Remember God’s Promises

I remember vividly the season of transition after I made a right-but-hard decision to leave a familiar place with familiar people doing familiar work. I was left in the lurch of the in-between, not yet having the “next thing.” What I did have was plenty of questions, “opportunity,” time to (over)think, doubt about God’s faithfulness to provide, concerns about finances, and worry about how much of a burden I was to the people who had chosen to catch me. 

Looking forward was overwhelming. And so unclear. But when I had shoved all my belongings into a storage unit for an undetermined period of time, I made sure to grab the last few years’ worth of prayer journals. I would just read and reread them, scouring them for all the evidence I could find that this wasn’t going to be the time that God left me out to dry. Because almost on a daily basis, that lie would creep in. What if this is the time He doesn’t come through? What if I made the wrong choice? What if I just flounder, never really finding the future God has for me?

Thankfully, several people in the Bible, just like Abraham, also faced this seemingly universal reality of uncertain futures. They too needed kind and consistent reminders from the past. We see in their stories how remembrance brings the past reality of who God is and what He has done to bear in the present. To let it inform how we respond, live, repent, and walk with God. Reading those old journals and remembering the Scripture that had been so pivotal in earlier seasons became part of the way I could cling to past promises that were still true. I needed to recall the specific ways I had seen God’s character play out in my life. I needed to remember so I would not forget. 

Difficult seasons have a way of tempting us to forget the truth—to forget that God’s promises are still true. We question God’s loyalty when we can only see the brokenness in front of us or the uncertainty of what is to come. And it’s in those moments we need reminders like Abraham, that God has been faithful to His promises, and that will still be true in our most uncertain of days. 

So, may the Lord bring to your mind what has been and remains true of Him: the universal and unique ways you have seen Him remain true to His character. And may you be reminded of this truth: He has never forgotten us.