Miscellaneous: When God Remembers - Ben

“But God remembered Noah and all the beasts and all the livestock that were with him in the Ark. And God made a wind blow over the Earth, and the waters subsided.”

Genesis 8:1 

This verse comes at a pivotal point in the story of Noah. We go from waters rising and conquering the Earth like some unstoppable horde in Genesis 7 to those same waters receding and retreating like a defeated enemy in Genesis 8. It is a curious verse in that we're told that God "remembered." After reading something like that, we're immediately struck with the implication that God had forgotten Noah. But we know that can’t be right. After all, God is all-knowing. He cannot forget anything since He has knowledge of all things. So, there must be some deeper meaning.

Interestingly, the Hebrew term translated as “remember” in our passage is za-kar'. Obviously, it does have the connotation that someone has forgotten but remembers something (cf. Gen. 40:23; 42:9; Num. 11:5; Deut. 9:7; Judge. 8:34; 2 Chron. 24:22). However, there are a few places where “remember” deviates from our conventional understanding of the term.  Rather than the word meaning something akin to recalling a memory, it also has the connotation that someone is being mindful, cognizant, or attentive (cf. Ex. 20:8; Ps. 20:7; 63:6; 103:14; 119:52, 55). Not surprisingly, this latter implication is how we should understand that God “remembered” Noah. It isn't that he had forgotten those on the Ark. Instead, we should realize that God turned his attention away from the flood and focused it toward those within the ark. 

In fact, without fail, every time we read that God “remembered” someone in the Scriptures, we’re also told that He then acted. For instance, rather than allow Abraham and Lot to be destroyed along with Sodom, God “remembered” them and delivered them from a fiery demise (cf. Gen. 19:29). Or, how about how God “remembered” Rachel and so gave her a baby boy named Joseph (cf. Gen. 30:24). Another example comes in the Exodus story where, after 400 years of bondage, God “remembered” His covenant with the Israelites and set them free from their Egyptian enslavement (cf. Ex. 6:5). And, lastly, the Bible tells us about a woman named Hannah who, like Rachel, was without a child. She cried out to God, and then, we're told, that the Lord “remembered” her by giving her a son named Samuel (cf. 1 Sam. 1:11, 19).

Rather than being some negligent father, God is a Good Father who is attentive to his creation. Sometimes, that means chastisement; but that also means the Lord shows mercy. This is not because creation is worthy of such treatment. Instead, it is because our God is gracious.

One of the most unbelievable principles in the Scriptures is that the Lord’s thoughts tend toward us. Indeed, long before our own mothers knew the sound of our voice, God tuned it to His liking. He is the one who colored our hair. He whittled the very contours of our fingerprints. He shaped the folds of our minds. And he even stitched our very seams together (cf. Psa. 13-14). Though marred by fall’s scar, our Creator God still loves us. It’s a love that makes no sense. But it is a love that I am eternally grateful for. When God remembers, all of humanity ought to stand in utter bewilderment. 

"When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, and the Son of man that you care for him?"

Psalm 8:3-4