Short-term memory failure

How’s your memory?  Do you have to search the house to find your car keys or cell phone?  I try to make sure to put things like that in the same place so I know where they are.  That way, I avoid the frustration.  Knowing that appointments may slip out of my mind, I compensate by making notes. I am both amused and irritated by my increasing forgetfulness.  Is it my age, a lack of focus, or a little of both? Thank the Lord (really!) for digital calendars that organize my life!

A phrase in the Psalms grabbed my attention. "They soon forgot His works; They did not wait for His counsel." (Psalm 106:13, NKJV) The Psalm celebrates how God led His people out of Egypt, how He protected them from the armies of Pharaoh at the Red Sea.  "He saved them from the hand of the foe; from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them. The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. Then they believed his promises and sang his praise." (Psalm 106:10-12, NIV)  But, did those saved people stay faithful to the Lord? No, they did not. "Yet how quickly they forgot what he had done! They wouldn’t wait for his counsel!" (Psalm 106:13, NLT)  "They traded their glorious God for a statue of a grass-eating bull. They forgot God, their savior, who had done such great things in Egypt—" (Psalm 106:20-21, NLT) 

God knows that we tend to forget His goodness. He knows that the temptations of the moment can blind us to the grace we have known in the past. He knows that we are easily overwhelmed by the trials so that His faithful provisions to us in days gone by are forgotten!  When we forget, we become foolish. The people of Israel made an idol of an Egyptian god, just weeks after being led through the Red Sea. Before we condemn them, let’s remember our own failures.  In sickness, have we accused God of letting us down?  When disappointed by what we see as His failure to answer our prayers (come on, now, be honest) have we sought comfort in shopping, or mindless pleasure, or even serious sin?

We need memorials. We need to have our memory renewed.  Jesus instituted the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, and said, "This is my body, which is given for you. Do this to remember me.” In the same way, he took the cup of wine after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant between God and his people—an agreement confirmed with my blood. Do this to remember me as often as you drink it.” (1 Corinthians 11:23-25, NLT)  God told us to observe a day each week as His day, so that we would remember who we are, the People of the Lord. "Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching." (Hebrews 10:23-25, NIV)

I need help remembering, and so do you!  Being human, we are at risk of forgetting what God has done, His Truth swallowed by today’s business.  Jesus, the parable of the seeds, warned that  “the worries of this life, the deceitfulness of wealth and the desires for other things come in and choke the word, making it unfruitful." (Mark 4:19, NIV)  

God’s faithfulness in the past is a foundation for our faith. When we remember, we trust. When we trust, we gain courage and hope. In that hope, we move forward.  No, we are not captives of the past. We cannot relive yesterday but we must not forget it, either.

A favorite passage of mine is found in Malachi, the last book in the Old Testament. God called His people to renew their commitment. Some wondered why they should. “What’s the use of serving God? What have we gained by obeying his commands or by trying to show the Lord of Heaven’s Armies that we are sorry for our sins? From now on we will call the arrogant blessed. For those who do evil get rich, and those who dare God to punish them suffer no harm.” They forgot!  But then something happened.

“Those who feared the Lord spoke with each other, and the Lord listened to what they said. In his presence, a scroll of remembrance was written to record the names of those who feared him and always thought about the honor of his name.”   Their memory and praise triggered this response in Heaven.
“They will be my people,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. “On the day when I act in judgment, they will be my own special treasure. I will spare them as a father spares an obedient child. Then you will again see the difference between the righteous and the wicked, between those who serve God and those who do not.” (Malachi 3:14-18, NLT)

Father, forgive me when I forget

That You are good and faithful.
Help me not to turn from Your way,

Creating my own gods, acting as a fool.

Make me wise, stir up my memories

As I come to Your table,

When we gather together for worship.

Help me to speak of Your acts,

To listen to the testimony about
Your Faithfulness.

Spirit of the Living God,
may my faith be fresh,

My heart full of joy in what You have done.

And let my life align with Your will today.

In the Name of Jesus, I pray.

Amen.