Tag: remember

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Psalms Devotionals 2

Starting off the day right

As I write this, it’s cherry blossom season in Japan. And I couldn’t help but think of this verse as I saw all the cherry blossom trees around my neighborhood.

I remember the days of old;
I meditate on all you have done;
I reflect on the work of your hands. (Psalm 143:5)

How often do we start the day thinking on these things?

When David wrote this psalm, he was facing many troubles. He apparently was on the run, perhaps from Saul or Absalom.

But in a time of despair, he says, “I remember. I meditate. I reflect.”

What does he remember? He remembers the days of old. He remembers all the old stories of God being with his people and delivering them: Noah, Abraham, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Deborah, Gideon,  and Samson.

What does he meditate on? He meditates on what God has done. Not just in the lives of those that came before him. But in his own life.

What does he reflect on? The work of his God’s hands. The heavens. The animals. The trees and plants. All of creation.

And in all this, he remembers God’s power and his goodness toward his people.

What is his response? A heart of God-dependence.

Let me experience
your faithful love in the morning,
for I trust in you.

Reveal to me the way I should go
because I appeal to you…

Teach me to do your will,
for you are my God.

May your gracious Spirit
lead me on level ground. (8, 10)

May we all start each day with that kind of heart.

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Deuteronomy Devotionals

Remember and rejoice

Deuteronomy

If you’ve been paying attention, the theme of “rejoice” has been popping up a lot in these blogs lately.

I’ve never thought of Deuteronomy being a book that teaches “rejoicing,” but not only does it teach about rejoicing, it commands it.

Again and again, you see God saying not, “It might be a good thing to rejoice” or “Try to remember to rejoice once a while,” but “You shall rejoice.” (Deuteronomy 12:7, 8, 18, 14:26, 16:11, 16:14, 26:11, 27:7).

And rejoicing is almost always linked to remembering.

We remember his daily blessings. (Deuteronomy 15:14)

More importantly, we remember how we have been redeemed from slavery to Satan’s kingdom. (Deuteronomy 15:15, 16:3, 16:12)

That remembering and rejoicing should shape our lives.

It should make us be generous to those around us (Deuteronomy 15:7-15).

It should cause us to trust God and obey him (Deuteronomy 16:11-12).

It should cause us to desire to worship, not just at home, but with God’s people.

In those days, it was at the tabernacle. In our days, it is at church. (Deuteronomy 16:2, 5, 11, 15, 16).

It should cause us to want to give what we have to God, because we remember it all came from God in the first place. (Deuteronomy 16:16-17)

How often do you remember and rejoice?

How does it shape your life?

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Deuteronomy Devotionals

Resting to remember

Deuteronomy

I talked last week about the danger of taking God for granted.

It is a danger that the Israelites definitely fell into time and again. It was for that reason that God instituted the Sabbath.

In recounting the Ten Commandments, Moses told the Israelites this.

Be careful to remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy as the Lord your God has commanded you…

Remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the Lord your God brought you out of there with a strong hand and an outstretched arm.

That is why the Lord your God has commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. (Deuteronomy 5:12, 15)

Why did God command the Sabbath?

So that the Israelites would remember God’s goodness to them. To remember how he had freed them from slavery in Egypt. To remember all the great miracles he performed to deliver them.

But I think you can say that God didn’t want them to just remember.

He wanted them to rejoice.

As Christians, the Sabbath itself is no longer binding on us. (Colossians 2:16)

That said, it is good to set aside one day a week to go to church, not out of mere habit or duty, but to remember and rejoice.

To remember what Jesus did on a cross two thousand years ago.

To think about all God did to call us to himself.

And to rejoice that God has rescued us from the domain of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, redeeming us, and forgiving all our sins. (Colossians 1:11-14)

What is Sunday to you?

Just a day to relax? A day to serve God?

Those are good things.

But let us also be sure to make it a day to remember and rejoice.

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2 Timothy Devotionals

Remember Jesus Christ

2 Timothy

“Remember Jesus Christ!” Paul cries out in verse 8.

How well we would do to remember Jesus Christ in our daily lives.

Put another way, remember Jesus the Messiah, our Savior, descendant of David, who was crucified for our sins according to prophesy, and who was raised from the dead for our justification. (Romans 3:25)

Paul was bound like a criminal, sitting in a cell, about to be executed by Nero. And in the midst of it all, he remembered Jesus the Messiah. And he remembered what was perhaps a hymn being sung in the church at the time.

For if we died with him,
we will also live with him;

if we endure, we will also reign with him;
if we deny him, he will also deny us;

if we are faithless, he remains faithful,
for he cannot deny himself. (2 Timothy 2:11-13)

That was his hope in that dark, dank cell.

And it is our hope. Jesus is our hope.

So whatever you’re going through, whether good or bad, remember Jesus Christ.

Remember Jesus, our Messiah, and all he has done for us to save us from our sins.

Remember what he is doing for us even now, interceding for us in all our troubles.

Remember what he will do for us when he returns and makes all things new.

And remember that he does all these things for us, not because of who we are, but because of who he is.

Remember Jesus Christ.