Real Hope: Faithful GodSample

Remember

Have you read the whole Bible from cover to cover? I haven’t. While I have read each of the 66 books, going through in order from Genesis to Revelation remains an unrealised ambition. Until this year when, one random day, I decided to start from ‘In the beginning...’. I’m not using a reading plan or daily schedule. Instead, I’m slowly but surely following the Bible’s set path. I’m up to Deuteronomy, and I’ve realised something I had not before. Throughout Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy, there are frequent calls to remember what God did for His people when rescuing them from Egyptian slavery.

Cut me some slack. I knew about said rescue mission and that God, from time to time, mentioned it as He established the Old Covenant through Moses. But what I didn’t know was that I was wrong. I was wrong to think these ‘remember your slavery and that I rescued you’ references were every now and then. They are waaay more constant than that. After reading the Old Testament’s first five books, I have a strong impression that this display of God’s faithfulness to His (routinely) unfaithful people is foundational. Whether it’s the rationale behind specific commands or the bedrock of a celebration (as Deuteronomy 16:11–12 declares), God’s faithfulness fuels His ongoing instruction to live faithfully for Him.

Remember what God has done. Rejoice in His faithfulness.

Written by BEN McEACHEN