10/27/2019
Do you want God to think of you in your time of trouble? Do you want Him to remember what you are going through to such a degree that He will place your tears in His bottle, and write an account of it in His book? When we face hardship we call upon the Lord in prayer, and with Him at our side we overcome it... we overcome our suffering by rallying our faith, and trusting in God’s promises. After each such instance we want to do something that will help us remember, and we would like for God to remember as well.
“You have kept count of my tossings; put my tears in your bottle. Are they not in your book?”
Psalms 56:8 ESV
It seems that over the past few weeks I have had several friends who have travelled abroad in Europe, and each of them has posted pictures on Facebook. One thing that seems to be common about these pictures is that at some point each of my friends includes a monument... an ornate remembrance of some great event. In France it might be the Arch de Triomphe which is a monument that Napoleon commissioned in remembrance of his victory in the battle at Austerlitz. Or in Germany it might be the Brabdenburg Gate which marks the restoration of order after the Batavian Revolution. wherever they are at, there is some well known monument that serves as a remembrance of overcoming a hardship. It seems that as a people we want to remember them, and as person of faith we want to remember those times too... thus the tears in God’s bottle, or inscribing our story in God’s book.
“And Joshua said to them, "Pass on before the ark of the Lord your God into the midst of the Jordan, and take up each of you a stone upon his shoulder, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, that this may be a sign among you. When your children ask in time to come, 'What do those stones mean to you?' then you shall tell them that the waters of the Jordan were cut off before the ark of the covenant of the Lord. When it passed over the Jordan, the waters of the Jordan were cut off. So these stones shall be to the people of Israel a memorial forever."”
Joshua 4:5-7 ESV
Men and people of faith have constructed altars, and monuments to help them remember, and in this case Joshua was obeying God in constructing a pile of stones so that future generations would remember the passing of the Arc of the Covenant over the Jordan River in this particular place. God wants us to remember, and He wants to remember with us as well...
“I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh.”
Genesis 9:13-15 ESV
The rainbow prompts God to remember His covenant with all living things regarding the destruction of His creatures via flood. So we see that monuments are not just a pagan practice, but a Godly one as well.
So what is it today that we want to remember, and want God to remember as well? I have a dear friend (Rhonda) who recently fell off a deck that was under construction, and in so doing she fell ten feet to a concrete driveway below... she survived with only a broken pelvis and elbow that could be repaired... I would think she will want to remember that day in which God saved her life. She realizes that He intervened. The question is; what will her monument be, and how would she like God to remember that event? Maybe some tears in a bottle, or a paragraph or two in God’s book? Perhaps it will be something as simple as the cane she is walking with right now, or a little plaque on one of the support posts? Whatever it is, we want to remember occurrences such as this, and we want God to join us in remembering them as well... so we construct a monument or gather keepsakes. This tells everyone who sees our monument that what happened here was not trivial in our eyes, nor the eyes of God.
“Then Jesus told his disciples, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it.”
Matthew 16:24-25 ESV
So as we look at the Cross, we remember what Jesus did for us on Calvary, and when we take Communion we remember Him as well...
“And he took bread, and when he had given thanks, he broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And likewise the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup that is poured out for you is the new covenant in my blood.”
Luke 22:19-20 ESV
Men build monuments of faith, God makes monuments like rainbows, and He also instructs us in building certain things... they are all designed to help us remember together with Him. What moments of faith will you remember in prayer, or build physically, to serve as your remembrances? What will you carve in stone, build with your hands, or store in jars, that will serve as a reminder of God’s glory in your life?
Prayer:
Father, thank you for each monument that we share as a remembrance of our travels together with you. Thank you Holy Father for the Cross on which our Savior was crucified, and the thorns that pierced His brow. Thank you for The bread and the wine we eat that reminds us of Him with every sip or bite. Lord God we thank you for not only our remembrances, but in your joining us in them. These things are meaningful to us, and it is a powerful symbol of your love for us that they are meaningful to you as well. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God who remembers the details of our lives, and knows every hair that has ever been on our heads. Merciful are you Father, and great is your desire to share in the faithful moments of our lives by building monuments, and cherishing the keepsakes that remind us of your goodness. Praised be your name for every bottle of our tears, and every word of our story that you keep. All glory is yours through these small trinkets of faith that mean so much... for the grace that each one of them reminds us of, and of your deliverance by it.
“But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind blow over the earth, and the waters subsided.”
Genesis 8:1 ESV
Rich Forbes