How quickly we forget God’s great deliverances in our lives. How easily we take for granted the miracles he performed in our past. Yet the Bible tells us over and over, “Remember your deliverances.”
We’re so like the disciples. They didn’t understand Christ’s miracles when he supernaturally fed thousands with just a few loaves and fishes. Jesus performed this miracle twice, feeding 5,000 people one time and a crowd of 4,000 the next. Yet, just a few days later, the disciples had dropped these events from memory.
It happened when Jesus warned them about the leaven of the Pharisees. The disciples thought he said this because they’d forgotten to bring bread for their journey. But Christ answered them, “Do ye not yet understand, neither remember the five loaves of the five thousand, and how many baskets ye took up? Neither the seven loaves of the four thousand, and how many baskets ye took up?” (Matthew 16:9-10).
According to Mark, Christ was overwhelmed by how quickly his disciples had forgotten his incredible works. Jesus said, “Perceive ye not yet, neither understand? Have ye your heart yet hardened? Having eyes, see ye not? And having ears, hear ye not? And do ye not remember? When I brake the five loaves among five thousand, how many baskets full of fragments took ye up?” (Mark 8:17-19).
What do these passages tell us? It’s clear that none of the disciples stopped to consider what was happening as those miraculous feedings took place. Try to picture these men walking among the crowds carrying their baskets, passing out loaves and fishes that multiplied miraculously before their eyes. You’d think those disciples would have fallen on their knees, crying, “How is this possible? It’s simply awesome. It’s totally beyond human explanation. Oh, Jesus, you truly are Lord.” I imagine them urging the people they served, “Here, feast on miracle food, sent from glory. Jesus has provided it. Behold our God, and worship him!”
The disciples saw these wondrous works with their own eyes. Yet, somehow, the miracles’ significance didn’t register with them. And now, just a short time later, they were filled with doubts and questions about “having no bread.” Jesus had to point out to them, “How quickly you’ve forgotten the miracles God has wrought for you. You didn’t understand your deliverances.”
I wonder also: why didn’t those crowds, who’d been fed so miraculously, rise up to worship Jesus? Why didn’t they praise God with upraised voices and outstretched arms? Evidently, they didn’t understand their miracles, either. And it was for the same reason that you and I quickly forget God’s miracles in our own lives. Yesterday’s deliverances are quickly forgotten amid the crises of today.
Throughout both Testaments, we read, “Remember the powerful arm of the Lord, to perform miracles on your behalf. Remember all your past deliverances.” Consider Moses’ exhortation to Israel after the miracle of the Red Sea:
“Moses said unto the people, Remember this day, in which ye came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand the Lord brought you out from this place…. When thy son asketh thee in time to come, saying, What is this? That thou shalt say unto him, By strength of hand the Lord brought us out from Egypt, from the house of bondage…. It shall be for a token upon thine hand, and for frontlets between thine eyes: for by strength of hand the Lord brought us forth out of Egypt ” (Exodus 13:3, 14, 16).
The Pharisees interpreted this last verse to an extreme. They made phylacteries, or tiny boxes containing written laws, which they strapped to their arms and foreheads. Yet what Moses was describing here was a metaphor, a spiritual ministry. It was a command to every Israelite to indelibly stamp in their minds all the awesome deliverances they’d seen. The Lord was telling them, in essence:
“Guard these memories, and keep them close at hand. Make them always fresh in your mind. Every time you face a crisis, every time you face a giant, every time a fierce enemy comes at you, you’re to remember all the miracles I’ve provided you. Don’t ever forget the deliverances you’ve experienced. Keep a mental diary of them, and remember each detail. Then be sure to tell them all to your children. Keep talking about your miracles, from generation to generation. It will build your faith, and the faith of every generation to follow.”
No one saw greater miracles of deliverance than Moses’ generation. It started with the awesome ten plagues that fell on Egypt . Swarms of locusts, invasions of frogs, rivers turning to blood, darkness so pitch-black it was tangible — these things all brought chaos and confusion upon the Egyptians. Yet all the while, Israel sat securely in their camp, protected from it all.
Those same Israelites saw a glory cloud settle behind them, hiding them from Pharaoh’s approaching army. They saw the night sky light up with a pillar of fire, warming them during the cold nights in the wilderness. And they saw an entire sea open up before them, walled high on either side. They walked through those walled-up waves on dry ground. And the next day, Israel saw Pharaoh’s army supernaturally destroyed, as those same walls of water came crashing down on their pursuers, wiping them out.
What great deliverances Israel experienced! Yet they didn’t understand any of them. In fact, they soon forgot them all. How do we know this? It’s written down: “Our fathers understood not thy wonders in Egypt; they remembered not the multitude of thy mercies; but provoked him at the sea, even at the Red sea” (Psalm 106:7). How did Israel provoke God at the Red Sea? Just three days after their miraculous deliverance, they accused God of leading them into the desert to let them die of thirst.
