For many years, I always felt shocked when I read about God’s people in the book of Exodus. How could they forget God over and over and over? How could they complain and grumble to God despite His incredible and miraculous provision for them? How could they worship man-made idols after He clearly displayed His power via a fire by night and a cloud by day? How could they be so dumb and unafraid of the living God?
Then, over the years of knowing God in Christ, God begins to make you aware…very aware…of your own forgetting of Him. Yes, we are way more like the Israelites than we think we are. Humans=unfaithful! God=perfectly faithful. A good dose of humility on a regular basis is a friend that we must embrace in our lifelong walks with Jesus. Thankfully, God is always at work to do this soul work in us.
That brings me to Psalms 106! This Psalm is a sad recording of Israel’s sin and the incredible patience of God. You want to read about GRACE to sinful people; this is certainly one place to do it. In this Psalm, Israel’s history is clear, they are great sinners, and God is really patient and kind. I’d encourage you to read it all.
But let’s just start with the first 5 verses. They are words of praise to God for his steadfast love, how He blesses His people, and the people of God are to shout for joy because of that. Then, in vs. 6-12, the Psalmist describes both Israel’s rebellion in a multitude of ways as well as a few moments of God’s people trusting in Him. See vs. 12: “Then they believed his words; they sang His praise”. Oh my, maybe the people of God are about to respond to God’s faithfulness by being faithful themselves!!! Nope…
Psalms 106:13: “but they soon forgot His works”! The rest of this Psalm is on repeat.
I can certainly relate. There have been seasons of my 43 years of knowing Jesus where I’d wake up and go through an entire day (or days) without thinking of God or speaking to God. This is called the deadly disease of spiritual amnesia. It’s dangerous. It’s our natural bent. Independence and self-dependence is how our hearts naturally roll.
In Israel’s history, their response to God’s awesome deliverance from Egypt (think Red Sea) is not, for the most part, praise and a heartfelt trust. Instead, they respond with grumbling, complaining, murmuring, and gross sin. Where’s the water? Where’s the meat? I have blisters and need shoes. Moses, who do you think you are…the boss? And in all of this, their hearts got hard, their eyes were blind, and they had forgotten God’s gracious saving of His people from the evil Egyptians. Yes, it’s absolutely possible to live as if God doesn’t exist, even while maintaining a biblical understanding of Him.
It comes from a heart that says: ‘I know better than God’
Forgetting God is not an O.T. issue because grumbling and a lack of gratitude is a universal struggle for all of God’s people, no matter what time of history you’re living in. So how can we guard ourselves against spiritual forgetfulness? From God amnesia? It’s easy to say, but much more difficult to do: REMEMBER! This word is used well over 200 times in the scriptures. It’s a strong way to encourage us to keep God’s character, promises, and actions to us at the forefront of our hearts and minds. This takes great intentionality EVERY.SINGLE.DAY!
Try speaking to your own heart these truths about God often and see how much more you’ll remember our great God.
- Remember who He is by starting your day with reading/meditating on HIS word.
- Remember who He is by speaking to Him in prayer all day long, for things big and small.
- Remember that 24/7, He is your heavenly father who is waiting to hear from you and is always excited when you call Him for help.
- Remember how God saved you.
- Remember how God has saved you from destroying your own life.
- Remember how God has, over and over again, shown you your sin while increasing His grace.
- Remember that your name is written in the lamb’s book of life.
- Remember that He indwells you via His Holy Spirit and is always with you.
- Remember that he works all things for our good and His glory.
- Remember that during trials and suffering, He is a perfectly good God, doing good things during a difficult season.
- Remember that all He allows in your life is necessary for your maturity in Christ.
- Remember that He has adopted you into His eternal family.
- Remember that He bought you back from the slave market of hell and placed you into a new environment of heaven.
- Remember, He did not spare His own Son…for YOU!
- Remember that He has promised to complete in you what He began the day He saved you. (Phil. 1:6)
Join me in asking God, by His grace, to help us not lose our awe and wonder of God and all He is and all He’s done, is doing, and will do. The antidote to the dangerous spiritual amnesia is for us to be intentional in recalling and remembering God’s great grace in our lives.