the work He has done. Are we grateful for His past work in the now? When the Psalm progresses it remembers God’s mighty deeds in Israel on their behalf. David goes from Abraham to the wilderness to Moses and the great Exodus. He reaches back in Israel’s history to remind them who God is for the sake of reminding them who He will be forever.

Many of the faith-fueling lessons we experience are forged in hardship. We remember God’s presence when we are alone and we give Him thanks. When we had nothing left to give, God generously gave strength, and we give thanks. Our gratitude grows deeper and stronger when we bring to our mind those times God delivered us in our own self-made doom, and we give Him thanks.

Every believer’s story include countless crossroads where they wondered how they could get beyond. Yes, as we look in hindsight, God was there. He proved Himself faithful and strong for us. The gift of remembrance helps us and it serves our communities. Starting at a personal level, one thing we can do is store up memories of God’s works. Write them down. Log them in your memory. This provides reasons to give thanks for what God has done and reasons to trust what he will do. Faith in God increases when we pile up the memories of His faithfulness.

This also helps to shape how we view and encourage those around us. All of us can pass on a living faith by sharing stories of God’s goodness, might, and kindness in our own lives. We can teach the Word of God, but the most impact it can make is to share the experience of God, where God proved His Word in our stories.

Today, reflect and ponder:

When and Where did God prove faithful?

What Trials did you walk through?

How did God sustain, comfort, and use you for good?

How can you share thanksgiving by stirring up thanksgiving in recalling what God has done?

What memories of God’s mercy and kindness will you pass on?

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