Section 1194
III. To the duty enjoined, which is, to remember all the way in which the Lord leads his people
In some respects we are to forget the things which are behind, pressing towards the mark of the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus; that is, we are so to forget former things, as not to rest, or to be contented, without seeking further increase of grace, and an enlargement of experience. This, however, is quite consistent with its being our duty to remember what God has done for us, and all the way in which he hath led us; in order to express before him our gratitude and thankfulness. Though the blessings bestowed upon us are more than we can number; yet in the best manner we can, we are to reckon them up, and lay them before him: we are so to remember them as to call upon our souls, and all that is within us, to bless his holy name; so as not to be charged with forgetting the Rock of our salvation. We are to remember these things so as to declare them to others, to the glory of God’s grace: we are to act the part the Psalmist did, who says, Come and hear, all ye that fear God, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul. How he met with me, how he called me by his grace, how he led me on, and brought me hitherto; and what experience he hath given me of his divine favour. Thus we should remember and declare these things for the benefit of others.
We are to remember these things for our own instruction and advantage, while we are yet in the wilderness. The Psalmist says, My soul is cast down within me; therefore I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites, and from the hill Mizah (Psalm 42:6): a meaning, that he would remember those places and times where, and when, the Lord had graciously appeared to him, and indulged him with some comfortable visits, and some enlarged experience of his grace. Now these he called to mind, to encourage his faith and hope under present discouragements and perplexities. It is good to do so, and with this view gracious souls may reason, as Manoah’s wife did, “ If the Lord were pleased to kill us, he would not have shewed us all these things. “ So may you say, “If the Lord had had a mind to have destroyed me, he would never have led me all the way in the wilderness, as he hath done.” The soul may reasonably argue from grace to glory; “If God hath called me by his grace, if I am justified and sanctified, I shall be glorified.”
Last of all, believers should remember all the way they have been led to quicken them to obedience; which seems to be the sense here. And indeed there is nothing more quickening than a calling to remembrance what he hath done for us. The love of God and of Christ, has a constraining power to engage souls to a ready and cheerful obedience to the commands of God. Good old Jacob, when he reflected upon his journey from Padan-aram to the land of Canaan, said to his family, Let us arise and go to Bethel (to offer sacrifice), and I will make there an altar unto God, who answered me in the day of my distress, and was with me in the way which I went. I remember his presence with me, how graciously he dealt with me; come now, arise, and let us go Bethel, etc Thus a recollection of the way the Lord hath led us, has a tendency to quicken to obedience. I proceed to consider,