"Our fathers, when they were in Egypt,
did not consider your wondrous works;
they did not remember the abundance of your steadfast love,
but rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea" (Psalm 106:7).
It's easy to read through the Book of Exodus and get so annoyed at the Israelites for constantly forgetting what the Lord had done for them.
For example, after God unleashed 10 plagues on Egypt, which finally convinced Pharaoh to release the Hebrew people from hundreds of years of slavery, He led His people to the Red Sea. You'd think that after the impressive display of the plagues, the Israelites wouldn't doubt God's power or His good plan for them. But they did. "Is it because there are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness?" (Exodus 14:11).
But God hadn't freed them to kill them. So He parted the waters, they crossed, and their enemies were swallowed up.
After witnessing something as glorious as the parting of the Red Sea, you'd think the Israelites wouldn't have had a problem trusting God again. But, 3 days later, after not having any water to drink, they arrived in Marah to discover that the water there was bitter. Once again, they started to complain to Moses, "What are we going to drink?" (Exodus 15:24). And once again, the Lord did something amazing. When Moses threw wood from a tree into the water, the water became sweet. Over and over again, God showed them that He could be trusted, but their pattern of unbelief continued.
I can get annoyed at the Israelites, but it's only because I'm just like them. God has come through for me in unbelievable ways in the past, but each time I face a new obstacle, I think, Can I trust God this time? Maybe He's done delivering me. That little tinge of unbelief becomes fertile ground for the enemy to start planting seeds of doubt in my heart and my mind about the goodness of God, about the good plans He has for my life, and about His unconditional love for me. When those seeds grow roots, I get in the grumbling mode. Are you just trying to torment me, Lord!? Did You deliver me before only to lead me into this wilderness to rot and die?!
This is a dangerous pattern.
One thing the Lord has been showing me is that He commands His people to remember His past deeds (in our lives and in Scripture), not because He wants to tease us with what He did before but isn't planning on doing again, but because He wants us to know that He is the same God. Remembering will encourage us to believe that He will come through for us in the present just like He has in the past.
A couple of years ago, when the Lord came through for me against all odds, I wrote the following note to myself as a memorial stone of sorts, and I've gone back to it several times in this season when I've been tempted to believe that His coming through for me was the exception, and that I shouldn't expect it again:
“Emily,
If you’re reading this right now it’s likely because you find yourself in a difficult spot. Do you feel like God has forgotten you? Do you feel like he’s withholding what’s good? That He’s dangling what your heart desires in front of you like a carrot, just outside of your reach?
If so, remember this: you felt the same way for years about your job, and look what He did! He did so far exceedingly abundantly for you. I promise you He’ll do the same in your current situation! Hold on to hope and remember that God is SO faithful and trustworthy and good. He will bring you out of this season in His perfect timing and in His perfect way.
He’s the God who makes a way where there is no way. Nothing is impossible for Him! He is good!”
God is faithful, and God is good. And when I'm tempted to think anything contrary to these two truths, I can know that thought is a lie that needs to be taken captive and brought under the submission of lordship of Christ. Then, I can to turn my thoughts to God's faithfulness, which the psalmist boasted "reaches beyond the clouds" (Psalm 36:5), and trust that He is exactly who He says He is, and that I can take Him at His Word.
So, yes, I can trust Him this time, and every time.
"I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your wonders of old" (Psalm 77:11).
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