WHEN GOD REMEMBERS
Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered . . . .
Did God forget? No! Not at all. But this is a common phrase the bible uses whenever, because of divine intervention, a turning point (either for blessing, deliverance or judgment) has been reached. This turning point may involve a single individual or entire nations.
In Genesis 19:29 God’s remembering resulted in the deliverance of Lot. For Abraham’s sake God sent His angels into Sodom to for all practical purposes literally drag Lot, his wife and two of his daughters out of that city before He destroyed it.
Genesis 19:29 And it came to pass, when God destroyed the cities of the plain, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the overthrow, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had dwelt.
In Genesis 30:22 God’s remembering resulted in Rachel finally at last having a child.
Genesis 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and opened her womb
In Exodus 2:24 God’s remembering resulted in the deliverance of God’s people from their Egyptian bondage.
Exodus 2:24 So God heard their groaning, and God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.
And moving on to the New Testament, in Acts 10:31 God’s remembering resulted in the conversion of Cornelius and his entire family - the first gentile believers to be baptized into the Christian church.
Acts 10:31 "and said, 'Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God.
These are but a few of the many examples found in the Bible. When God remembers, things happen. Again, it is not that God ever forgot, but simply that now God’s intervention, His divine providence, has reached a level that we mere mortals can perceive. And so it is written:
Genesis 8:1 Then God remembered Noah, and every living thing, and all the animals that were with him in the ark. And God made a wind to pass over the earth, and the waters subsided. 2 The fountains of the deep and the windows of heaven were also stopped, and the rain from heaven was restrained. 3 And the waters receded continually from the earth. At the end of the hundred and fifty days the waters decreased.
For the past five months the flood waters had risen continuously, and although the torrential rain that marked the beginning of the flood had abated somewhat after the first 40 days, the rain had, till now, never really stopped. And so far as we know from Scripture, Noah still had no idea how long this ordeal was going to last. It was truly a test of patience. What a relief it must have been to Noah and family when after five long months the rain stopped. Finally at long last there was a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel, some sign that the flood was not going to last forever.
Psalm 27:14 Wait on the LORD; Be of good courage, And He shall strengthen your heart; Wait, I say, on the LORD!
There is a lesson of patience for us in this story. God works on His own schedule, not ours. We look for instant gratification. We want what we want and we want it yesterday. But God is working for bigger purposes. He is working for eternity.
We don’t like to wait. We especially don’t like to wait through five full months of non-stop rain with never a break in the clouds, never a hint that the rain is ever going to end, never a hint that the sun will ever shine bright once again. But it is necessary to wait for God‘s purpose to manifest itself. And the waiting time is not wasted time. It is during these times of waiting that some of the most profound spiritual growth takes place in our lives. When the sun is shining bright in your life and all is going well little faith is needed. It is easy to shout hallelujah on the mountain top. It is when the clouds blot out the sun, and the rain falls in your life with no end in sight that faith is stretched to the limit. And it is only as faith is stretched that it grows.
If you have ever been tempted to think that God has forgotten you, think again. God has not forgotten you. Never for a moment has He ceased watching over you.
Isaiah 49:13 Sing, O heavens! Be joyful, O earth! And break out in singing, O mountains! For the LORD has comforted His people, And will have mercy on His afflicted. 14 But [you] said, "The LORD has forsaken me, And my Lord has forgotten me." 15 "Can a woman forget her nursing child, And not have compassion on the son of her womb? Surely they may forget, Yet I will not forget you. 16 See, I have inscribed you on the palms of My hands; . . . .
He has “inscribed you on the palms of [His] hands.�?Literally. The nail scars on Jesus�?hands bear your name. Those scars testify of the depth of His love for you. You are not forgotten! And so, because we are inscribed on the hands of God, when the rains come in our lives we can know that in due time the sun also shine in our lives once again. When we are overwhelmed by the floods of life, we can patiently wait, knowing that in due time the flood will recede.
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