The God who remembers

July 7, 2006

By Randy Mantik

Last summer as I was headed out on a camping trip, I couldn’t find my camp chair. I looked all over the house and garage. Finally, I located it right where I had put it so that I wouldn’t forget where it was — under a cabinet in our bedroom. So much for that brilliant idea. I must have done the same thing with the VCR remote because I can’t find that now.

As some wise person once observed, as we get older, we naturally become more concerned with the hereafter. We walk into a room and we wonder, “What was I here after?” (Probably the remote that I can’t find.)

Unlike us frail, fallible, and forgetful humans, God has no problem with memory. Some imagine God to be a tottering old man who can hardly see and has a hard time hearing to boot. At least that might explain why some people go about their lives as if He doesn’t exist. One of God’s names is the Ancient of Days, yet He is forever young, forever strong, forever mighty. And He does not forget.

“O descendants of Israel his servant, O sons of Jacob, his chosen ones. He is the LORD our God; his judgments are in all the earth. He remembers his covenant forever, the word he commanded, for a thousand generations, the covenant he made with Abraham, the oath he swore to Isaac” (1 Chronicles 16:13-16, NIV).

Recently, I was thinking of how my dad looked in pictures from his youth. In those images, he is forever young. He is strong and vibrant and not struggling with a nagging heart condition that developed in later years. While I was growing up, I could lean on him for everything. But as is appointed unto men, Dad grew old and died, his mind still very clear but his strength mostly gone. He could not remain as that stronger, younger man in those cherished pictures.

Though my earthly father had to submit to the laws of life and death of a fallen world and can no longer be with me here on earth, I am so grateful I have a Heavenly Father who is always strong and always with me. He is the Ancient of Days. He is the Beginning and the End. I can lean on Him for eternity.

As the Creator, He cannot forget His creation. He will always remember me. He will always remember you. He will always remember the covenant He has made with those who follow Him with their whole hearts. As God proclaims in Scripture time and time again, “They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart” (Jeremiah 24:7).

G. Raymond Carlson, former general superintendent of the Assemblies of God, grew up near my mom’s family in North Dakota. Mom’s dad and Brother Carlson’s dad were neighboring pastors.

Brother Carlson had a reputation for having an incredible memory and could remember people’s names with amazing accuracy, regardless of how long it had been since he had seen a person.

Once when I had the opportunity to see him again after a lot of years, just for a few seconds, I could see him getting my face connected with a name and then sure enough, Brother Carlson was nodding his head and saying, “Of course I remember you,” as he called me by name. I was pretty impressed, being the kind of guy who loses things like camping chairs and TV remotes on a regular basis.

But isn’t that a sweet picture of God? No matter where we may have strayed or no matter how long we have been gone, when we come back to Him, we may feel that we may have been lost somewhere in the catacombs of His memory. However, He takes one look at our face and says, “Of course I remember you; welcome back dear child.”

Men’s Fraternity founder Robert Lewis tells the story of a young boy who was afraid of the dark. Night after night, he slept with a light on. One night his dad thought it was time to break him of the habit.

“Son,” he said, “we’re going to turn the light out. However, I’ll stay in the room with you until you fall asleep.”

The boy agreed, the light was turned off and the father stayed. Out of the silence, he heard his son’s plaintive voice, “Dad, are you there?”

He responded, “Yes, Son, I am.”

A few minutes later the boy asked, “Dad, is your face turned toward me?”

Be assured that God has His face turned toward you and He remembers you. He cannot forget. He is the Light that dispels the darkness; He is forever strong, forever young, forever mighty, forever remembering, forever God. And He knows your name.

Randy Mantik is senior pastor of Beecher Assembly of God in Pembine, Wis.