GOD REMEMBERS
It can be of great encouragement to be aware that ‘God Remembers’. We have a God who ‘cares about our concerns’, who ‘contemplates our conversations’ and who ‘chronicles our commitments’. Let us look into the Word of God, take on board what it says, and as a result be encouraged, challenged, and built up in the faith!
In our daily lives we meet with very different situations, situations that are often beyond our control; and as a result we can allow our natural self to take over our feelings and thoughts, which result in us being very concerned. How good to know that our wonderful Heavenly Father is also concerned for us.
I. GOD REMEMBERS OUR CONCERNS
The Encarta Dictionary gives the meaning of the word ‘concern’ as;
“a feeling of worry, compassion, sympathy, or regard for somebody or something”.
I am sure that we all have feelings of concern from time to time! I guess that Noah must have felt a little concerned when in the ark for such a long time. How good to know that God remembers!
Genesis 8:1 But God remembered Noah and all the wild animals and livestock with him in the boat. He sent a wind to blow across the earth, and the floodwaters began to recede.
What a relief for Noah and his family - God remembered Noah.
The Children of Israel must have felt concern regarding their becoming slaves in Egypt. Times had changed and become very hard for them; they had been welcomed guests with one of their own people second only to Pharaoh, but now they were beaten and in bondage - but the Lord was listening!
Exodus 3:9 The cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.
What a relief for the Israelites as they were delivered from their slavery and sent on the way to the Promised Land – God remembered the Israelites!
Then we have David. Oh the pressures that he went through, right from the beginning of his becoming king; even his own family turning against him. He actually expresses his feeling in a wonderful way.
Psalm 56:8 Record my lament; list my tears on your scroll - are they not in your record? [NIV]
You keep track of all my sorrows. You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book. [NLT]
Note that the NLT speaks of the tears being collected in a bottle! The main idea is that God has a record, and He treasures the record!
I felt it would be good re to see what Calvin has to say about this;
Calvin
The words amount to a request that God would not suffer his tears to fall to the ground, but keep them with care as a precious deposit. The prayers of David, proceeded upon faith in the providence of God, who watches our every step, and by whom (to use an expression of Christ)
"the very hairs of our head are numbered," (Mt 10:30).
Unless persuaded in our mind that God takes special notice of each affliction which we endure, it is impossible we can ever attain such confidence as to pray that God would put our tears into his bottle, with a view to regarding them, and being induced by them to interpose in our behalf. He immediately adds, that he had obtained what he asked. He animates his hope by the consideration that all his tears were written in the book of God, and would therefore be certainly remembered. And we may surely believe that if God bestows such honour upon the tears of his saints, he must number every drop of their blood which is shed. Tyrants may burn their flesh and their bones, but the blood remains to cry aloud for vengeance; and intervening ages can never erase what has been written in the register of God’s remembrance.
There are times when, if we are real before God – no pretence – that the Lord will do something special for us. King Hezekiah became very ill, in fact he was dying, and he prayed and wept before God, who gave the Prophet Isaiah a specific message for Hezekiah;
II Kings 20: 5 “Go back to Hezekiah, the leader of my people. Tell him, ‘This is what the LORD, the God of your ancestor David, says: I have heard your prayer and seen your tears. I will heal you, and three days from now you will get out of bed and go to the Temple of the LORD.
Can you imagine that? All because God remembered Hezekiah! He saw his tears!
Yes GOD REMEMBERS OUR CONCERNS. I believe we can take courage from the examples recorded in the Word of God.
We must not stop at that point, but move on to see that
II. GOD REMEMBERS OUR CONVERSATIONS
One of my favourite scriptures is found at the close of the Old Testament, a period when unbelief had set in, when people wanted to worship the Lord in their own way, and the result was poverty as a nation, and even being subjugated by enemy nations, with false gods being imposed on them. However, in the midst of the darkness there shone a light, as we see in
Malachi 3:16 Then those who feared the LORD talked with each other, and the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence concerning those who feared the LORD and honoured his name. 17 “They will be mine," says the LORD Almighty, "in the day when I make up my treasured possession. I will spare them, just as in compassion a man spares his son who serves him.
We do not have to be like those around us who take the name of the Lord in vain. These people talked with like-minded people, and their conversation must have been good for it impressed the Lord enough to cause a scroll of remembrance to be written! I wonder, have we said anything noteworthy this last week?
