Psalm 40:5

“O Lord my God, you have done many miracles for us. Your plans are too numerous to list. If I tried to recite all your wonderful deeds, I would never come to the end of them.”

As soon as I read these verses, I remembered my study of the life of Moses last year at Bible Study Fellowship. The children of Israel witnessed incredible miracles, like the parting of the Red Sea and manna coming down from heaven. The plan God had for them was marvelous: to move his chosen people to the Promised Land, where they could grow, prosper, and glorify the Lord.

The main theme that stood out in my year-long study was how quick the Israelites were to forget the amazing things God had done for them. They moaned and complained about the lack of water and food, even saying they would have been better off staying in Egypt, where they were harshly treated as slaves. As soon as Moses left them to go up Mount Sinai, they begged Aaron to make them a golden calf that they could worship instead of God. Again and again they promised to change their ways and obey God’s law, but they would turn right around and adopt the detestable practices of the neighboring countries, even as wicked as child sacrifice. Because of their unfaithfulness, many didn’t experience the blessings of God’s beautiful plan for them.

As I read about the Israelites, I found myself judging their behavior as atrocious and unbelievable. But I was quickly humbled as the BSF questions asked if I had ever strayed from the Lord or forgotten a lesson he had just taught me. One particular issue he’s helped me with is worry. Every time I worry, I take my focus off of God and put it on things that I feel are out-of-control. But when I take a deep breath and choose to focus on all the other things I worried about that God helped me through, it’s easier for my faith to stay on track. I don’t want to miss out on the good plans God has for me by putting up roadblocks with blatant sins.

All of us will quickly fall away from the Lord’s best plan for our lives if we don’t regularly count our blessings and remember what God has done for us. It’s important to write out the story of your faithwalk so you can tell others about the times God helped you and so your own faith will be strengthened in future trials.

One of my friends collects rocks with her daughter, and when they receive an answer to prayer or they reach a goal, they write on a rock to record the blessing. Occasionally they will look through the rocks and praise God for his faithfulness. I like this idea of physical reminders of past blessings that I can use to teach my children to remember God’s goodness.

Today, meditate on the miracles and wonderful deeds God has done in your life, and give him praise. If you are a parent, how do you plan to teach your children to remember the great things God does?

Copyright 2009