Devotion for Monday, February 29

Readings for the Day

   Psalm 77, 80

   Genesis 44: 18-34

   I Corinthians 7: 25-31

   Mark 5: 21-43

I will call to mind the deeds of the Lord; I will remember your wonders of old. I will meditate on all your work, and muse on your mighty deeds (Psalm 77:11-12)

One of the great gifts we have in life is the ability to remember.  When this escapes us, as perhaps you  have experienced with a loved one, it can be disheartening.  I remember visiting my grandmother who was suffering with dementia.  She had no idea who I was.  Fortunately, she was "pleasantly confused" as our family would say.  She enjoyed seeing me, and her love for me was evident.  She just couldn't remember me.  And it was sad.  

The psalmist speaks to the powerful gift that remembering can be for our lives of faith.  In the midst of struggles and pains, we are encouraged to remember that God has come through before and God will come through again. In fact, God comes through for us, for our world, and amidst the events that shape our lives as a matter of course.  It is was God does, even though it may not seem like it at times, primarily because God is not coming through how we want God to do so.  Still, we have many millennium of evidence that God does and will work hope and promise into our lives.

The psalmist reminds us to meditate and muse on how God meets us, redeems us, and restores us in our lives.  As we do this, we come to find that we can trust God yet again to encourage hope and offer grace to us.  I believe that one of the great gifts of worship is having a weekly reminder of this activity of God.  Worship invites us to remember again the mighty acts and wonders of God in Christ.

God who remembers us, help us to be faithful in remembering who you are and whose we are. Amen.