I want to pause for a moment to reflect on the lessons that we have already learned about remembering in the gospel. We have discussed how God invites us to remember the things he did for ancient saints, to encourage faith in us that He can do the same in our lives.

Thus, when we are called to stand up for what is right against great odds, we can be inspired by the story of Moses when he did the same. But, of course, when Moses went to seek freedom for his people from mighty Pharaoh, he did not have the example of Moses to rely on.

I think this is important. It means that each act of faith, even if inspired by those that went before, is still its own creation. Because after all, Moses didn’t give us an example exactly fitted to our experience, now did he? He may have stood up to Pharaoh, but he didn’t stand up to our boss, on this matter, on this day. So the past may inspire us to do today’s good, yet each new act of faith is a novel invention. It gives another reason to remain faithful tomorrow, though still leaves enough openness to tomorrow to for it to also have another novel invention of its own. There is a beautiful symmetry to this idea of looking back to the blessings of before, and being encouraged by them to reach for the blessings of today.