What we should remember
Who God is
Paul urges us to ‘remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, descended from David’ (2 Tim 2:8)
We looked at names of God:
• Abraham’s shield and very great reward (Gen 15:1)
• ‘I am who I am’ to Moses (Ex 3:14),
• our Shepherd (Ps 23:1, John 10:11)
• Jehovah Rapha, the Lord our Healer (Ex 15:26)
• Jehovah Jireh, the Lord our Provider (Gen 22:13-14)
• Jehovah Nissi, the Lord our Banner (Ex 17:15)
• Jehovah Shammah, the Lord who is the there, ever present with us (Ezek 48:35, Heb 13:5)
• Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our Peace (Judges 6:24)
• Jehovah Tsidkenu, the Lord our Righteousness (Jeremiah 23:6)
• The Author of Life (Acts 3:15)
• Alpha and Omega (Rev 1:8, Rev 22:3)
• God Most High (Gen 14:17-20)
• Mountain Maker (Ps 65:6)
• Ancient of Days (Dan 7:9)
• Wonderful Counsellor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace. (Is 9:6)
• Our Father, Abba (Matt 6:9, Rom 8:15)
• Consuming Fire (Deut 4:24, Heb 12:29)
• High Priest (Heb 3:1, Heb 6:20)
• King of Kings (1 Tim 6:15)
• Lamb of God (John 1:29)
• Light of the World (John 8:12)
• Messiah (John 4:25)
• Redeemer (Job 19:25)
• Rock (1 Cor 10:4)
• Saviour (Luke 2:11)
• Word of God (John 1:1, Rev 19:13)
What God has done
God has acted decisively and comprehensively in history and in our lives. We see Him acting in Creation, in the Flood, in making a covenant with Abraham, in manoeuvring Joseph into Egypt so that he could rescue Israel from famine, in delivering Israel from the bondage of Egypt in the Exodus, in leading Israel through the wilderness wanderings, in leading them into the Promised Land under the leadership of Joshua, in providing judges and kings for them, in allowing exile into their lives as the consequence of their disobedience and forgetfulness, in bringing restoration and renewal through the prophets. In the New Testament we see His decisive actions in history as, when the time was fully right, He sent His Son into the world to save us: we see the birth, life, death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus, the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church, the missionary journeys of the apostles, the growth of the church. Our Bibles are absolutely packed with examples of what God has done.
But, as Psalm 78 and Nehemiah 9 clearly demonstrate, the Israelites had a decided tendency to forget all that God had done. Paul tells us “These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the culmination of the ages has come. So, if you think you are standing firm, be careful that you don’t fall!” (1 Cor 10:11-12) We need to be careful to remember what God has done for us in the past.
What God has promised
All God’s promises are ‘Yes’ in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 1:20), but we have to speak the ‘Amen’, agreeing with God. We have to consider Him faithful who has promised (Heb 11:11). We have to wait patiently with hope for God’s promises to be fulfilled (Rom 8:15) Our confidence rests in who God is and what He has done; these are spurs to trusting Him for what we have yet to see fulfilled. We need to keep holding on to God’s promises, secure in His character and in His ability to fulfil those promises.