Remember, Recall, and Repeat

The writer of Hebrews encourages us in chapter 10, verse 32 to, “Think back on those early days when you first learned about Christ.  Remember how you remained even though it meant terrible suffering.”

The writer is reminding us of our early days - the ones shortly after we accepted Christ and embraced His redemptive work on the cross.  He’s reminding us of the times in our lives when our faith was tested and we came through victorious in our endurance, and triumphant in our suffering.

While conflict and adversity are normal conditions for human life, and certainly no exception for the Christ follower, we are called to a higher standard of living.  We are commissioned AND empowered to live our lives with the constant awareness of His goodness, living in full response to His grace and mercy.  We are entrusted with the ability to Remember, Recall, and Repeat.

I say this often to my students… because so often times we forget.

And it’s the most dangerous to us just after a significant breakthrough.  We saw it with Elijah in first Kings after the success he had defeating enemies at Mount Carmel, and the the supernatural awareness he experienced of God’s provision by way of his prayers for rain answered in the midst of a three year drought.

If anything, this breakthrough should've had sustaining power within it to encourage Elijah for His next assignment, but instead it brought discouragement, doubt, and derailment to his progress.

And the truth really is that there is pain and suffering to be expected in various seasons of our lives.  But calling to our memory the times we’ve been carried in the midst of heartbreak and loss, are what will help to establish us and restore us for greater Kingdom impact.

My commentary suggests that by refusing to remember His goodness and provision, we are risking to, “lose the fruit of all these sufferings.”

And so fair questions in painful circumstances become, “God, what can I learn from this loss?”  “What fruit am I gaining as a result of this pain?”

The expectation for the follower of Jesus should be that we would possess gladness, peace, and power in difficulty, but in order to obtain these character traits we must also expect a battle.  Light is best experienced in dark places.  Thus light is stimulated in the presence of opposition.

And when I consider my assignment is ultimately to bring His world to my world until my world looks like His world… I am suddenly positioned, then, to Remember, Recall, and Repeat.

Remember all He has done for me.  Remember who He has been for me.  Remember the times He carried me and provided for me in the past.

Recall it to my memory as often as I can.  Write them down, list them out.  Document His favor and the evidence of His delight in me.

Repeat it to myself and to anyone else who will listen.  There is power in our tongue and we verbally express the world we’re most aware of to those we come into contact with every day.  Whatever is in the heart gets expressed in speech, and repeating our testimony to the world around us invites the Lord to “do it again” (which is actually a meaning of the root word found in testimony.)

I may not know what He’s doing, but I can trust what He has done.  And if He doesn’t do one more thing for me, He’s already done enough.

I am committed to Remember, Recall, and Repeat.

Because it matters!