Will We Endure to the End? (Part Two)

 Will We Endure to the End? (Part Two) Proverbs6:6 instructs us to study the ant, consider its ways, and gain wisdom. In Part One, instead of an ant, we looked to a rat to learn about a necessary element to enduring—remembering. Remembering engenders hope because if it happened before, it could happenagain. After all, our great God does not change (Malachi3:6). That hope can motivate us to persevere through difficult times because remembering reminds us that God keeps His promise to provide a way of escape (ICorinthians 10:13). Consider that the rat did not have the assurances we have from God, yet it persevered. How much more then is expected of us? Israel experienced the Red Sea parting, and Elijah called fire from heaven. While those miracles should have been memorable, they proved that remembering is not guaranteed. Because we have not witnessed the incredible interventions of God asthey did, we may be at greater risk of forgetting. How can we avoid repeating the mistake of forgetting? As to be expected, God helps us. First, He provides His annual Sabbaths, which remind us of what He has done, is doing, and will do in the future. Then, He gives us the weekly Sabbath. Our subject is remembering, and the Sabbath command begins with "Remember the Sabbath." Deuteronomy 5:15 reminds us that the Sabbath is about the importance of remembering and not forgetting: And remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out from there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm; therefore the LORDyour God commanded you to keep the Sabbath day. The Easy-to-Read Version renders the last clause as, "That is why the LORD your God commands you to always make the Sabbath a special day." Here, one of God's reasons forcommanding the Sabbath is to protect against forgetting. The Sabbath gives us the time to reflect on and remember His interventions. He has provided a system designed to help ensure that we endure to the end. Do we take advantage of it? A tendency of human nature is that when we do things regularly, they become routine. After a while, we do them automatically without much thought, which leads to forgetfulness. So, it takes effort to build into our weekly Sabbath routine thetime to remember and meditate specifically on God's interventions in our lives. But, what do we remember? As individuals, we have not experienced the Red Sea parting. But is that entirely true? Notice that the apostle Paul had a "Red Sea" experience, one where his back was up against the wall with no hope of deliverance.He recounts it in II Corinthians 1:8-10: For we do not want you to be ignorant, brethren, of our trouble which came to us in Asia: that we were burdened beyond measure, above strength, so that we despaired even of life. Yes, we had the sentence of death in ourselves, that we shouldnot trust in ourselves but in God who raises the dead, who delivered us from so great a death, and does deliver us; in whom we trust that He will still deliver us . . .. Paul believed that this experience taught him to trust God no matter the circumstances (Philippians4:12-13). It produced a hope that allowed him to persevere so that at the end of his life, he could say in II Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith." He endured to the end. Even though Paul lost all hope, despairing of life, God came to the rescue to teach him—and us through him—that we can trust Him. Jeremiah writes, "Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,and whose hope is the LORD" (Jeremiah17:7). Nahum adds, "The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him" (Nahum1:7). Have we had our own "Red Sea" moments? Was there a time when our backs were against the wall, and all seemed lost, yet out of the blue and in the nick of time, God provided a way of escape (ICorinthians 10:13)? Often it happens in a way, like the parting of the Red Sea, that would have never entered our minds as a possibility. Unlike the Israelites, we never want to forget that experience or let it recede into the back of our minds where forgetfulness resides. Then there are "Joseph" experiences, those times when we felt like we were cursed and wondered where God was. Because God is always there (Psalm23:4), if given enough deep reflection—usually long after the event—we can often see that God laid the groundwork for a blessing, as in the life of the patriarch Joseph. After all he went through, and because he recognized God's hand in his life, he couldsay to his brothers in Genesis 50:20, "But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive." Those experiences are critical to remember because living them is evidence that no matter whatwe face, as Paul encourages us in Romans 8:28, "All things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose." It gives us hope that allows us to wait quietly, without anxiety, knowing that God will act (Lamentations3:26). But how can we ensure that we never forget what God has done for us? As previously mentioned, we should regularly use God's gift of the Sabbath to review, rehearse, and ruminate on the many ways He has intervened in our lives so thatwe do not forget. But as Elijah and the Israelites proved, memory is a weak reed to lean on. In such a case, imitating God by having a written record of all interventions, small and great (see Psalm 78), would protect against an unreliable memory. Such a writtenhistory would gather every divine intervention we have experienced in one place. We should not forget to include blessings because they are also interventions by God. As James 1:17 notes, "Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights . . .." This review should be a family activity to build a foundation for a child's future (Psalm78:4-8). They will have their own stories to record and remember as time progresses. One problem with starting a written record now is that while we can remember the big moments when God was there, our memory has already lost many of the smaller ones. Regularly reviewing our list and adding to it is necessary to protect againstsuch memory failures. Remembering God's interventions in the big moments of life is essential but so are even the smallest ones. They remind us that God is there in every moment of our lives, as Job 7:17-18 reveals, "What is man, that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart on him, that You should visit him every morning, and test [or, examine] him every moment?" How much different would our behavior be if God stood beside us every moment? In reality, He is, which is another thing we often forget. Being reminded regularly of the constant presence of God (Psalm23:4) can be an essential aid to continue paddling and doing those things that please Him, no matter the circumstances, until the very end. Additionally, reviewing God's interventions and blessings leads to thankfulness, deepening our relationship withGod, and proving His care and love for us (IPeter 5:7). Will we endure to the end? That may largely depend on how seriously we take Deuteronomy 4:9: "Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and grandchildren." - Pat Higgins