If you are like me (Mark), when you go to the grocery store, you’d better have a list…and stick with it. I fear I am a bit of an A.D.D. shopper – especially if I shop for food when hungry. If I am headed to the store for more than three items, yes, I must have a list so I can remember!
Thanks to my brother, John Royse, for getting me into this. I have been meeting with a group of men for prayer and Bible study every Wednesday morning for more than 10 years. Yes, even though we moved to North Carolina, we still meet virtually, thanks to Peter Heffner’s friendship, technology and leadership. For the past several weeks, our men’s prayer group, affectionately known as “A-Team West”, has been working though Laurie Polich Short’s book, “Faith, Doubt, and God’s Mysterious Timing: 30 Biblical Insights about the Way God Works”. Chapter 5, “Guidance Comes from Behind” begins, “The word remember is repeated in forty-seven verses, twenty-eight chapters and nineteen books in the Bible. Curiously, the word is most often used as a command or an encouragement for people who need assurance for what lies ahead. It seems strange that God would tell people to look back to find out how to move forward. But remembering God’s faithfulness in the past is the way our faith is strengthened to lead us into what is to come.” (page 79)
Maybe these points and assignments we discussed will help trigger your memory and encourage you:
- Remembering is how we battle with doubt!
- What you remember will guide your future.
- My faith is sure-footed when I remember His faithfulness and provision.
- “The best place to find courage for what we have to face is to look behind us at God’s faithfulness!”
What are some “stones of remembrance” (Joshua 4:4-7) of God’s faithfulness for you? Where is a place you have experienced God’s Presence? (Gen. 35; compare 28:18-19) For me, this question takes me back to every major transition in my life:
- Moving from Montana to Oklahoma at age 10 in 1962 and then to Saskatchewan in a cotton trailer pulled by a station wagon with 5 siblings in 1963, we watched God work through flat tires, the need for a welder, and “random Good Samaritans” coming to our aid along the way. We can’t leave out the amazing presence of incredible parents who pointed to the Provision of the Father at every turn! The Weyburn years provided an amazing Christian education and a great cloud of witnesses and friendships that led to…
- Moving to Belgium with Jill and an incredible church planting team in 1977, watching in wonder as the Father provided financially (in spite of the bottom falling out of the dollar to Belgian franc value) and spiritually through countless events and encouragers.
- Moving to Ohio in 1993, watching God provide housing, a job and incredible friends for our Third Culture Kids!
- Our move to Texas in 2013 to be resourced by Mission Resource Network, schooled by Dottie Schulz in missionary care, blessed with incredible co-workers and ministry tools, not to mention reconnecting with OC friends and finding many new lifetime relationships.
- Our move to North Carolina to be closer to our Rebekka and her kids, with so much encouragement at every turn as we continue to care and minister.
Let’s ask it this way:
Does the stress of your current circumstances ever affect your memory of God’s faithfulness?
Does the story of Israel speak to you? Check out these transition steps: (Ex. 14:13-14, 18)
- Don’t be afraid. (also compare Joshua 1:7,9; Phil. 4:6-9)
- Stand still. (compare Ps. 46:10
- Watch the LORD! (John 5:16-19)
- Just stay calm! (really!? “Trust” Ps. 28:7)
What has been most memorable for you? Where would you like to stack stones of remembrance? Let’s keep this important discussion going in a Psalm 40 kind of way!