If we stop to think about our ‘talk’ for a moment, it usually starts with a thought, and is then expresses verbally. Now I want you to look at a powerful scripture in the Psalms,
Psalms 139:4 Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.
Poole, in his commentary gives the verse this way,
Thou knowest what I intend to speak, either in prayer to thee, or in conversation with men, when I have not yet uttered one word of it.
There is a real challenge for us in those words. It may be that we need to slow down and give thought to what we are about to say – filter our conversation with the thought that the Lord listens – He remembers. The Lord Jesus gave a strong warning about being careless with our words;
Matthew 12:36-37 But I tell you that men will have to give account on the day of judgment for every careless word they have spoken. 37 For by your words you will be acquitted, and by your words you will be condemned."
Matthew Henry says
The gracious God observes all the gracious words that proceed out of the mouths of his people; they need not desire that men may hear them, and commend them; let them not seek praise from men by them, nor affect to be taken notice of by them; but let it satisfy them that, be the conference ever so private, God sees and hears in secret and will reward openly. When the two disciples, going to Emmaus, were discoursing concerning Christ, he hearkened and heard, and joined himself to them.
I feel sure that we would like the Lord to be with us at all times, to be aware of His nearness; but what about our conversations? During the course of this next week, can we allow the thought that GOD REMEMBERS OUR CONVERSATIONS to filter what we say, and be encouraged by that thought, let me remind you of the words in Malachi,
the LORD listened and heard. A scroll of remembrance was written in his presence.
To take the care we have been speaking of will require a real commitment from us, but be encouraged;
III. GOD REMEMBERS OUR COMMITMENT
The Encarta Dictionary gives the following for commitment;
Devotion or dedication, e.g. to a cause, person, or relationship.
How committed are we? The writer to the Hebrews gives a strong challenge in Hebrews 4:13
Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.
Just think about that for a moment please. It is saying that there can be no pretence! Sometimes we even pretend to ourselves! It might help us to see what the Lord said to the Christians at Thyatira.
Revelation 2: 18-20 “Write this letter to the angel of the church in Thyatira. This is the message from the Son of God, whose eyes are like flames of fire, whose feet are like polished bronze: 19 “I know all the things you do. I have seen your love, your faith, your service, and your patient endurance. And I can see your constant improvement in all these things. 20 “But I have this complaint against you. . .
I don’t want to go into the background of the Thyatira Church, but please note that even with all the commendation made by the Lord, He still had a complaint against them! Note please that love, faith, service and patient endurance is commended; but there was still something lacking. How do we measure up to God’s standards? Paul reminds the Corinthian Church that they will account for all they have done whether good or bad!
II Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due to him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.
A very precious and thought provoking comment is made by Abraham Wright about the anointing of the feet of Jesus by Mary.
Abraham Wright,
It was a precious ointment wherewith the woman in the Pharisee’s house anointed the feet of Christ; but her tears, wherewith she washed them, were more worth than her spikenard.
The anointing could have been simply a show before others, but the Lord saw the motive behind the tears.
We have to remember that there is a record being kept of what we do, and from that record all will be judged. But let me emphasise that the scriptures clearly say that the final criteria for the approval of the Lord is that our names are recorded in the Book of Life! So it is not what we have done, but what He has done!
The time is coming when the final records will be opened, and the unchangeable decision will be revealed. This decision will be the outcome of each persons choice in life.
Revelation 20:12 I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. 13 The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. 14 Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. 15 And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire. [NLT]
There is a sad, but just statement here, that all who are not found in the Book of Life were thrown into the lake of fire. Here we have a clear reason for sharing the Gospel message, especially with our own family and friends.
One final thought, it is not how well known we are, or how prominent we have become; but the judgement is with the Lord. In Philippians chapter four Paul commends Euodia, Syntyche and also Clement. Not much is known about these people, but the Lord knows them. We may be among the people who are not well known by men, but the Lord knows! Isn’t that wonderful?
Philippians 4:3 I ask you, my true partner, to help these two women, for they worked hard with me in telling others the Good News. They worked along with Clement and the rest of my co-workers, whose names are written in the Book of Life. [NLT]
I want you to take particular note that Paul says whose names are written in the Book of Life. The Lord knows how committed we are, and He will do the rewarding.
Aren’t you glad that God remembers?
