Tags

, , , , , , ,

I recently went on a wonderful trip with one of my sisters to celebrate a special birthday.  We spent a lot of time reminiscing and talking about memories from our childhood.  But the human mind is corrupt and fallible, so we often did not remember the same events, or recalled them differently.  It was even more interesting to talk about stories our parents had told us about their families.  The further we got away from the event, the more discrepancies there were in the stories.  Was our father’s father from Sweden or Norway?  How did our mother’s father loose part of his leg?  These are things we may never know for sure, since we all remember hearing different versions of the story.

But God is not like man.  He knows all things from beginning to end, and He is Truth, so He never gets details of stories wrong, or forgets something.  So why does the Bible say over and over that God remembers?

 But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided. Genesis 8:1

So it was that, when God destroyed the cities of the valley, God remembered Abraham and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow when he overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived. Genesis 19:21

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. Exodus 2:24

They rose early in the morning and worshiped before the Lord; then they went back to their house at Ramah. And Elkanah knew Hannah his wife, and the Lord remembered her. 1 Samuel 1:19

Yet he, being compassionate, atoned for their iniquity and did not destroy them; he restrained his anger often and did not stir up all his wrath. He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes and comes not again. Psalm 78:38-39

Did God forget that Noah and the animals were on the ark when he was destroying the world with the flood?  Did God forget where Abraham and Lot were when He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah?  Did the LORD lose track of the fact that his people were slaves in Egypt, not living in the land He had promised them?  Of course He didn’t.  So why does it say, He remembered in all of these cases?

In the Bible, the word translated as remember means more than just looking back.  It means to prepare to act.  God remembered Noah and acted to make the waters subside.  He remembered Abraham and sent Lot, his nephew, out before He overthrew the cities where Lot lived.  He remembered His people in Egypt and sent Moses to be his instrument to deliver them.  He remembered Hannah and answered her prayers for a child.  And He remembers who we are, and He sent His Son to rescue us.

This is why the thief on the cross beside Jesus says:

And he said, “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Luke 23:42

He is not asking Jesus to think of him being eternally punished for his deeds.  He is asking Jesus to act on his behalf and save him.  And the good news for him and us is Jesus’ reply.

And he said to him, “Truly, I say to you, today you will be with me in Paradise.” Luke 23:43

Soli Deo Gloria,

Diane