Lesson 1 - Renewal in Remembrance

Can I be vulnerable with you? As I write this, I am struggling – not with family, not with friends, and not even with faith, really – but struggling nonetheless.  My wife, Anne, says it well "We have never felt God's silence so strongly, yet felt Him so clearly carrying us daily at the same time." Our restaurant has been sold after two challenging years and our future seems uncertain. We are not sure where we will work, where we will live or, at times, where to turn. I don't know where God wants to use me next.  I even wonder if He has forgotten me. Have you been there yourself?  

Psalm 77 declares my prayer:

 ⁷ “Will the Lord reject forever?
   Will he never show his favor again?
⁸ Has his unfailing love vanished forever?
   Has his promise failed for all time?
⁹ Has God forgotten to be merciful?
   Has he in anger withheld his compassion?”

… but before I can even finish praying, the rest of the passage comes powerfully to mind and, as a gift, I remember to Whom I am appealing:

¹⁰ Then I thought, “To this I will appeal:
   the years when the Most High stretched out his right hand. ¹¹ I will remember the deeds of the LORD;
   yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago. ¹² I will consider all your works
   and meditate on all your mighty deeds.”
 ¹³ Your ways, God, are holy.
   What god is as great as our God? ¹⁴ You are the God who performs miracles;
   you display your power among the peoples. ¹⁵ With your mighty arm you redeemed your people,
   the descendants of Jacob and Joseph. 

… and I am brighter and filled with hope again.  

 

Whether soaring or sinking, gleaming or groaning right now, the Lord knows and the Lord cares, JUST AS HE HAS DONE IN THE PAST, HE WILL DO AGAIN.  Our God is faithful, and keeps His promises to a thousand generations. He is an Awesome God and we are surely His children, and there is NOTHING that He will not do for our good.

That provides such comfort this very minute.

God’s Word, the LIVING Word, alive, never changing but yet always relevant, often easy to understand but yet infinitely unfathomable, mere printed words but yet life giving nutrients on every line.  If you have God’s Word, you are rich, and your future IS certain!

And so I carry on, I continue…none of the facts changed over the last few moments but I have again been uplifted by my ever-present, faithful God, and I AM CERTAIN that my heart is very, very rich.

So renewed through remembrance, we faithfully wait ...

“3 When you did awesome things that we did not look for, you came down, the mountains quaked at your presence.

4 From of old no one has heard or perceived by the ear, no eye has seen a God besides you, who acts for those who wait for him.
5 You meet him who joyfully works righteousness, those who remember you in your ways.” – Isaiah 64:3-5