Remembering God's Works

But Mary kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. Luke 2:19

Christmas has come and gone for another year. It was so on the first Christmas as well. We are not to think that angels appeared to shepherds every night, or that mysterious magi kept showing up to give gifts. There was that magical and mysterious element to the birth of Christ, but what about the next days and nights? They must have been rather mundane, just like any other days and nights that parents have.

We find the same to be true in our experience. The mountain top experiences are few and far between. The times in which we see God's miraculous hand at work are far less common than we would like them to be. Most days are like most days - rather common, many times hard, sometimes very difficult. And in these times, we wonder where the angels, the star, and the magi have gone. "Where is the Lord God of Elijah?" Why don't we experience more joy in Christ, more relief from anxiety, more freedom from sin, more success in evangelism? We think that if God would just come and do something wonderful and strange that our lives would be much better.

But this is not the way God works. Most often, he doesn't come in the tempest and fire but in the still, small voice. His work is often imperceptible. How are we to cope in times where we cannot see God's hand so very clearly? Let us take Mary as our example. She "kept all these things," these miraculous events, these wonderful experiences of God's working in their lives, by pondering them in her heart.

Let us do the same. Remember all the ways in which God has so obviously been at work in your life. Remember them, don't forget! The lean times can make us forget the times of plenty, but like Joseph let us store up the plenty in the treasure houses of our hearts and bring them out when times are less abundant. And there is not only the memory of our own experience, but there is also the record of God's works in history. The history of the church rightly interpreted is a breeze of heavenly love for those who look therein. But above all, we have God's Word, in which we have the inspired record of his works and the interpretation of them. We have the record of what God has done in the person of his Son, and how through him he is and will make all things new.

Yes, let us store these things in our hearts, and ponder them each and every day.