Ever-patient Amy has an unofficial title in our home which greatly benefits Alicia, Landon and me. Amy is the Semiomnisicent One. When we reverently approach her we chant, “Have you seen the…Have you seen the…Have you seen the…?” For me it is usually a quest for my keys, wallet or the television remote. For Alicia it is whatever she had in her hand five minutes ago. Landon has only recently reached the place in life where he acknowledges that there is the expectation upon him to know where anything is. Why place effort and emphasis on remembering when all you have to do is ask Mom? Thankfully the Semiomniscient One remembers and retrieves what we have forgotten without wearying of our leaky memories. Listen to what God says to His people in Jeremiah 51:50
“You who have escaped from the sword, go, do not stand still! Remember the Lord…” – Jeremiah 51:50
I was surprised to see the number of times Israel is indicted in the Old Testament for forgetting God. God equates on several different occasions the sinfulness of Israel with the act of failing to remember Him. When we stop and think about that it makes complete sense:
We forget God when we are lazy. We forget God when we lie. When we lust we have completely forgotten the Lord. Gossips do not remember the grace of their Heavenly Father when they slight their fellow humans with their hurtful speech. Those who steal by declining to financially support the Kingdom have spiritual amnesia, they have failed to remember the price it took to rescue them. Every time we commit an act of deliberate sin we must force God from our minds in order to do so. Therefore I will make a blanket statement that might give us something to chew on today: Absent minded pilgrims inevitably become straying pilgrims.
Will you spend some time today remembering your history with God? Think about the years of your ignorance when He was working on your behalf while you remained clueless. Some of you might want to ponder why He was so unspeakably gracious to deposit you in a Christian home that preserved you from the poison of man’s prostituted paradise. Others who are reading were control freaks and resisted immensely the Spirit’s work in bringing you to Christ…but relentlessly bring you He did! Then, subsequent to your salvation, God has mightily blessed you. Remember the prayers that He has affirmed. Remember the provision which He has often granted. Is He not your constant teacher, revealing His mighty and precious Self to you? It is good to reflect on how He has comforted you, quieted you, healed you and defended you. How often against the bombardment from the enemy has your Father stepped up and declared, ‘Enough!’ as He brings an end to the barrage? God has fed you and clothed you and sheltered you for all of these faithful years. I am too familiar with my own frailty to submit the question of just how it is that we forget the Lord; we forget Him because we are tainted with sin and prone to selfishness. Something in us still has an appeal for the darkness above the light. The real question is not how we can forget God but rather…why do we do so? Forgetting Him brings such sadness and trouble. Remembering God results in nothing but goodness.
“They have forgotten the Lord their God. Return, O faithless sons; I will heal your faithlessness. Behold, we come to You, for You are the Lord our God.” – Jeremiah 3:21-22 {ESV}
May any and all absent minded pilgrims today break away from the things occupying their heart-focus and, instead, spend some time…remembering. Slow down from what might be an unidentified pressure to perform endless acts of religious works for God today. Get still and simply reflect on His goodness to you instead. Before you head off to share the Gospel with someone you have classified as a poor lost soul, rehearse in remembrance the good news to your own self – preach the Gospel to you first so that you might be happy-hearted when you choose to offer it to another. Resist the temptation to get absorbed in all that is not quite right in your life today and, conversely, soak yourself in the truth that it is well with your soul. Remember with me that our ultimate inheritance is only a vapor – a evaporating mist – away and all the passing toils of this life will cease. Paradise awaits us and Jesus Christ has even pledged to make your life abundant while you are passing through below. Remember what He has done. Remember what He was willing to pay. Remember what He has said. Trust Him a little further. Praise in spite of the clog in your spirit. Defy the wrongness of this life to hold you captive any more. Remember Him. He has promised never to forget us.
There is an army of Semiomniscient Ones helping our forgetters this morning! : )
Yesterday a lovely woman, who I was graced to begin helping over a year ago, came to me to tell me of her forgetfulness.
She could have kept it secret. No one would have known. But, as she said….GOD WOULD.
The thing she briefly returned to could have taken her life. It sure took her joy and peace. She HAD to tell someone to make sure she had really told God.
She expected a lecture; maybe rejection. What overwhelmed me was her humility and courage in honesty. I could do nothing but reassure her that I would continue with her, shoulder to shoulder.
I’m not that patient. She simply reminded me of how fortunate I am to be freely God’s and to have not forgotten in a similar way. She taught me the importance of the on purpose brokenness that is vital to drawing closer to the One who draws Himself to me.
Thank you for helping me to think again this morning of how incredibly good He is. That while we were still sinners, he poured on the perfect grace and forgiveness.
Gonna go check on my lovely friend to make sure she knows she is not alone! : )