The Habit of Remembering

If we look through the pages of the Bible we can find several examples of rhythm and cycle. One of these cycles was the cycle of festivals, feasts, and fasts that were given by God for a very particular purpose. The description of the Feast of Unleavened Bread found in Exodus 13 tells us what that purpose was: To remember and teach successive generations about God’s faithfulness. Exodus 13:10 tells the Israelites to keep this statute at the appointed time from year to year, while Exodus 13:8 says, “You shall tell your son on that day, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’”

These types of cycles were implemented to be reminders of God’s faithfulness and invitations to greater levels of trust in God. The cycles formed habits which pointed people to their Creator. The principle didn’t change with the New Covenant either. During the last Passover that Jesus celebrated with his disciples, Jesus tells them that future observance should prompt remembrance of himself—who he is and what he was about to do on their behalf (Luke 22, 1 Corinthians 11).

These cycles and habits are extremely useful. Research has shown that during times of stress people generally engage previously formed habits, whether good or bad. Habits combined with stress can lead us to really push to get a workout in when time gets cramped, or lead us to eat more cookies than we would like to count.

Stress and transitions can really put our habits to the test, and will often reveal what we value most. Recently my family began (I can’t yet say completed) a set of significant transitions. We moved several states away from our long-time home. Employment has changed, family responsibilities have changed, schools have changed, home schedules have changed, etc. What has not changed is our commitment to seek God’s plan and provision in the midst of it all. While we get to worship with a different group of people than we previously met with regularly, we still emphasize corporate worship. While home schedules have changed, we still maintain at least one meal where we’re all present and can interact with one another. Our conversations regularly return to God’s love for us and his desire for us to show that love to others. While employment has changed, our kids get to see us celebrating as God provides—sometimes using other people, sometimes in ways we couldn’t have imagined, and always in ways that he had already prepared. Our hope is that by walking through this transition (and others), our children will have the habits of trusting God, remembering his faithfulness, and seeking his plans as then go through future transitions and stressful times.

We do our best to build these habits so that they, and we, will never forget.

1. What habits do you have which prompt remembrance of God’s faithfulness?
2. Which ones will you strive to pass on to someone else?

-- Jeff Roe