Remember When

Dear One,

Remember when?

Remember when:

  • You left your house?
  • You hugged your friends?
  • You wore pants to work ;)?

Remember when we used to gather in person, and zoom was just the word that followed Nike on the shoes that fast people wore?

We’re not alone.
Psalm 42 records King David remembering: 
“With a broken heart, I remember times before,” David says, “those were better days.”

I hear you, David!!

Like David, I want to return to what I remember. I choose those days over these. What felt whole over what feels broken.

In my remembering, I ask the same questions as David (v.5,11):

  • Why am I so overwrought?
  • Why am I so disturbed?
  • Why can’t I just hope in God?

I wish he had answers for me – and for you, too, if you need them. Reasons for why we “can’t just hope,” or perhaps 10-steps to being able to “just hope,” once more.  I find none. Sorry. Nada. Zero. However, I do find a pattern. A yellow brick road of sorts that just may lead us home. 

The pattern goes like this:

  1. Remember when.
  2. Remember who.
  3. Remember you.

After playing a round or two of remember when David shifts to second gear, to remember who. He says to God, “I remember YOU.”

“My God, my soul is so traumatized; the only help is remembering You wherever I may be.” (v.6)

Dear traumatized soul, no answers. Sorry. But a little help: after remembering when, shift to remembering who.  

In The Message translation, David’s words read, “I rehearse everything I know of You.”

David reaches back, way back, not only into the memories of what was but to the God who still is

He remembers when, and he remembers who. The times have changed, but God has not. 

Then David, deep in remembering, questions God, “Why have You forgotten?” (v.9)

God, I remember You, why have You forgotten me?!?

God’s answer to David and the whole lot of us is solid and simple:
I have not.
I will not.
Ever.

When answering this question at another time in history, God identified with a nursing mother, and with a reassuring voice declared:
“Even if there is a mother who forgets her child, I could never, no never forget you.” (Isaiah 49:14-15)

Never, no never. 
I, God, remember. I remember you.
As you remember when and you remember who, I remember you!

Friend if you’re feeling overwrought, disturbed or unable to “just hope in God,” 

  • Remember when: pour out your heart, name your losses and longings.
  • Remember who: rehearse all you know to be true about God.
  • Remember you: be assured you are not forgotten. You are looked on and so very loved. Right here. Right now. Always. Forever.

Remember When: Our Little Life Words of the week.

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DEEPER DIVE
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Ponder:

  • Recall a time you couldn’t “just hope,” couldn’t muster it up on your own.
  • How does remembering (in all 3 directions) help foster hope?

Practice:

  • Find a way (a call, a card, a kind act) to let someone know they are remembered by you this week.

Play

  • Our song of the week is: Remember by Lauren Daigle (friend, if I may say so I think this one is a must-listen!!).

Pray:

  • Follow the example of one of God’s prophets and “Make a list of God’s gracious dealings, all the things God has done that need praising, all the generous bounties of God, His great goodness … compassion lavished, love extravagant.” (Isaiah 63:7-9)

Friend, as you look back and remember when may you also look up and remember who, all the while keenly aware that God remembers you.

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