The Word That is Building My Trust in God

During my college years, I thought I would go mad with indecisiveness. Anyone who knew me at the time suffered through my lengthy monologues about which major I should choose and how my decision would irrevocably change life after graduation. I was dramatic with a side of frantic. In that anxious season of life, I sensed God pushing a word to the forefront of my consciousness, one that I largely ignored at the time.

Hearing a word from God is not something that happens to me frequently, or ever, really. I read my Bible, pray, and see His leading by testing the desires of my heart. But the idea of hearing from God raised many questions. How can I know if it’s really from Him or just my own thinking? If it is a word from God, what am I supposed to do with it? Those questions gave me pause, but seeing that I am ten years down the road and still thinking about that word, I’ve decided to explore its importance.  So what’s the word?

Remember.

As I’ve turned this word over in my mind, I found several different truths to consider, but the one that rises to the top is this:

Remembering God’s past faithfulness allows us to trust his future provision.

If I had taken a breath between career assessments and skill surveys to consider the power of remembrance, maybe I would have slept easier at night instead of poring over course catalogs. I imagine that meditating on God’s faithfulness would have come with the reminder that I’m not powerful enough to ruin God’s plan for my life with a decision about my degree. I do sympathize with my college self because I still struggle with the knowledge that today’s choices impact the future. In the years since, I’ve learned that when I remember God’s presence and provision and call to mind the ways in which He was faithful in my past, I am able to more easily trust Him for my current and future needs. As I learn to trust Him, my faith begins to soar.

Putting it into Practice

Years ago when I was a child living at home, I would overhear my parents discussing finances and expenses that pulled at their attention. My parents seemed to expertly manage their dollars and provided everything our family needed. But when unexpected costs came up—the air conditioner quit working or the insurance rates went up—I would hear worried words. “How can we afford this?” As I attempted to encourage my mom I would ask, “Has God ever not provided for you in the past?” She would answer, “Well, no…” This reminder from a nine year old girl was naive in one sense—I didn’t understand the pressures of adulthood, managing money, or the consequences of not paying a bill—but it was also profoundly true and right. God is always with us, always providing.

Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? -Matthew 6:26-27 (ESV)

Believing God doesn’t mean that our trying circumstances are immediately washed away. What it does mean is that God will walk with us through that valley and see us to the other side.

Believing God doesn't mean that our trying circumstances are immediately washed away. What it does mean is that God will walk with us through that valley and see us to the other side. #PracticeRemembrance Click To Tweet

Our memories are fickle, funny things and without an active discipline of remembrance, we are prone to forgetfulness. Take heart that this isn’t unique to you or me. We see this cycle of forgetting, falling astray, remembering, and repenting all throughout the Old Testament in Israel’s history.

Battling Forgetfulness

Once we know of our inclination to forget, how do we battle against it? Here are some practices I’m trying.

1. Journaling my prayers. Nothing fancy. Just the date of my prayer and a few words to remind me of my request. Have you ever prayed and prayed for something? Once the trial or day is over, you’re filled with relief and then move on to the next thing in your life. Did you remember to thank God for His goodness to you? I have done this many times and later been convicted that once my answer to prayer was secure, I was no longer quite so desperate to meet God in prayer. A prayer journal places a record of requests before my eyes and reminds me of the countless ways in which God shows up in my life.

Also, let me make a quick note here that the topic of prayer is a deep and complex one. While it may appear at times that a prayer goes unanswered, we can always remain assured that God is present with us, whatever the circumstance, and that fact alone is worthy of our rejoicing.

2. I ask God to remind me of a time when He showed Himself to be faithful in my life. Take a moment and remember. After remembering, stand on faith that God will continue to uphold His promises in your future.

3. I wrote down my testimony and shared it aloud with someone. Remember your personal story of how God brought you from a place of spiritual death to life.

4. I am tucking Scripture away in my heart that reminds me of God’s faithfulness.

• Psalm 33:4 “For the Word of the Lord is upright, and all His work is done in faithfulness.”
• Psalm 119:90 “Your faithfulness endures to all generations; you have established the earth, and it stands fast.”
• Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”
• Romans 8: 38-39 “For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
• 2 Timothy 2:13 “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.”

Our faith grows when we behold the record of God’s faithfulness. How will you remember Him today? Do you practice the discipline of remembrance? What do you choose to remember today? Let me know in the comments!