Remember

Matthew 16:^9-10 “…Don’t you remember the 5,000 I fed with five loaves and the baskets of leftovers you picked up? Or the 4,000 I fed with seven loaves and the large baskets of leftovers you picked up?”

Why is it that when God has done a remarkable thing in your life before, and now that you are faced with a challenge, you are panicking? Why is it that you do not have faith? Jesus was and is saying that if you do not remember the five thousand that He fed, at least you should remember the feeding of the four thousand. In other words, God keeps a record of the miracles He has done in your life, and He expects you to keep a record of the miracles too. So that you can be strong and not fret. You will not have any form of anxiety or palpitations when you are faced with another challenge.

God expects that when you are faced with a challenge, you would say, “You fed five thousand, I was there, I ate out of it, and I had a take-home box. You are going to feed me.” God expects us to say, “You fed four thousand with seven loaves. I was there. I saw it with my eyes. I ate out of it, and I went home with a take-home box. Now that I am facing a “no-bread” situation, God will do it again!” God expect us to draw a correlation from His past achievements in our lives and expect that He will perform again because He has done it before.

And that is why when David was justifying to Saul why he was going to face Goliath and win, he said, “While your servant was minding his father’s sheep in the wilderness, a lion came, and I killed it. A bear came and I killed it. This uncircumcised Philistine is going down.” (1 Samuel 17:34-37, paraphrased). How did David know that Goliath was going to go down? David knew that the God who helped him kill the lion, and the bear would help him bring down Goliath. The God who saw you through the challenges number one and two in your life will see you through this challenge number three.

Matthew 16:^7-8 “At this they began to argue with each other because they hadn’t brought any bread. Jesus knew what they were saying, so he said, “You have so little faith! Why are you arguing with each other about having no bread?” (emphasis added). God is saying, when you do not remember the things that He has done for you in the past, your faith dwindles. In other words, remembering is directly proportional to faith. The more you remember the things that God has done for you, the stronger your faith becomes in the God who has done it for you. So, Jesus’ question to them in essence was, “How is it that you do not have faith? Is it that you do not remember? This thing happened less than a year ago.

Prayer (song): God of yesterday, God of today, God of tomorrow, You’re still the same. My very present help in time of need. In every situation, you’ve never failed. Amen!