“They turned back and tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy. How he had wrought his signs in Egypt …and had turned their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink” (78:41-44). “They soon forgat his works; they waited not for his counsel…. They forgat God their saviour, which had done great things in Egypt; wondrous works in the land of Ham, and terrible things by the Red sea” (106:13, 21-22).
The very thing Moses had chided Israel about ended up happening. He had warned, “Take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons” (Deuteronomy 4:9).
I see the same thing happening today in the church of Jesus Christ. We are commanded by God’s Word to “wear our deliverances.” We’re to put them on every morning, the way we put on our clothes. And we’re to keep them at hand, to ever hold them up before our eyes. Yet, I ask you: how many miraculous past deliverances are you wearing right now? How vividly do you keep in mind God’s miracles for you? Are they so close at hand that you could stand up right now and testify of every glorious detail?
When the Holy Spirit put this question to me, I was overwhelmed. I could only remember a few of my deliverances in any significant detail. I’ve forgotten so many. And I’ve taken for granted so many more. Worse, I hadn’t remembered them at my most important times: when I faced other crises. The memory of my deliverances could have fed my faith during those trials.
We’re commanded to tell our children and grandchildren of all the great things God has done for us. I should even have them written down, a diary of my deliverances. So, why is this command to remember so important?
It is for our own benefit that God tells us to remember. The memory of our past deliverances helps increase our faith for what we’re going through right now.
Are you facing a crisis? Do you have a menacing giant of a problem, at home, at work, or in your family? The only way to face a giant is to do as David did: remember the lion and the bear. That’s how David could go up against Goliath without fear: by remembering God’s faithfulness to him in his past crises. Let me explain.
When David volunteered to fight Goliath, “Saul said to David, Thou art not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him… And David said unto Saul, Thy servant kept his father’s sheep, and there came a lion, and a bear, and took a lamb out of the flock: and I went out after him, and smote him, and delivered it out of his mouth… Thy servant slew both the lion and the bear; and this uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them” (1 Samuel 17:33 -36).
Most likely, David testified to Saul, “I remember the size of the bear that came at me. I wrapped each of my hands in a cloth, stuck them in his mouth, and ripped his jaw apart. Then I took the bear’s carcass and skinned it. I gave the coat from its fur to my father, as a testimony of God’s power to deliver me.”
David knew the danger he was facing against Goliath now. He wasn’t some novice, a naïve kid full of bravado and looking for a fight. No, David was simply remembering his past deliverances. And now he looked his enemy squarely in the eye and stated, “The Lord that delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine” (17:37).
Multitudes of God’s people today face giants on all sides. Yet many cower in fear. Does this describe you? Have you forgotten the time you were so sick that you were close to death, but the Lord raised you up? Do you remember that financial disaster when you thought, “That’s it, I’m finished,” yet the Lord saw you through it, and has kept you to this day?
Consider these trying stories from people who have written to our ministry:
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An older couple grieves over their minister son’s terrible actions. The young pastor has left his wife and two children and abandoned his ministry to pursue the gay lifestyle. His parents are devastated, especially as they think of the effects on their grandchildren.
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A pastor and his wife grieve over a daughter whom they prayed out of her deathbed. After the girl was healed, she started using drugs and ended up marrying a man who became a killer. He’s in jail now, and the panicked girl is losing control, having thoughts of suicide. Now her parents have regrets about her healing, even wondering whether it would have been better for her not to be healed.
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A young mother with three children sits alone in her rented house. Her husband died recently, leaving her with no insurance and no means of support. She’s alone and penniless.
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An Oklahoma businessman is being sued by his partner, a man who calls himself a Christian. The partner is intent on stealing the business that this man started. The businessman only wants to reason with his partner, but the partner refuses to speak to him. Now the courts are siding with the partner, even though this businessman has only done right toward him.
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A 55-year-old man in Pittsburgh was laid off from his high-paying job. Now he’s plagued with the pressing thought, “Who wants to hire a 55-year-old?” He has debts and had also been helping his children financially. Now panic is setting in, so he goes out walking day after day, too ashamed to sit at home and do nothing.
These are just a few of the giants that believers are facing. Many other saints write to us of their excruciating trials, saying, “I don’t understand.” These are all faithful believers who trust in God’s Word and walk in his Spirit. As a shepherd of the Lord, what am I to tell them?
The truth is, there are many things we don’t understand, and we simply won’t understand them until we’re home with Jesus. But I absolutely believe that God can heal, and that he has a way out of every situation. The question for us is, where do we find the faith, the courage, to stand up and gain victory in him?
It comes only by remembering the lion and the bear. It comes when you’re able to recall the incredible faithfulness of God, and all the past victories he has given you. You see, you can’t face a giant until you’re able to envision and understand the majesty and glory of God in your life. To do that, I urge you to go back to the very beginning, when you first started out with the Lord.
Do you remember what you were like before Jesus saved you? Do you really know how close to hell you were, some perhaps close to suicide, others close to being demonically possessed? Do you recall the miracle, the change that took place, the deliverance that brought you out of the pit you were in?
