Always Remember

As we are home this week for what would have been our Spring Break in my current city, we are making adjustments to our schedule and patterns based on the coronavirus or covad-19. It is easy to complain about the challenges of washing our hands every 30-60 minutes, not having any toilet paper in the store, and having to stay home from school, work, church, etc.

It’s easy to complain about having to stay home with your kids watching Netflix on one of your color televisions until you remember the time when there was only one television in the house that was black and white with a foil wrapped antenna and plier turned knob to change channels. It’s easy to complain about internet interruptions until you remember a time when we typed on a blind typewriter or word processor. It’s easy to complain about eating chicken three days in a row, until you remember eating fried bologna sandwiches or mayonnaise sandwiches. I hope you are getting my point.

When the people of Israel were free from Egyptian bondage, they wandered in the desert for 40 years. God provided manna and quail from heaven daily but they wanted to go back to Egypt where they had food and shelter but were enslaved. They were free in bodies but still enslaved in they’re minds. The key to avoiding this desert wandering mindset is to remember. In the Old Testament he kept telling the people of God to remember. Remembering allows us to be grateful for our past, content with our present, and hopeful for our future trusting that God is in control.

Slavery was not good and did not feel good, but through it they used their skills to build a nation and saw God as a deliverer. As they remember they’re past of being slaves in Egypt, practice contentment with their manna and quail, and look forward to the hope of the Promiseland. In the end, an entire generation died off in the desert because they struggled to remember the past, be content with the present, and hope for the future. When 10 of the 12 spies peeked into the Promiseland, they said, “We look like grasshoppers in our own eyes.” They did not understand how you look in your eyes isn’t as important as how you look in God’s eyes. God promised them they would make it the Promiseland. God promised Abraham he would be the father of many nations. God promised them they would have good success if they kept the book of the law.

I challenge you today, to remember where God has brought you from as an encouragement for where he can take you in the future.

If you would like to read more of my writing, I encourage you to order my devotional book, “Being: A 30-Day Guide to Being Who God Created You to Be”. It’s available on my website at www.coreytabor.com/store or on Amazon in print and Kindle.