When life feels heavy, it’s easy to remember the hurt and forget the help. Painful words, disappointments, and moments of betrayal can stay with us for years, while answered prayers, unexpected blessings, and reminders of God’s faithfulness can fade from memory. Scripture repeatedly calls us to remember what God has done—not because He needs reminding, but because we do.

Remembering God’s goodness can steady your heart when circumstances make you question His presence. As you intentionally look back at His faithfulness, you’re reminded that God has been patient, kind, faithful, and present through every season. Taking time to remember His deeds can shift your focus from what has gone wrong to the God who has never stopped working in your life.

Highlights

• Discover why remembering God’s faithfulness is an important part of maintaining a strong faith.
• Learn how forgetting God’s goodness can affect your heart and spiritual direction.
• Reflect on seven things remembering God’s deeds reminds us of, including His patience, kindness, faithfulness, and sacrifice.
• See how remembering God’s past work can bring perspective during difficult seasons.
• Consider practical ways to intentionally remember God’s goodness throughout the year.
• Be encouraged to look back at answered prayers, blessings, and moments when God has been faithful.

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Full Transcript Below:

Remembering the Lord’s Deeds

By Lynette Kittle

Bible Reading:

“I will remember the deeds of the Lord; yes, I will remember your miracles of long ago.” - Psalm 77:11

It seems that, as people, we so easily forget the good things in life much more quickly than the bad, like the cruel words someone spoke to us as a child or the way someone betrayed us.

Whereas traumas, tragedies, heartaches, and disappointments sometimes seem impossible to forget, some even lingering for a lifetime, joyful and wonderful events and experiences are often easily forgotten.

Maybe it’s why God calls us to purposefully remember His goodness and faithfulness in our lives, knowing the enemy can keep us focused and stuck in the sorrows and losses of life, forgetting all the ways God has been present and active in our lives.

Often, we hear of individuals who, in life-and-death situations, say it seemed as if their life events flashed before them, reminding them of things they had forgotten.

Like them, the prophet Jonah had a similar experience, where it took death’s threats to remind him of God’s goodness. “When my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, Lord, and my prayer rose to You, to Your holy temple” (Jonah 2:7).

But it doesn’t have to take us being at death’s door to remember God’s good deeds in our lives, especially since He calls us to remember them, knowing better than we do how forgetting them can lead our hearts astray.

Remembering helps us stay on God’s pathway in our lives. Jeremiah 2:32 describes how easily people forget: “Does a young woman forget her jewelry, a bride her wedding ornaments? Yet My people have forgotten Me, days without number.”

Forgetting has serious consequences as described in Deuteronomy 8:14: “Then your heart will become proud, and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”

In addition, Deuteronomy 8:19 points out: “If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.”

What Remembering God’s Deeds Reminds Us Of

The following are seven reasons why remembering is so important to us, and what we are reminded of when we remember:

• Remembering reminds us of God’s patience. 2 Peter 3:15 urges us to remember,  “Bear in mind that our Lord’s patience means salvation, just as our dear brother Paul also wrote you with the wisdom that God gave him.”
• Remembering reminds us of God’s kindness. Romans 2:4 encourages us, “Or do you show contempt for the riches of His kindness, forbearance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness is intended to lead you to repentance?”
• Remembering reminds us of how He has humbled and tested us. Deuteronomy 8:2 says, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commands.”
• Remembering reminds us of God’s faithfulness. Psalm 119:90 proclaims, “Your faithfulness continues through all generations; You established the earth, and it endures.”
• Remembering reminds us that He is our source. Deuteronomy 8:18 points out, “But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your ancestors, as it is today.”
• Remembering reminds us of God’s gifts. As Romans 11:29 reminds us, we want to take time to remember, “For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.”
• Remembering reminds us of God’s sacrifices. 1 John 2:2 clarifies His sacrifice for us: “He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins, and not only for ours but also for the sins of the whole world.” As well, Ephesians 5:2 encourages, “And walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Intersecting Faith & Life:

Make time today, this week, and every coming week to remember the Lord’s deeds and remind yourself of why it’s good to remember. Commit to making time throughout the coming year to remember the good of the past.

Further Reading:

A Prayer to Remember Life Is But a Breath