Do you remember how you were delivered from mounting temptations, from traps that the devil had set for you? Did you come close to giving in? Did you almost cast everything aside? Did you get so discouraged, so overwhelmed, you thought it was useless to go on with the Lord?
Remember: the Spirit of God came upon you. You repented, and he drew you back to himself. The Lord plucked you out of the devil’s trap, on that occasion and many others. Ask yourself, how many desperate prayers has the Lord answered for you?
If possible, get in your car and drive to a farm road at night. Stop the car, get out, and look up at the moon and the millions of stars. Then remember your Creator God and all his handiwork.
The astronaut Charlie Duke once spoke to our singles group at Times Square Church. He told of what it was like being in a tiny space capsule 28,000 miles from the earth, racing toward the moon. As the crew turned the craft to its side, someone exclaimed, “Look at that incredible sight!”
It was the earth, hanging wondrously in black space. There it hung, a huge, bright ball, supported by nothing at all. The whole crew was overwhelmed at the sight. They knew only an incredible Creator God could have wrought it.
Indeed, this was the same plan God used to bring Job out of his grief. The Lord made that suffering man turn his eyes to the foundations of the earth, and asked, “To what is the earth fastened, Job? What holds it up in space?” God went further, asking, “Who shut up the sea in its borders? Who tells the mighty ocean, ‘Come to this point but no farther’? What keeps the waves from overwhelming the land? Why aren’t you drowning from rising waters, Job? And where is the spring from which the seas flow?
“How is the light parted from the darkness? How is the wind divided and scattered? How is rain born? Can man produce lightning, thunder, clouds? Who do you think set all these forces of nature in place, Job? Who put wildness and tameness in the nature of beasts?”
God literally took Job through a “power course,” revealing his past creation. Through it all, Job was being told, “You forgot who I am. You accuse me of neglect. You doubt my concern for you and my power to deliver you. Yet I’ve shown you how I care for all my vast creation” (see Job 38-40).
The Lord went on, until finally Job was overwhelmed. Now Job looked at his problems and said, “I’ve been foolish. I’ve had my eyes in the wrong place: on my pain, instead of on you. Oh, Lord, I’d forgotten all these things about you. I know you can do everything. And I know that no thought can be withheld from you” (see 42:2-3).
Fear can’t get a stranglehold on the heart of someone whose eyes are full of a vision of God’s greatness and majesty.
Nehemiah understood this principle well. He paced back and forth on the walls of Jerusalem as a tired, weary remnant below tried to rebuild the city. The Israelites were surrounded by fierce adversaries, a coalition of three nations led by Sanballat and wicked Tobiah. Now fear was beginning to set in. The city’s walls weren’t finished, and there were heaps of rubbish everywhere. The worn-out workers were forced to toil with a hammer in one hand and a sword in the other.
What was the answer to their fears? How could they go forward and not cave in? Nehemiah brought to their memory how great and awesome their God is. “I looked, and rose up, and said unto the nobles, and to the rulers, and to the rest of the people, Be not afraid of them: remember the Lord, which is great and terrible, and fight” (Nehemiah 4:8).
Dear saint, are you afraid in your situation? Has your problem gotten to you, shaking your confidence in the Lord? If so, remember how great and terrible your God is. That’s exactly how Moses dealt with fear in his congregation. He said to Israel: “If thou shalt say in thine heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the Lord thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt …. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the Lord thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible” (Deuteronomy 7:17 -18, 21).
Moses was saying, “You’re going to face many great enemies who are more powerful than you. You’ll wonder how you can ever get the victory against such odds. But all you have to do is remember how great and mighty your God is. Remember what he did to your enemies in the past, and how faithful he was to deliver you.”
Moses urged Israel , “He did all of this for you. And you are to appropriate his power.” “He is thy praise, and he is thy God, that hath done for thee these great and terrible things, which thine eyes have seen” (Deuteronomy 10:21 ).
David asked, “What one nation in the earth is like thy people, even like Israel, whom God went to redeem for a people to himself, and to make him a name, and to do for you great things and terrible, for thy land, before thy people, which thou redeemedst to thee from Egypt, from the nations and their gods?” (2 Samuel 7:23).
God declares to us, “I am the Lord, I change not” (Malachi 3:6). And today he’s still seeking to show his greatness to all who will believe and appropriate his power. “The eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect towards him” (2 Chronicles 16:9).
Moses’ dying words to God’s people were, “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the Lord thy God, he it is that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Deuteronomy 31:6).
Finally, we hear from the apostle Paul. He prayed for the opening of the eyes of every saint, to see the greatness of God’s power toward us: “That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened; that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power” (Ephesians 1:17-19, italics mine).
Of all the most important things I remember, the greatest is the memory we share each week at the Communion table. We remember the Lord’s death, the most incredible miracle of all. Our Lord Jesus Christ has conquered death, and today he stands victoriously over every trial you face. Moreover, he is with you in your trial. I urge you: lift up your eyes from your pain, and remember his wondrous works for you. Then you’ll have a vision of the majesty and glory of God who is your deliverance.