I Samuel 12:24 Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you
How good is your memory? I could mean, “How good are the memories that you have?” Or I could mean, “How good is your ability to remember?” The fact is that what we think we recall is often our feelings about what happened more than it is a record of what actually happened. If we had a video recording of what happened yesterday, it might be surprisingly different from what you think you remember. In any event, memory is important because the past you see determines the future you imagine. Sometimes we are fearful of the future because we have forgotten God’s presence in our story.
That is where Israel was. Samuel, the prophet and judge, was coming to Israel. There was a transition here. Israel was taking on their first king, King Saul. Samuel famously says to them in verse 24, “Only fear the LORD, and serve him in truth with all your heart: for consider how great things he hath done for you.” He is saying, “Fear and serve the Lord.” They were going to fear somebody and they were going to serve somebody. They had feared and served Egypt. They had feared false gods and served idols. So, Samuel is saying, “Fear God and serve Him.”
They were to serve God in truth and with all their hearts. Why? It continues, “For consider how great things he hath done for you.” Remember what He has done for you. Don’t just remember as in recalling it. Remember it to consider it. Think on it. Dwell on it. A good memory produces a strong future. If you can remember who God is and what He has done, that strengthens the future that you can anticipate. He begins back in verse 8 where he basically says, “Remember Jacob. When our fathers were in Egypt, they cried to God. God heard and answered their prayer and brought them out of Egypt.”
Verse 9 is a contrast, “And when they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera.” Again, verse 10 says, “And they cried…” Verse 11 says, “And the LORD sent Jerubbaal [Gideon], and Bedan [Barak], and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe.” What he is saying is, “Remember what happened when you acknowledged God and what happened when you rejected God because you are embarking on a new phase of your history. You are going to have a king now. Do not forget God. A good memory produces a strong future.”
This brings us to verses 12-13, which recount what we read in the previous chapter about Nahash the Ammonite, “And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me [Samuel], Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God was your king. Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen.” It was God’s purpose to give Israel a king, but they did not go about it God’s way or wait for God’s timing. They were impulsive and quick. They forgot God.
The bottom line for you today is that you have two choices as you look to your future. You can pray or you can panic. You can remember the God who has been true to you in the past or you can forget that and therefore feel like you are an orphan going into the future. Verse 21 says, “And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.”
A good memory produces two things as concerning a strong future. First, it produces contentment. Samuel said to them, “The LORD will not forsake his people.” That is a reason for confidence and contentment. Hebrews 13:5 says, “Let your conversation [your manner of living] be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he [the LORD] hath said, I will not leave thee, nor forsake thee.” That mirrors the words of Samuel in I Samuel 12:22, “The LORD will not forsake his people.”
So, contentment does not come from how much content I have. It comes from the God that I have and the God who has me. “The LORD will not forsake his people.” That was a memory that produced a strong prospect for the future. That is true for you today. Contentment does not come from having all the things that your neighbors have; it is not from content, but from God. It is from God and it is in God.
Second, a good memory gives you the ability to make wise decisions. Israel sought a king and found a king. Samuel said, “You have chosen this king. You wanted him. Now you’ve got him. And you have him when the Lord had been your king.” There is something of a rebuke here. They were going after the vain and empty things Samuel talked about in verse 21. So, good decisions come from realizing there is a God in Heaven who hears our prayers and will respond. Samuel himself was rightly esteemed a man of prayer, and here we find him praying before God on behalf of the children of Israel. Numerous times God recounts how Israel’s fathers cried when they were in Egypt, and God gave victory.
As they were going ahead in life, the strength of their future really depended on the quality of their memory, remembering who God is and His presence in their past, in their present, and for their future. A good memory produces a strong future. If it is a strong future you want, today is the day to remember God, who He is and how He has been for you.