If the gospel is no longer the best news to us; if we feel our affection for Jesus growing stale; if what was once bubbling out deep from our souls never now escapes our lips; then perhaps we have lost sight of just how desperate our situation is apart from Jesus. The good news of Christ will not be good until the bad news of our sinful state is truly bad. 

Memories are powerful things.

Sometimes remembering is easy. You look at pictures, you hear a song, you smell a smell, and suddenly you remember without even having to think about it. Other times, though, remembering is hard. Perhaps you’ve had the experience, as I have, of typing the same password day after day or using the same garage or lock combination time after time and then one day your mind suddenly goes blank. You can’t remember. And it seems like the harder you try to remember the less you actually can.

Easy and hard, depending on the moment. Our memories are like that, for we are a fickle and forgetful people by nature. We need to be reminded sometimes to remember. We know it… and God knows it too.

It’s not a surprise, then, that when we come to the Bible, God doesn’t leave our memory to chance. In fact, in one version of Scripture, the word “remember” appears over 200 times in Scripture. Sometimes it’s a plea from a person to God – it’s a prayer for the Almighty to remember His promises, His great love, His covenant. Other times, it’s a command straight from God to His people. For example:

• “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy” (Exodus 20:8).
• “Remember and do not forget how you provoked the Lord your God in the wilderness. You have been rebelling against the Lord from the day you left the land of Egypt until you reached this place” (Deuteronomy 9:7).

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