"Why can't the past just die?"

Maybe it's an American thing, but we expect the past to stay in the past. If it weren't past, it would be present; and, after all, it is the present that is the gift. (*involuntary gag response*) We like things new and shiny and futuristic. If we are going to buy vintage clothing re-worked into this year’s fashion, we're not going to notice the repetition. We also want the past to become the past quickly. We aren't good at waiting.

Large parts of the rest of the world move much slower than we do as a matter of course. Large parts of the rest of the world place a high value on their connections to their ancestors, their traditions, their heritage, and their inheritance.

More importantly, Scripture emphasizes not only the inevitability and importance of waiting patiently, but also the living nature of the past. It emphasizes remembering the past, not in remembering its mistakes or wishing we could still be there, but in remembering the faithfulness of God—remember the Exodus; remember the Exile; remember the Cross.

Remembering God's faithfulness strengthens us in the weakness of our own forgetful faith. We use the phrase "remember when" casually enough now, and we feel the power it has to connect us to each other. Let's go a step further. Let's remember as God remembers, in remembering as a necessary precursor to action. More importantly, let's remember that God remembers, that He does not forget us and that His love never falters.

Remember when we first knew that He had loved us since before we had the ability to recognize it? Remember when the joy of the Lord sang in our hearts? Remember the touch of His healing hand? Remember when our frustrations with the past fell away when we turned our faces to Him? Remember His good and precious promises?

Praise God for the past, even the past we wish would just die—it points to Him.

Remember!

"This I recall to my mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness."
~~Lamentations 3:21-23 (KJV)

"Seek the LORD and His strength;
Seek His face continually.
Remember His wonderful deeds which He has done,
His marvels and the judgments from His mouth,
O seed of Israel His servant,
Sons of Jacob, His chosen ones!"
~~I Chronicles 16:11-13

"Remember, O LORD,
Your compassion and Your lovingkindnesses,
For they have been from of old.
Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions;
According to Your lovingkindness remember me,
For Your goodness' sake, O LORD."
~~Psalm 25:6-7