Dear Church Family,
The wonderful Call to Worship in 1 Chronicles 16 concludes with “Remember the wonders He has done, His miracles, and the judgments He pronounced.” Why do we need to be told to remember? Simple reason: Because we tend to forget. I hope you were sitting down as you read that deep and insightful thought. The psalmist David had no concept of a ‘senior moment’ as he penned these inspired words. One commentator sees a direct link between apostasy and the failure to remember.
Moses knew people were prone to forget the things that God had done in bringing Israel out of slavery in Egypt and bringing them to the Promised Land. The heading of Deuteronomy 8 in the NIV reads, “Do Not Forget the Lord.” The remedy to forgetfulness says David lies in forcing one’s self to remember three key actions of God.
Let’s look at each of these things that Israel must remember. The first mentioned calls us to recall the “wonders He has done.” Imaging sitting down with King David and listening to him tell how He had seen God work in his life with the many military victories and how he killed Goliath with his sling and Goliath’s own sword. While none of us has killed Goliath, God has done wonderful things in your life. If you have a hard time remembering any, just reflect on the fact that if you trust in Jesus as your Savior and Lord, then at one point in your life you were dead in your sin, but now are eternally alive!
Second, we must reflect on the miracles of God. By definition a miracle is an action or event that defies scientific explanation and is considered supernatural. God has been doing miracles throughout history. Jesus validated his divinity by performing numerous miracles. Modern science tries to explain how nature operates and goes out of its way to deny the hand of God in anything. I contend that even the “super moon” we saw this week is a miracle that only God can explain. After all, why is there even a moon in our atmosphere? It is needed to sustain life on earth and science cannot explain how the Big Bang and evolution made it happen.
Third, God is the Supreme Judge. He repeatedly judged His people and the nations for their rebellion. Here are just a few examples that happened before David wrote this: Noah and the universal flood, Tower of Babel, Sodom and Gomorrah, Pharaoh and the ten plagues, and Israel wandering for forty years in the wilderness. Contemplating these righteous judgments reminds us that God is holy and that every person will one day be judged by Him. Jesus gave us the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper so we would remember His sacrificial act of love that spares us from the certain wrath of God.
God has given us the discipline of history so we can marvel at who He is and what He had done to redeem a chosen people for Himself. True worship calls us to remember His Story.
Pastor Gillikin