Thought for Today
Genesis 40:23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.
Psalm 25:7 Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to your steadfast love remember me, for your goodness' sake, O LORD!
Mark 8:18 Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?
John 16:4 But I have said these things to you so that when their hour comes you may remember that I told you about them. "I did not say these things to you from the beginning, because I was with you.
As a young boy, when I read the stories about Joseph, I focused more on the coat of many colors than I ever did about the faulty memory of the chief cupbearer. In my youth, I never thought about memory or memorization except when I prepared for some exam at school.
When I studied engineering in college, our professors suggested we not try to remember each and every formula since there were so many. Rather, they suggested it was more important that we learn where to find the information we needed. Of course, that never stopped them from giving exams requiring that we have memorized the very information they suggested we not memorize.
Memory is a tricky thing. Sometimes, it seems that memory must be a somewhat selective thing. Many couples who are ‘of an age’ develop the habit of going to doctors’ appointments together. While one is being examined, the other takes notes. Greta and I long ago adopted the practice . . . yet, we still frequently come away from those examinations with conflicting recollections of what was actually said and discussed with our doctors.
And, of course, there are those things that we seem to deliberately forget, to purposefully erase from our memories. Can you hear the frustration in Jesus’ words, “Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?” I suspect every parent has had occasion to at least think, if not say, some version of that verse to their child. Was something like that in Paul’s mind when he wrote, “1 Corinthians 13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became a man, I gave up childish ways?”
Yet, even when we do become ‘of an age,’ we on occasion revert to those “childish ways.” It is often most apparent in our relationship with our Creator God. It’s not as though we have not been told what God wants us to do. Long ago, the prophet Micah told us, “6:8 He has told you, O mortal, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” Jesus told us, "Luke 10:27 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself." We even regularly pray, “Your kingdom come. Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
When we look at the world around us, do you wonder whether our memories are just so faulty that we can’t remember? Is it too much to ask that during the time between Sunday worship and praying the Lord’s Prayer and then waking on Monday morning we remember that for which we pray? When God hears our prayers on Sunday and then sees how we act Monday through Saturday, does God the Father ever echo the words of the Son, “Do you have eyes, and fail to see? Do you have ears, and fail to hear? And do you not remember?”
Do we truly not remember . . . or do we not want to remember? Do we honestly believe that we can delude our Creator or that we can hide things from our God? Or have concepts like goodness, justice, kindness and love become passe, lost remnants of a bygone era? Jesus said, "Matthew 7:12 In everything do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is the law and the prophets.” Has that become too much to ask of us in this modern age?
One thing I do remember is a song I learned as a very young child, “Jesus loves me this I know, ‘cause the Bible tells me so.” That Jesus is the Son whom God sent for my salvation. Now, in all that I think, say and do, I just need to remember Jesus’ words and reflect them in my life. If we all do, God’s will will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Stay safe, remember, trust God,
Pastor Ray