Don't Forget

Intro

One of the worst things about being a living human being is that our brains have the ability to forget things… I don’t know why but it seems as though 90% of the time I need to remember to take something somewhere I always think to myself, “you should put that at the front door so that you don’t forget… That’s an excellent idea self! Let’s do that right now...” I then proceed to neatly place whatever it is by the door so that I don’t forget to take it when I leave.

The bizarre thing is that more often than not, I somehow walk right past it and out the door. It doesn’t even matter that I might have placed it literally in the path I would take to walk out the door, I’ll forget it and I won’t remember until I’ve already arrived where I was heading… Anyone else have this issue???

Or you introduce yourself to someone and they tell you their name and it goes in one ear and out the other and then you need to address them or get their attention but embarrassingly you have to say in front of everyone, “I’m so sorry, but I seem to have forgotten your name...”

At any rate, our brains have a massive potential for forgetfulness and it doesn’t change when it comes to our relationship with God.

If you’ve read the bible, you’ll understand exactly what I’m about to reference. If you haven’t read the bible, there’s a group of people called the Israelites who are God’s chosen people. Throughout their entire biblical history with God, they seem to forget about all the miracles that God performs to help them or save them from slavery or provide food in the desert for them, or even give them land in abundance. The worst part about it is that they don’t just forget what God has done for them, they seem to forget God entirely and turn to other gods instead.

Most Christians probably end up reading these stories of how the Israelites forgot and we scoff and wonder how on earth they could forget something such as when God brought down the walls of Jericho and the entire city was given into their hands and all they had to do was march around the city a few times and blow their trumpets!

When they forget, usually God is angry at them… for good reason, and they end up having to face the consequences of their actions. One particular instance in 1 Samuel 12, Samuel reminds the people of this thing to warn them not to repeat what had happened in the past. He says,

1 Samuel 12:6–9 ESV

6 And Samuel said to the people, “The Lord is witness, who appointed Moses and Aaron and brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt. 7 Now therefore stand still that I may plead with you before the Lord concerning all the righteous deeds of the Lord that he performed for you and for your fathers. 8 When Jacob went into Egypt, and the Egyptians oppressed them, then your fathers cried out to the Lord and the Lord sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and made them dwell in this place. 9 But they forgot the Lord their God. And he sold them into the hand of Sisera, commander of the army of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab. And they fought against them.

Again, you must wonder how they forget God with an even such as the exodus from Egypt and the parting of the red sea. But, for all our musings on how the Israelites forgot, we also forget.

We live busy lives, full of work, play, hobbies, holidays, school, commuting, running errands, etc… all of those things have the potential to slowly take the place God should have in our lives and even more so, can cause us to be stressed. Then we get so focused on how to get past the stress and the obstacles we face, that we forget that when we were in situations similar to this before, God brought us through it. Just like the Israelites forgot how God brought them out of countless struggles.

As much as school or work or our hobbies are important, God is important too. And if we forget God, everything else becomes harder and more unpleasant.

When I went to Abbotsford last week with Caroline for my brothers wedding, I learned something about her that I believe to be one of the most valuable pieces of knowledge in our relationship. She gets hangry… but she has no idea that she is hangry or hungry.

She get’s so focused on doing things whether they be chores, or casual fun things, that she forgets to eat. And for some reason her body doesn’t remind her. I get hunger pangs when I’m hungry so it’s almost impossible for me to forget to eat so I don’t really understand… but the thing that I learned is that if she seems grumpy, unusually stressed or tired, irritable, or sad… I should give her food. But when I ask if she’s hungry she says something like, but we just ate breakfast… fully not realizing that it’s been 5 hrs since breakfast so how could she be hungry.

But once she’s been convinced of the fact she needs food and takes maybe three bites, she’ll immediately start humming an incoherent song of content and tapping her feet.

Just like Caroline forgets to eat food, which is essential for our bodies to function… we all forget to spend time with God, which is essential for our spiritual bodies to function… and we also temporarily forget about the things He’s done for us.

And just like when Caroline remembers to eat and gets happy… when we eat spiritually, when we spend that regular time with God, we are happier, more patient, more loving, more ready to drop anything to help someone.

Our lives are full of very important things, but not near as important as God. Almost everything in our lives is affected by how healthy our relationship with God is.

God must stay number one, no matter what.

When I was in college, my first three years I struggled with prioritizing God time. There was always something fun or exciting going on with my friends or I had papers due or classes to attend. All of these things were super important, but one thing I realized at the end of my third year was that because I hadn’t prioritized God time over all other things, my school, my stress levels, and my relationships all suffered.

So I told myself enough was enough and I had to make God a priority for my fourth year. I started getting up at 5am so that I had time to do a short workout, read my bible and pray every day, weekends and weekdays. What started happening was that everything got better.

You know how everyone says if you prioritize God no matter what, everything else falls into place? Well it’s true, but you really have to be consistent. every day, God needs to be a part of your life. Establishing a habit of meeting with God every morning as the first thing we do is immensely healthy and contributes to all the days happenings. I started to notice I didn’t mind being in class on a sunny day as much, I enjoyed researching papers more, I was less irritable, I was more flexible and helpful with my time, and above all… way less stressed or worried about the struggles I was facing because I could rest in the fact that God was with me.

The difference was that even though before I started doing this I knew God was with me, I wasn’t spending time with Him every day to remind myself of that fact. It was easy to forget when I wasn’t seeking time with Him every morning.

Healthy habits, equals a healthy relationship with God.

This brings us to the idea that a healthy relationship with God helps us to look back and remember.

The Israelites in 1 Samuel 12:6-9 were being warned because Samuel could see their relationship with God deteriorating and he know that if they forgot what God had done in the past, when they came against struggles their first instinct wouldn’t be to turn to God.

What do we do when we’re debating spending money on something??? We look at customer reviews. What have others liked and disliked about this thing and is it reliable or worth the money?

I’m looking at buying some winter tires right now, but I know that all winter tires are not good winter tires. Some are excellent on icy surfaces, others are excellent on snowy surfaces, and others are just not good at all. So I found some that I liked and I did the research. I looked at the history of people who bought the tire and wrote a review of it to determine whether I could trust it on snowy roads.

The same goes for our trust in God.

When we get busy with life and we forget what God has done in our lives previously, it becomes quite difficult to stop worrying and being fearful and just trust God to bring us through whatever it is we’re facing.

But if we have a healthy relationship with God and He is ever present on our mind’s, it is much easier to remember what He has done for us before. There are positive reviews in the archives of our mind which we are easily able to access when we spend time with God.

We are in somewhat uncertain times right now due to the pandemic causing fear and job loss and all other manner of stresses. Nobody knows what is going to happen and that is scary. But that reality that we can’t see what’s coming, that is often the reality that God works the most through because it forces us to let go of the reigns and just trust Him. If we don’t remember what God has done, that He is in fact someone we can trust to take the reigns, we will never be able to let go of our fear and the stress that uncertainty brings.

But when we look back and see the bread crumb trail of miracles, God’s guidance, financial support, leading's and heart whispers that pointed us in the right direction… we see that we can in fact trust God to lead us. To bring us out of the hopeless moment where we have no idea what to do.

1 Samuel 12:22–24 ESV

22 For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. 23 Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. 24 Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you.

Consider what great things He has done for you… The Lord will not… Forsake his people

Remember, spend time with our heavenly Father who loves us, and trust Him to bring you through whatever it is that seems impossible in your current circumstance.