Remember...Remember Not...

My wife, Mary, does a great job on making a creative memory scrapbook for each of our children. She began this project 10 years ago after the death of our youngest son Joshua. Each of our children received an identical album and we have the original. My wife wanted to preserve the memory of our youngest son in a meaningful way and also for each of the siblings so they can share with their children about the uncle they never knew.

Mary is presently working on a creative memory scrapbook for our youngest daughter, Sara Joy. Our oldest son Jonathan received his creative memory album two years ago. This Christmas she gave our oldest daughter Jodine her creative memory album of her life. It includes pictures from birth, her school years, her marriage to Kimbal and concludes with a family picture of them with their 4 children. There were lots of laughter and comments of “Remember when…”

Ah, the memories. It’s good to look back and remember. Most often our albums include the happy moments of growing up. It isn't that we haven't had some not-so-great things happen - the painful injuries, the bouts with various sicknesses, the upheavals and conflicts that inevitably come to all families—but they just didn't make it into the memory book.

All of us have an album of memories, stored away, not just in a book, but in the memory banks in our mind. And some of us think a lot about things in the past, and talk a lot about them, too. But which things? Well, God has something important, even liberating, to say about what's in your past, especially the things you keep bringing up again and again.

There is a time to look back and remember. In Isaiah 46:9 God calls on his people to “remember the former things of old; for I am God and there is no other; I am God and there is none like me.” There are some things that God wants us to remember. But in Isaiah 43:18 He says, “Remember not the former things; do not dwell on the past.”  Is God contradicting Himself?

       

We need to read the context. Beginning at verse 16 of Isaiah 43 God is talking to people who have been through a lot of pain -- people who have lost a lot of things they care about. There are some parts of the past God says they need to remember, and some they need to forget. "This is what the Lord says, He who made a way through the sea, a path through the mighty waters." God says remember that stuff  - when God led you, provided for you, the highlights of your life. There are some parts of the past you need to forget. "Forget the former things; and do not dwell on the past." In other words, don't keep your pictures of the ugly stuff.

He goes on to say, "See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland." Don’t miss the glorious things God is about to do for you ... because you've got your nose buried in your pictures from the past!

Does your memory album have a lot of mental pictures of the painful moments in your life? Are some of the folks close to you tired of your going over, and over, the times you've been hurt and wronged. God's Word is clear -- forget that stuff. What kind of memory album is filled with pictures of the ugly times? If you dwell on the past -- if you live in the past, you may miss the new things God wants to do with your future.

There is one good reason to look back -- to relive those countless moments in your life for which you can praise God! What He has done in the past He will do again. The parted seas…the deliverances…the conquered obstacles…the divine interventions and the miraculous provisions ... ways in the desert ... streams where it looked like there would be nothing for your need.  In Isaiah 43:20-21, God says, "I provide water in the desert ... to give drink to My people, My chosen, the people I formed for Myself that they may proclaim My praise."

Remember…remember not! Which past are you going to dwell on? The painful past? That will just keep that pain alive right into your future. I encourage you to dwell on the praiseful past -- all the ways your loving God has been there for you over and over again. Those memories will get you ready for the next exciting chapter in your life with this awesome God of yours.

Our family albums aren't full of images of the bad times. The images we keep reviewing are the good times. That's how it needs to be in that photo album in your heart. The reason to remember is to relive your memories of life  and give thanks to your wonderful Heavenly Father who leads you.