Remember Your Story
Yesterday, I was driving to go meet an old friend from high school.
For the first time in a while, I got to drive past my old high school and the areas around it.
I remember passing by the place we used to get biscuits on Fridays before school, the place where we got donuts after practices, the Waffle House we went to after football games on Friday nights, and the old gas station that used to sell tobacco to underage baseball players who thought they were cool (yep…that’s me).
I found myself in an emotional state of remembering.
I remembered all the good times, friendships, teachers, and things I learned.
I remembered the hilarious moments and the hard moments — the dates and the breakups — the wins and the losses.
I also remembered the dumb things I did as I sat on the fence between following God and following my own broken desires.
I remembered all the moments of my unfaithfulness, the unfair way that I treated my African American teammates (whom I didn’t hang out with outside of school), and how fake I was in certain settings.
I also remembered the insecurities that caused me to do that.
Then, I remembered the faithfulness of God in the midst of all of my unfaithfulness.
I remembered the story of Him coming after me in the midst of my brokenness and rescuing me from the slavery of insecurity, shame, and doubt.
I remembered all the people and lessons God put in my life during that time — people and lessons that still teach me today.
Then, I got to meet with my old friend — A guy who randomly shadowed me at school during my junior year.
We became friends during high school and lost contact with each other for a few years.
Yesterday, we got together to share our stories and encourage each other on our journey with God.
It was beautiful. I would say that it was life-changing (cause God is never done changing our lives to form more and more into His Image).
In Deuteronomy, God commands Israel to retell the story of their salvation from Egypt every single year. I think he does this because there is power in remembering.
The Israelites did three specific things that I think we can model today:
- Remember God’s Story in your life.
Remember how He has been faithful.Remember how He has rescued and delivered you.Remember the gifts He has given to you.
Remembering what God has already done will help us put faith in what God will do. - Praise God for who He is.
God has always been constant and faithful.
Praising God for who He is reminds us of who He will always be. - Keep His Commandments.
God’s faithfulness was meant to inspire the Israelites to be faithful in return.
God’s ways are the best way to live and operate within our world.
Even if you have been doing this for a long, long time, can we all recommit to keeping God’s commandments — not because we have to do so, but because He has inspired us to do so.
Now Go and Do
- Spend Time Remembering Your Story.
How has God been faithful to you?
How has God saved and delivered you?
What has God given you?
Talk about it — The Israelites recited the Exodus story out loud so they could hear it come out of their mouths.
Find somebody to share the story with today. - Read Psalm 105 (below).It’s a longer one, but read it slowly. Feel the words in your Spirit.
Notice how the psalmist retells the story and praises God for who He is.
Notice the areas of emphasis and see what they mean for your life today.
Scripture
Psalm 105 (TPT)
1 Go ahead and give God thanks for all the glorious things he has done! Go ahead and worship him! Tell everyone about his wonders!
2 Let’s sing his praises! Sing, and put all of his miracles to music!
3 Shine and make your joyful boast in him, you lovers of God.
Let’s be happy and keep rejoicing no matter what.
4 Seek more of his strength! Seek more of him!
Let’s always be seeking the light of his face.
5 Don’t you ever forget his miracles and marvels. Hold to your heart every judgment he has decreed.
6 For you are his servants, the true seed of Abraham,
and you are the chosen ones, Jacob’s sons.
7 For he is the Lord our God, and his wise authority can be seen in all he does.
8–9 For though a thousand generations may pass away,
he is still true to his word.
He has kept every promise he made to Abraham and to Isaac.
10 His promises have become an everlasting covenant to Jacob, as a decree to Jacob.
11 He said to them, “I will give you all the land of Canaan as your inheritance.”
12 They were very few in number when God gave them that promise, and they were all foreigners to that land.
13 They were wandering from one land to another and from one kingdom to another.
14 Yet God would not permit anyone to touch them, punishing even kings who came against them.
15 He said to them, “Don’t you dare lay a hand on my anointed ones, and don’t do a thing to hurt my prophets!”
16 So God decreed a famine upon Canaan land, cutting off their food supply.
17 But he had already sent a man ahead of his people to Egypt; it was Joseph, who was sold as a slave.
18 His feet were bruised by strong shackles and his soul was held by iron.
19 God’s promise to Joseph purged his character until it was time for his dreams to come true.
20 Eventually, the king of Egypt sent for him, setting him free at last.
21 Then Joseph was put in charge of everything under the king; he became the master of the palace over all of the royal possessions.
22 Pharoah gave him authority over all the princes of the land, and Joseph became the teacher of wisdom to the king’s advisors.
23 Then Jacob, with all of Joseph’s family, came from Canaan to Egypt and settled in Goshen.
24 God made them very fruitful, and they multiplied incredibly until they were greater in number than those who ruled them.
25 God turned their hearts to hate his people and to deal treacherously with his servants.
26 But he sent them his faithful servant, Moses, the deliverer, and chose Aaron to accompany him.
27 Their command brought down signs and wonders, working miracles in Egypt.
28 By God’s direction, they spoke and released a plague
of thick darkness over the land.
29 God turned their rivers to blood, causing every fish to die.
30 And the judgment-plague of frogs came in enormous numbers, swarming everywhere, even into Pharaoh’s bedroom!
31 God spoke and another plague was released — massive swarms of flies, vast clouds of insects, covered the land.
32 God rained down hail and flaming fire upon Egypt.
33 Their gardens and vines were all destroyed, shattering trees into splinters throughout the territory.
34 God spoke, and devouring hordes of locusts swept over the land,
35 picking the ground clean of vegetation and crops.
36 Then God struck down their firstborn sons, the pride and joy of every Egyptian family.
37 At last, God freed all the Hebrews from their slavery
and sent them away laden with the silver and gold of Egypt.
And not even one was feeble on their way out!
38 Egypt was relieved at their exodus, ready to see them go, for the terror of the Lord of the Hebrews had fallen upon them!
39 God spread out a cloud as shade as they moved ahead and a cloud of fire to light up their night.
40 Moses prayed and God brought them quail to eat. He satisfied them with heaven’s bread falling from the sky.
41 He broke open the boulder and the waters poured out like a river in the desert.
42 For God could never forget
his holy promise to his servant Abraham.
43 So God brought out his chosen ones with singing;
with a joyful shout they were set free!
44 He gave them lands and nations, just like he promised. Fruitful lands of crops they had never planted were now theirs.
45 All this was done for them so that they would be faithful
to keep the ways of God, obeying his laws and following his truths.
Hallelujah! Praise the Lord!
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Originally published at www.betterstorycollective.com.
