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I am using readings from the 49 Week Bible Challenge as the basis for these devotions. I encourage you to join me in this discipline. Today’s readings are Acts 7:17-29; Exodus 1; 2; 1 kings 4.
Acts 7:17-29
[Stephen is speaking] “But as the time of the promise drew near, which God had granted to Abraham, the people increased and multiplied in Egypt 18 until there arose over Egypt another king who did not know Joseph. 19 He dealt shrewdly with our race and forced our fathers to expose their infants, so that they would not be kept alive. 20 At this time Moses was born; and he was beautiful in God’s sight. And he was brought up for three months in his father’s house, 21 and when he was exposed, Pharaoh’s daughter adopted him and brought him up as her own son. 22 And Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians, and he was mighty in his words and deeds.
23 “When he was forty years old, it came into his heart to visit his brothers, the children of Israel. 24 And seeing one of them being wronged, he defended the oppressed man and avenged him by striking down the Egyptian. 25 He supposed that his brothers would understand that God was giving them salvation by his hand, but they did not understand. 26 And on the following day he appeared to them as they were quarreling and tried to reconcile them, saying, ‘Men, you are brothers. Why do you wrong each other?’ 27 But the man who was wronging his neighbor thrust him aside, saying, ‘Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? 28 Do you want to kill me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’ 29 At this retort Moses fled and became an exile in the land of Midian, where he became the father of two sons.
I can remember lines from my favorite movies – although not as well as some. I can remember many many Bible verses – again, not as many as some. I can remember the dates of our anniversary and Diane’s birthday. But I can’t remember whether I’ve seen some movies or read some books. I’ve even been listening to an audio book, and eventually thought, I think I’ve listened to this one before. And don’t get me started on how many celebrities I can identify, much less remember their names (somewhere between 14-24 perhaps).
Our version of remembering is like finding a bit of data on a computer disk. Eventually we’ll find the fact and remember it. It’s stored there somewhere, if I can just find it!
God calls his people to remember. “Remember that you were foreigners,” God says in Exodus 22. “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands” (Deuteronomy 8:2). “And [Jesus] took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, ‘This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me’” (Luke 22:19).
But the biblical concept of remembering is not simply a matter of rummaging through our brains to retrieve bits of data. It is more than pulling past events into the present as information. Biblically, to remember is to place yourself back into a specific situation, time, or event so that it shapes how you live now. When Stephen recounts the events surrounding Moses’ ministry in Acts 7, he is doing more than giving a history lesson. He is calling his listeners to stand again in that moment, to see God’s hand at work, and to let that remembrance guide their faith and obedience in the present.
So while our human memory may fail us in small and sometimes frustrating ways, God graciously calls us to a deeper kind of remembering – one that roots us in his mighty acts and renews our trust in him today. Each time we remember Jesus – his cross, his resurrection, his presence with us – we are not just recalling facts but stepping again into the story of God’s redeeming love. And that kind of remembering strengthens faith, fills us with hope, and leads us to live in joyful obedience until the day we see him face to face.
David Bahn - Reflections 
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