God is always good. All the time.
And all the time. God is good.
But if you’re anything like me… sometimes you forget that simple, yet powerful, truth.
3 Reasons we Forget
Sometimes I think I’ve officially entered into that stage of life where I have a hard time remembering things.
The other day my wife was telling me about a conversation we had. You know, one of those where she says, “Yea… we talked about it.” But I had ZERO recollection of the conversation. Normally when this happens I was too DISTRACTED with something else when we were talking to really be listening to her!
Then this happened. I woke one morning and went to get my morning coffee like I always do. Only, when I got into the kitchen, there was coffee all over the counter and all over the floor! I didn’t know what had happened at first. Then I realized what I had done.
The night before I had put the coffee in the coffee maker and I had added the water like I always do. I set the timer to turn on and make the coffee the next morning like I always do. But I was so TIRED I had forgotten one critical step in the coffee making preparation process. I had forgotten to put the coffee pot under the coffee maker. So there was coffee everywhere. Not a great way to start your day!
Sometimes we forget things because we’re distracted. Sometimes we forget thing because we’re tired. And sometimes we forget things because we’re AFRAID.
Fear + Forgetfulness
We’ve all experienced this in one way or another. Fear is perhaps the greatest source of amnesia for us as human beings. We can be full of faith and confidence, full of hope and promise, and then…
If something happens that threatens our safety, our health, our relationships, our ability to provide… we forget very quickly.
And for those of us who are people of faith, it seems that more often than not what we forget is our faith. We forget what we believe.
Perhaps the greatest danger to your spiritual life, to my spiritual life, is forgetfulness.
When we forget who God is, what He has done, and what he has promised he will do… it leaves us completely open and vulnerable to believe the lies of the enemy, and they are many, and walk away from faith altogether.
Remembering God’s Faithfulness
Forgetfulness has always been a problem for the people of God.
It’s really amazing when you think about it, when you consider the story of God and how over and over again the people of God have forgotten the goodness of God, but God has never forgotten to be faithful.
God has never broken a promise. God has never not been there. God has never given us a reason to doubt his faithfulness. But over and over again the people of God have forgotten to be faithful. The people of God have broken their promises.
I think that’s why throughout the scriptures there are these reminders all along the way… these reminders to remember. God, your God, is always good.
If the greatest danger to our spiritual lives is forgetfulness, maybe we need to remember the faithfulness of God.
If you have your Bible or your Bible app, I want to invite you to open to Deuteronomy 7. I’m not sure if you’ve spent any time reading the pages of Deuteronomy lately! But throughout this ancient text we have these reminders all along the way about the faithfulness of God.
It’s in Deuteronomy that we have powerful reminders of the faithfulness of God. In Deuteronomy 7.9, we read…
“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” – Deuteronomy 7:9, NIV+NLT
Before you go forward, Remember God is faithful
Right here in this moment Moses is speaking to Israel and Moses is reminding all of Israel about who God is.
At this point in the story, they’ve already been delivered from Egypt. These people saw with their own eyes the power of their God on display. They saw all TEN plagues levied against Egypt that ultimately led the Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, to let the people of God go free. And when the Pharaoh changed his mind and brought his armies to pursue Israel as they were leaving the land, they saw God divide the waters of the Red Sea into two parts.
Their feet walked across the dry riverbed with walls of water on each side. And when the last Israelite stepped out of that river bed, with the Egyptian armies, chariots, horses, and soldiers in hot pursuit, they saw the waters of the river crash down from both sides and swallow up their enemies. They witnessed God’s deliverance first hand. They knew the stories because they were a part of the stories!
And then they saw God’s continued faithfulness over the next 40 years as they’ve traveled from Egypt to the promised land God has prepared for them. When they were hungry, God provided manna from heaven, bread from heaven, every day. When they were thirsty God provided water to drink. And when they didn’t know the way God provided a light to guide them on their journey. A cloud by day and a fire by night.
Now, after experiencing the continued, manifest, presence and faithfulness of God for 40 years they’re here, on the doorstep of Canaan. The promised land. A land flowing with milk and honey. A land where once again they will experience God’s faithfulness as God will help them win every battle even though they will be outnumbered and outmatched…
As long as they go with God they will go undefeated. As long as they remain faithful to God they will experience the favor of God.
So Moses gives them this reminder BEFORE they set one foot in the promised land of God. He calls them to REMEMBER!
“Know therefore that the LORD your God is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” – Deuteronomy 7:9, NIV+NLT
Even when…
Don’t forget that your God has always been faithful.
Even when you weren’t faithful, God was faithful.
Even when you complained about your situation, God was faithful.
Even when you were ready to give up on his promises and return to your slavery, God was faithful.
Even when you thought you knew better that He did, God was faithful.
Even when you disobeyed His commands and His will for you, God was faithful.
Even when you lost faith in Him, God was faithful.
God has never not been faithful to His people.
He has always been faithful. Always been kind. Always been good. Always been with you, for you, working all things together for your good and for His ultimate glory.
Have you Forgotten?
I wonder today if you need that same reminder.
Have you forgotten the goodness of God? Have you forgotten the faithfulness of God.
Could it be that, after everything that’s happened over the past 12 months, that you might forget? That you might forget the faithfulness of God. The goodness of God.
Larry and Chrissy Watters live in Nova Scotia. One winter, they parked their truck by the lake and unloaded the four wheeler. Larry could see that the lake was covered in snow and there were tire tracks across the lake in the snow. All of that led him to believe the ice was safe to cross.
So he and his wife got on the four wheeler and took off across the ice. As they were making their way across the lake, their worst fear became a reality. The ice gave way, the four wheeler rolled over, and they went into those icy waters. Larry tried to get out, clawing at the ice. But he couldn’t get a grip. He couldn’t get out.
He and his wife Chrissy were treading ice for about 10 minutes when they realized that this was it. There was no way out of the water. There was no one to help. Larry moved over to his wife in the water and gave her a kiss. They were saying their goodbyes.
But then, Larry’s hand brushed up against his side under the water and he felt something. It was his Leatherman. You’ve probably seen this tool before. It’s a pair of pliers with a knife inside and some other tools all built into one. He had forgotten about it. He had forgotten that this little multi tool was on his belt.
He pulled it out, opened it up, got a good grip, and then jabbed it into the ice. Using his Leatherman as an anchor in the ice, he was able to pull himself out of the water. Then, he pulled his wife out. They both survived!
Divine Intervention
Sometimes we forget because we’re distracted. Sometimes we forget because we’re tired. But many time we forget because we’re afraid.
Fear makes us forget. And when we forget we often lose hope. Just like Larry and Chrissy in those icy waters… it’s easy to lose hope when we’re afraid, when we’re drowning, when it feels like there’s no one there to help and no way to get out of the hole we’re in.
Chrissy would later say in an interview that they were able to survive because of the Leatherman… but more than that, because of divine intervention.
Maybe today, you need that same reminder. I know I do. That there is a God who intervenes on your behalf. That our God is always working, intervening in our lives, for our good and for His ultimate glory.
That our… “God is God, the faithful God who keeps his covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes his unfailing love on those who love him and obey his commands.” Deuteronomy 7:9, NIV+NLT
If the greatest danger to your spiritual life is forgetfulness… today, it’s my prayer that you will…
Remember that God is always good and God is always faithful.
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