God, Remember Our Future
Open Your Bible
1 Samuel 1:1-20, Psalm 139:7-16, Matthew 26:6-13, Luke 23:35-43
BY Melanie Rainer
My five-year-old just finished up her year of Pre-K in a rambunctious class that has brought us so much joy to hear about each night. She’s one of three girls in a class with eleven boys, and she often lists them off in order of her favorites.
One afternoon in the car, she announced that one of those boys was back after being sick. I asked her, “How did it make you feel when he came back?” expecting her to answer with a positive affirmation. “Well, I didn’t really remember him. Sometimes things just fly out of my brain.”
Together for nine months, sharing the carpet at naptime, giving her parents regular updates about this particular little guy…and she just forgot he existed when he was absent for a few days.
You can chalk that up, of course, to her five-year-old brain, neurons still wiring and firing in all kinds of new ways. But isn’t that very thing—the fear of being forgotten, of not mattering to someone we love—the fear that drives so many of our decisions in this life?
When Hannah prays for the Lord to open her womb in 1 Samuel 1, she asks for a legacy, a son, someone to carry her name and DNA and the way she laughs or wrinkles her nose forward into a future she would not know. We all long for legacy, to be known and seen and remembered. Hannah cried to God to “remember and not forget” her, a refrain we still whisper in our hearts today.
Thankfully, we are part of a much larger story, an epic account from creation to restoration, written by our God and secured by His Son. Our lives are not just a fleeting moment, but they are ordained for us (Psalm 139:16). Our future hope, and all its glory, are bound up in the person and work of Christ.
We don’t have to worry about being forgotten. We don’t have to worry about not being good enough to remember or having accomplished enough, earned enough, or produced enough. There is no “enough” threshold for the kingdom of heaven because we only need one thing: faith in Christ, which is a gift of the Holy Spirit. May we all endeavor to know Jesus so closely, to cherish Him so deeply, that our strivings for enough will cease.
45 thoughts on "God, Remember Our Future"
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I don’t know if it’s just me or if perhaps everybody else encountering problems with your site.
It looks like some of the written text in your content are running off the
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Kudos -
Remember me – powerful words. I wouldn’t have thought “earthly” remembering was important to me until this. I think it’s because I want to know my life mattered. Enough is another powerful word. I am enough and I am remembered.
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Oh, TRACI GENDRON, good news! Praise Him!
Praying for so many other sweet She’s tonight!
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I love all of your comments and few so blessed to be a part of this group. I don’t post much but am always reading. My daughter Chela has really been suffering with a lot of anxiety/panic and as of late much sadness in her first year away from home at college. It has been heartbreaking as her mom to walk through this with her because all I want to do is fix it and I can’t. There have been many dark moments for me when I have been so afraid of her and her mental health. She had been refusing counseling just out of fear of talking to a stranger. After much prodding I finally got her to seek help which she did today!! And this woman was a perfect match. Today was the first day in a long time that I heard some hope in my daughter’s voice. God remembered Chela. Praise Jesus!
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@Mercy…first, you made me laugh out loud! I guess since my dad got remarried after I was well, well, well into adulthood, and my mom had passed, I really don’t consider his wife a “step-mother” or her kids “step-siblings” although I adore them all! Even with my husband, I call his daughter “my husband’s daughter” since she was out on her own when we got married! That’s my explanation for you anyway!
Then…I loved your comment and was reading it outloud to my hubby and saying “That is SO good!!” I copied it and pasted it in my digital journal! It is so important to remember it takes effort and want to get close to God! Boy was jail something today. We only had 3 ladies, all new! But they all knew their bibles and could say scripture. They all had recently been arrested and two had major sobbing releases. At the end, we sat in a circle, with us 3 volunteers and the 3 inmates prayed and took turns singing as we were praying..and we were humming..and praying along with them…it was the most beautiful thing I think I have ever been a part of. (my teaching job before that wasn’t the best, but I hope the Lord gave my words some meaning.) We watched the next 20 minutes of the Passion of the Christ, and it was pretty intense, and Judas flees from the demons and hangs himself. That was the endnote, which I think is very relevant for us, to receive Jesus completely (salvation), then stay close to God, flee from temptation with God’s help. And like you said…it takes effort on our part. Love you Sister!
Molly R- thanks for sharing! Donna- :)
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