God is a miracle-working God. Most of us would probably agree with that statement, especially if we have had any kind of relationship with Him for any length of time. In fact, God is such a worker of miracles that He makes it look easy. If we are not careful, we can read about or even experience miracles without appreciating the magnitude of the events.

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance lists five words that are translated as "miracle" or "miracles." The Hebrew word mopheth, for example, carries the implication of conspicuousness, as in a token or a sign.

The implication is that God's miracles have a deep significance beyond the fulfillment of their physical purpose. They stand as evidence of Himself and as a sign of His power. I find it an interesting memory aid that the pronunciation of mopheth is actually mo-faith. God's miracles strengthen and increase our faith. When we remember them.

A Personal Miracle

I was recently reminded of how easily they can be forgotten. I had become embroiled in a problem so complicated I could see no human answer. I was greatly troubled and even fearful. My prayers went out to God and He intervened. His answer provided relief beyond what could be humanly devised. Not only perfect but perfectly timed, He provided a solution to a problem I thought had none.

I was intensely humbled by the realization that God had come through again, for me, in a matter that was only important to me. I was also filled with relief, joy and gratitude.

Words of thankfulness pouring from my mouth, I assured God that I would never forget the mercy He had just shown me. Immediately I realized that I had said these very words many times over the years. I had always meant them. But had I kept them?

I began a quick mental inventory. How many times had God inspired me to such a statement? Seconds later, I had to shamefully acknowledge that the few specific events I could recall were a mere fraction of the total. I had said I would never forget, yet I had forgotten.

Worse still, I now saw that I often allowed myself to fall into pits of despair and hopelessness, limiting God and doubting His intervention.

God had never let me down, yet despite His steady, consistent and unfailing presence in my life, I seemed always to fear that He would.

Psalm 78 warns of the consequences of failing to believe in God's wonders. Verse 33 says, "Therefore their days He consumed in futility, and their years in fear." How sad. How chillingly similar to much of life in our present age.

Psalm 78 also recapitulates the incredible miracles God performed on behalf of the children of Israel: the parting of the Red Sea, the cloud and the pillar of fire, the water from the rocks and the manna that fed them. Even so, "they did not believe in God, and did not trust in His salvation." So they tested Him in the matter of meat, even though "Men ate angels' food" (Psalm 78:22, 25). In essence, they disdained His powerful miracles.

Verses 10 and 11 say, regarding the children of Ephraim, "They refused to walk in His law, and forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them." Verses 41 and 42 go on to say, "Yes, again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power."

They forgot His works, tested Him, limited Him in their minds and did not remember His power. Sound familiar? I was ashamed to admit that it did. Upon introspection, I realized that the same insidious process had been taking place in my life.

I'd allowed myself to be sidelined by one of Satan's spiritual land mines. A seed of doubt, planted in vulnerability and watered by forgetfulness, had sprouted forth the poisonous weed of spiritual inertia. My prayers had become perfunctory and uninspired. Even as I prayed to the Living God, I'd held little expectation of a viable answer. I had forgotten the miracles, the interventions and the tender mercies of God.

Obviously I was no different from ancient Israel. They were physically present for some of the most astounding miracles ever recorded. Yet it seemed as though they had barely crossed the Red Sea before they were building a golden calf (Exodus 32:1-8).

Granted, I had never witnessed those kinds of physical miracles. Yet God had performed their spiritual equivalents in my life, and while I had not built any golden calves, neither had I shown the kind of faith God's miracles warranted. Like the Israelites, I "did not remember His power." It seemed my remembrance was only as good as the latest miracle.

It is important to God that we not forget His signs, His wonders, His evidence. He continually exhorted Israel to remember the miracles of the Exodus, even supplying special blocks of holy time as annual reminders. "Remember this day in which you went out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage, for by strength of hand the LORD brought you out of this place. No leavened bread shall be eaten" (Exodus 13:3).

He also gave countless admonitions such as the one in Deuteronomy 4:9. "Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life" (emphasis added throughout).

But they did forget, paving the way for their descent into doubt and idolatry. Psalm 78:61 says that God "delivered His strength into captivity, and His glory into the enemy's hand." Israel lost everything, including their identity, because they let the remembrance of God's deeds depart from their hearts.

"What Have You Done for Me Lately?"

Around the mid-1980s, there was a catch phrase on everyone's lips, generated by a comedy routine by Eddie Murphy. In the skit, Eddie's imaginary wife remained ungrateful despite all the luxuries he had given her over the years. Her unimpressed response to his laundry list of favors was always the same. "But Eddie, what have you done for me lately?"

I couldn't help making the comparison. How quickly we forget the scope and grandeur of God's intervention in our lives—to the extent that we call Him into question, constantly demanding that He prove Himself again. "Yes, God, but what have You done for me lately?"

The temptation is to feel superior to the Israelites and believe that we would not behave similarly. But if God is only as close as His latest miracle, then we are perilously close to sliding down the same slippery slope.

It is no coincidence that God begins the Ten Commandments with a reminder of who He is, and the miracles He has worked. "And God spoke all these words, saying: 'I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage'" (Exodus 20:1-2, emphasis added).

I intend to reread Psalm 78 often, and appreciate the true scope and grandeur of the miracles recorded there. I want to remember everything. I have started a journal of remembrance and answered prayer, so that they don't slip from my mind like old phone numbers. I can look back upon them in times of doubt and be strengthened.

God's miracles are deserving of praise and remembrance, both past and present. We must make special efforts to insure that we do both. Let us take heed to ourselves, lest we forget the things our eyes have seen.