Ezekiel 6:7 “You shall know that I Am the Lord.”
Ezekiel 6:9 “Then those of you who escape will remember Me among the nations where they are carried captive…”
Have you ever considered the importance of remembering? In Ezekiel’s time, the memory of God’s faithfulness to Abraham, Joseph, and Moses had vanished. Amazingly, they had forgotten it was Jehovah who protected and blessed Abraham as the Father of all nations. They had forgotten it was God who preserved His people as He placed Joseph in the seat of Egyptian power. And they had dismissed a God who unleashed His mighty power to part the sea.
The book of Ezekiel is far removed from a Hallmark “feel-good” moment. The destruction Ezekiel pronounced upon Israel as their hearts forgot their loving and protective God must have spread an impending sense of calamity. But on the heels of their doom, a merciful and loving Jehovah unexpectedly reached out and beckoned Israel to remember His faithfulness and return to Him. Surely if Israel would recall the protection and goodness of the Great I Am in their past, they would rediscover the God of hope for their future.
Perhaps it would be wise if we too pause to REMEMBER. If we recalled the times God granted spiritual healing, would we discover a hope for future wounds? If we looked back at the peace God provided in the midst of our trials and grief might we be able to confidently reach out and travel rough roads with others, knowing God will sustain? And if we could remember just how God showed-up in our fiercest confrontations of the past, perhaps it would grant us courage to mend any broken relationships in our future.
So much peace resides in remembering. Our precious gift of Hope brought down from heaven and lovingly laid in the manger by The Great I AM assures us of our eternal inheritance. (1 Peter 1: 3–5 NIV). Remembering the many ways God revealed Himself in our lives allows us to trust in His future promise to redeem us. (Ephesians 1:7) Sisters, today abide in peace remembering God’s faithfulness in the past is the same as God’s faithfulness in the future.
Father God, may we never forget your faithfulness to us. May we connect the ways of your goodness in our past to the promise of goodness in our future.
Blessings,
Rita Cochrane