Devotional 39: Remember What You Know

What do you do when you can’t see what God is doing?

Sometimes we want life to come with an answer key.

We want to know why something happened, what God is doing, where the story is going, and what we’re supposed to learn from it.

And sometimes hindsight gives us an explanation.

But sometimes it doesn’t.

In this devotional, we’ll explore what Scripture teaches us about remembering when the story in front of us remains unfinished—and why the evidence behind us can give us courage for the faithful step in front of us, even when we still don’t know what comes next.

Featured Quote

“The stones aren’t predictions. They’re reminder.”

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About This Devotional

I like answers.

I especially like answers when I can find them in the back of the book. 😂

As a kid who loved playing teacher, discovering teacher’s editions was fantastic. There was no wondering whether you were doing the problem correctly. You could flip to the right page and find the answer.

Sometimes I wish life worked that way.

Because there are pages of our stories when we’d really like someone to tell us:

Why is this happening?

What is God doing?

Where is this going?

What am I supposed to be learning?

But most of the time, we don’t get the teacher’s edition.

We get the page we’re living.

And sometimes we don’t understand it.

In this devotional, we’re looking at two biblical pictures of remembrance: the stones Israel carried from the Jordan River in Joshua 4 and the psalmist deliberately remembering God’s works in Psalm 77 while he was still distressed and asking difficult questions.

Together, they show us something important:

Remembering isn’t the same thing as explaining.

We don’t have to turn every wound into a lesson.

We don’t have to make every loss productive.

We don’t have to call the fire good in order to trust that God is good.

And we don’t have to use yesterday’s evidence to predict exactly what God will do tomorrow.

Sometimes we remember for a much simpler reason:

To remind ourselves that the page we’re living today isn’t the first page of our story with God.

Scripture Focus

Joshua 4

After God stops the overflowing Jordan River and Israel crosses on dry ground, He tells Joshua to have twelve men collect twelve stones from the riverbed and build a memorial.

Those stones didn’t explain everything Israel had experienced.

They didn’t erase the wilderness.

They didn’t answer every question.

They were evidence.

There was a river.
We couldn’t cross it.
God made a way.
We were here.
He was here.

The stones weren’t predictions about what God would do at the next river.

They were reminders of who He had already shown Himself to be.

Psalm 77

Psalm 77 gives us another picture of remembrance—but this time, the psalmist hasn’t just crossed the river.

He’s still distressed.

He can’t sleep. He’s overwhelmed. He’s asking whether God has forgotten to be gracious and whether His faithful love has ceased.

And Scripture doesn’t shame him for those questions.

Instead, the psalmist chooses to remember God’s works.

His circumstances haven’t suddenly been explained.

He reaches backward for evidence of God’s character when his present circumstances are making that character difficult to see.

Sometimes remembering is celebration.

And sometimes remembering is survival.

Featured Resource

💛 Free Episode Reflection: The Person I Couldn’t See Yet

Sometimes we can only see who we were becoming by looking back.

This free Episode Reflection gives you space to look at an earlier version of yourself with curiosity instead of judgment—noticing what stayed, what needed healing, what needed refining, what needed releasing, and what developed slowly.

You’ll also look for evidence of growth you may not have recognized while it was happening and make room for what God may still be forming in you today.

→ GET THE FREE EPISODE REFLECTION

Explore the Full Conversation

Episode 39: The Person I Couldn’t See Yet

Monday’s conversation began with a different kind of hindsight.

What can we recognize about the person we’ve become that we couldn’t possibly see while we were becoming them?

Episode 39 looks backward at childhood, relationships, gifts, survival patterns, healing, boundaries, faith, and calling to explore the difference between what was always part of us, what became tangled with survival, and what God has slowly formed over time.

→ LISTEN TO EPISODE 39

Continue the Journey

If today’s devotional resonated with you, you may also want to explore:

Related Resources

Together, these conversations and reflections create a really natural path through hindsight, uncertainty, formation, God’s faithfulness, and learning to take the next faithful step without requiring the whole story to make sense first.

Reflection Question

Think about a time when you couldn’t see what came next.

What did that version of you not know yet?

What were you afraid of?

What questions were you asking?

And without trying to explain everything that happened, ask:

Where did God meet me there?

Maybe it was provision.

A person.

A Scripture.

Strength for one more day.

Peace that didn’t make sense.

The courage to ask for help.

Or simply the realization that somehow, you weren’t alone.

Then look at the river in front of you now.

What evidence from behind you can you carry into what is ahead?

Not a guarantee.

Not a formula.

Just one stone.

One thing you remember about God.

Final Thought

There will be days when fear has plenty of evidence.

It will remind you of every time something went wrong.

Every disappointment.

Every unanswered prayer.

Every closed door.

Every reason this situation could end badly.

Some of those memories are real.

We don’t have to pretend they aren’t.

But they aren’t the only evidence in your story.

So when fear gets loud, you don’t have to argue yourself out of being afraid.

Bring the evidence too.

Remember where God met you.

Remember how much you couldn’t see then.

Remember the healing that happened slowly.

Remember the strength you discovered only when you needed it.

Remember the person you couldn’t see yet…

who is sitting here now.

You don’t need the teacher’s edition.

You don’t need your stones to tell you exactly what God will do.

You just need them to remind you what you already know.

The stones aren’t predictions. They’re reminders.

And when the river in front of you feels bigger than the evidence behind you…

pick up a stone.

Remember what you know.

And take the next faithful step.