November 1, 2025 Devo

Next September, our country will be marking the 25th anniversary of the attack on the twin towers of the World Trade Center that happened on September 11, 2001. My guess is that it’ll be a pretty big affair. If you think about it, it’s an interesting practice to remember events that are so horrific and filled with death and tragedy. When you watch the footage of the crumbling towers and the dirty, frightened people fleeing for their lives, you’d think it’s something we would want to forget, not remember.
But we remember it, not to relive the horror, but to celebrate the heroes. In the midst of the chaos and fear, there were common citizens risking their lives to get other office workers down the stairwells to safety. As panic swept across the city, there were brave police officers rushing into the area, guiding people to safety. Firefighters and rescue workers were digging around the clock to save as many as could be saved. We must never forget that day. Not because of the evil that was unleashed, but because of the heroic love that was selflessly displayed. We must remember because such heroism is too sacred and costly to allow it to become forgotten.
At the end of Psalm 107, this is what the psalmist is getting at. He has spent the entire psalm recounting all the failures and sins of the people. But at every instance of human rebellion, there is divine intervention. God demonstrated over and over His relentless love and His boundless grace. “They will see in our history the faithful love of the LORD.” He is not remembering to recount the evil of the people. He takes time to remember that He might honor the heroic love of God.
As painful as it might seem, that might be something good for all of us to do. Take a look back across your life for a moment. Can you remember times of failure and falling, of running from God, and crashing and burning? Don’t linger there too long. Visit the low moments, but don’t live there. But do remember how God showed up, even though you didn’t deserve Him. Do remember how God rescued you when you had no way to save yourself. Do remember how He lifted you out of the rubble of your bad decisions and restored you and remade you. Don’t look back to remember the loss. Look back to remember the love. He who was there for you then is here for you NOW. That’s God’s Word for you today.