Slow to remember and quick to forget
Do you have a good memory? How are you at remembering your wedding anniversary (that's important)? Your mum's birthday (that's possibly even more important!)? Do you remember your first day of school? Or the first time you saw the ocean?
My husband has a ridiculously good memory. Well maybe I should rephrase that. He is very good at remembering lots of seemingly random bits of trivia, especially if it's to do with sport, music, flags or planes. He's not so good at remembering where his keys are.
I have a terrible memory. And I don't just mean I forget dates, or grocery items (even when they're written on the list right in front of me!) or who I was just about to message (with phone already in hand).
I am so forgetful when it comes to remembering God's faithfulness and goodness to me. Oh, how quickly I forget. Maybe you can relate?
I've seen God move in mighty ways. I've heard His voice of comfort when I desperately needed it. I've known His healing. Again and again God has shown His sovereignty, His power, His love to me. And yet, I'm so quick to go back to the ingrained habit of trying to work it all out on my own, of doing things in my own strength, instead of going to the One who is able and willing to grant me peace and rest. The One who has on numerous occasions done exactly that!
I wonder why we are so slow to remember and quick to forget all of God's past kindness and faithfulness when we are faced with trouble in the present? I'm trying to be less forgetful by trying to do these two things each day – remembering who God is, and remembering what God does.
Psalm 103 is a wonderful guide for us. The Psalmist begins by talking to himself, talking to his own soul, it's almost like David is giving himself a little pep talk. He says "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits." Maybe David knows that when we forget who God is we can quickly despair.
The Psalm is full of beautiful statements of who God is, and what He does. And they are worth reflecting on.
"The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love" (Ps 103:8).
"He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is His steadfast love toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does He remove our transgression from us. As a father shows compassion to his children, so the Lord shows compassion to those who fear him" (Ps 103:10-13).
God "forgives all of your iniquity, heals all your diseases, redeems your life from the pit, crowns you with steadfast love and mercy, and satisfies you with good so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's" (Ps 103:2-5).
I want to trust God more. I want to be quick to remember and slow to forget His great love and goodness to me. But even as a I strive to do this, I know I'll never reach perfection, and that's ok. Because in His mercy and kindness, our heavenly Father continues to work all things for our good and His glory (Romans 8:28). He is faithful, even as we are unfaithful (2 Timothy 2:13).
Praise God, that His goodness to us is not based on anything we do but is grounded in who He is and what He has done for us in Christ (Romans 5:8). If we forget all else, may we never forget that.
