Day 67: We All Need Reminders

Read: Genesis 9:12-17

If you spend any more than a couple days with me, you will realize one of my fatal flaws: forgetfulness. This is all too well known around the Metanoia offices. I constantly have to borrow my coworkers’ IDs because I forget mine, my computer has died in an important meeting or two because I forget to charge it. My computer monitor is filled with bright-colored sticky notes of all the things my team needs from me, because I need big, bold reminders. 

I find as humans, we generally are a forgetful people. We so swiftly get wrapped up in the here and now that we lose our bearing in the whole scheme of life. How often have you had an amazing encounter with God that you swear will change you forever and then the next day just ran back into the way you were living. How many Sundays have you belted about God’s goodness just to cry out in doubt on Monday. 

One of my favorite things about God is how far He goes to meet us. The covenant God gives His people are usually accompanied by a sort of ritual. In recent years, ritual in Chrsitainity has been attacked as taking away from authentic relationship. While rituals that don’t have meaning can surely do this, ritual within themselves can be a very helpful thing in the life of the believer. 

Twice in the passage, God says that when He looks on the rainbow He will remember His promise not to destroy the earth. It’s not as if God has a memory problem like I do. That’s not the kind of remembrance that is talked about here. Instead, it is a remembering based on action. The rainbow is  a sign that in some way reenacts and reorients the heart back to the original covenant. 

Unlike God, we do forget things both willingly and unwillingly. We need constant reminders of who God is, who we are, and who those around us are. We constantly need the ritual of Scripture, community, and prayer, to guide our hearts back to our new covenant with God. 

What is a personal ritual or sign that you can set up to guide your heart back toward God? Pray and ask God to give you some ideas and then try implementing it into your schedule today.