Sometimes I think that forgetfulness should be on the list of deadly sins. After all, I was definitely ready to kill my husband when he lost his wallet in the airport on the way to Thailand a couple of years ago. It, and the thousand plus dollars we were planning on exchanging, never did show up. I’m sure none of you can relate.
Schedules have been crushed, reputations maimed, and relationships botched all due to forgetfulness.
Not to mention, if I actually remembered all the Bible verses I’ve memorized, all the prayers the Lord has answered, all the times I’ve witnessed His goodness, all the moments I’ve felt His love, and all the people he has sent to encourage me I would be a seriously awesome person. Well, maybe not, but at least I’d be a lot more holy and loving and grateful than I am right now.
We are a people prone to forget. I think that’s both part curse and part grace. I’m glad I don’t remember all my failures, all the times I cried in pain, or all the people that treated me poorly. That much is grace. But when it comes to remembering the work of the Lord in our lives, forgetfulness must be fought with intentionality.
God does not want to be forgotten, so, in His kindness, He shows us ways of remembering.
He set up holidays for the Israelites—days, even whole weeks, set apart with physical acts of remembrance. For example, when God established the Feast of Unleavened Bread in Exodus 13, He gave them instructions on how to remember the feast, then said in verses 8-9, “On that day tell your son, ‘I do this because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ This observance will be for you like a sign on your hand and a reminder on your forehead that this law of the Lord is to be on your lips. For the Lord brought you out of Egypt with his mighty hand.”
Later, after a scene of intense repentance, the Lord saved the Israelites from a Philistine attack, and “Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer, saying, ‘Thus far the Lord has helped us.’ ” (1 Samuel 7:12) That word, Ebenezer, means stone of help. Jacob and Joshua also used stones to mark a significant moment of encounter with the Lord.
Whether by food regulations, piles of rock, songs of remembrance, or symbolic priestly garments, the people of God have long engaged their senses to help them remember the work and the character of the Lord.
My family has miniaturized the concept of Ebenezer stones by writing on rocks and placing them in a jar whenever God does something big that we want to remember. On a personal level, I need to journal so I don’t forget the movement of God in my life. Many people hang verses on their walls, create artwork, or even get a tattoo to quell their forgetfulness.
When we physically record and remember the work of God, we are not only setting it in stone before our eyes, we are setting it in stone in our hearts, as well. We are testifying and laying claim to a good God who is personally involved and still doing miracles in our lives. We are training our hearts to remember all that He has done for us.
At some point, maybe in this very moment, you will look at your life and think, “Where is God in all this mess?” You’ll doubt His mercy. You’ll rail against His timing. You’ll question if He’s ever truly shown up when you needed Him most.
Those are the times your eyes can remind you of what your heart has forgotten. You’ll see the tree planted 12 years ago after your child stepped off this planet and into God’s arms far too soon, and you’ll remember that He was with you then, and He is with you now.
You’ll run your fingers under the braided cord that has encircled your wrist ever since that mission trip to Guatemala, and you’ll remember the urgency of the call He placed on your heart and how you stepped into obedience then, just as you will stay in obedience now.
You’ll open the file, stare at all the words that flowed out onto that page when they had to leave your chest before they crushed you alive, and you’ll remember how He told you they would bring life to someone else, too, so you’ll paste them into your blog, say a prayer for courage, and press the publish button. (Not that I know anything about the last one.)
When nothing within us remembers the goodness of God, those markers without can call us back.
Perhaps one of the most significant acts of remembering happens every week in some churches. We call it communion. Why do we eat the little bread chunks and sip the grape juice? Because corporately celebrating our great salvation binds us together. Because it reminds us of our identity as the bride of Christ, bought at the highest price imaginable. And simply because some of the last words Jesus shared with His disciples were: “Do this in remembrance of me.” (Luke 22:19)
So we partake. We sketch. We adorn. We jot. We display. We dance. We create. All in remembrance of the One who is ever remembering us before the throne of grace.
What has God been doing in your life that you want to physically hold on to, and how can you create an “Ebenezer stone” to mark it?
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