Forgetting to Remember

I am a big fan of Disney-Pixar movies. Well produced and written, I find myself easily identifying with certain characters. In "Finding Nemo", by far, my favorite character is a blue fish named Dory. She suffers from short term memory loss. Now by many people's standards, I am not an old man. However, even though I am a few years shy of 40, I see glimpses of the brain damage that is on the horizon. As I have aged, one of the things that I have seen is my own faining memory. Only ten tens ago, my mind was sharp, and I could remember the most obscure details. Now I am almost at the point where I need to stick post-it notes to remember to go to the bathroom!

Probably one of the most important aspects of a believer's growth is their faith. The bigger your faith, the more peaceful your life as a Christian will be. Jesus said that pure faith the size of a mustard seed can accomplish huge things. Now, I am not talking about blind faith; that is not a biblical faith. The New Testament has this to say about faith, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. " (Hebrews 11:1) The latter part of the verse sounds like the blind-faith that you hear about with TV Evangelists, but the first part of the verse alludes to what is at the heart of real pure faith- a good memory. Where does this "assurance" come from? It comes from having seen or heard about God's work in the past and remembering it.

In Exodus 14, we see the first of many wilderness memory lapses of the Hebrew people. Probably not even weeks from witnessing first-hand God's power in the ten plagues, they find themselves backed up against the sea looking at the impending attack of the Egyptians. Here's what they say in response to Moses, "'Is it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you dealt with us in this way, bringing us out of Egypt? Is this not the word that we spoke to you in Egypt, saying, 'Leave us alone that we may serve the Egyptians'? For it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.'"(v.11-12) They would have rather remained slaves than to trust God to bring them to their future inheritance.

While there is much that could be said in commentary, the lesson is simple. Do we more often remember what God has done for us in the past and trust God with the army we are currently facing, or do we call into question God's character? I think the key to a pure walk of faith begins with not forgetting to remember. How's your memory? If you are like me sometimes, you are a lot like Dory. Let's not forget to remember!