a Lutheran’s Confessions

“Remember your mercy, O Lord, and your
steadfast love…” (Ps. 25:6)

     One of our greatest pleasures is reminiscing, recalling with fondness the simple pleasures and joys of the past. God gives us the wonderful ability to remember many things and, as an added plus, to forget some of our more painful experiences.
     God takes great pleasure in remembering as well. His remembrance of mercy, however, is more than reflecting on the past. It is more than memory. It is reviving the past, but more than that. It is God doing again what He has done in the past, but in a newer and greater way. God doesn’t simply repeat the past. He goes beyond it. His mercy breaks the old molds and overflows. His mercy to Israel overflows to the Gentiles, as we see in our Gospel lesson for today.
     While memory is pleasurable for us, it also limits us. We cannot visualize what lies ahead in life, especially in the life to come, because our minds are limited by our conceptions of the past. God, however, is not limited at all. He will build upon the past, but He will exceed it in ways we cannot imagine. So when you pray God to remember His mercy, hang on and get ready for a ride! He will amaze you by His ability to outdo Himself