God warns us so many times in the Bible about forgetting Him and what He has done. This was the problem with Israel: they so easily forgot what God had done to bring them out of Egypt and all the miracles He did in making food fall from the sky every morning - seriously? But when things happen repeatedly, they become normal and lose their wonder and beauty. How often do you even notice the beauty right outside your window? For some of you, it might not be that amazing, but in Cape Town, we have Table Mountain right there in the middle of the city with the ocean right there too. Yet days, even weeks, can go by without me marveling at the beauty of what God has made. It's quite literally an elephant in the middle of the room that is being ignored.
I think maybe this is why in Phil 4:6, we are told to tell God what we need and thank Him for all He has done. Ok, so that seems like a simple statement, and we might be tempted to pray something like this: "God, I need x, y and z, and thanks for everything". But if you were really to thank God for EVERYTHING He has done... woah! I don't know about you, but I've seen and experienced God doing a whole lot in my life, not to mention everyone else around me's lives, and then He also made the world...
In grade 4, we had a thing called a 'gratitude journal', where each week we had to write down 5 things we were thankful for. Often someone would forget, but it was so easy to do last minute: there's always at least 5 things you can be thankful for, no matter how crap life may seem. I have clothes to wear. I have clean clothes to wear. I have more than one pair of clean clothes to wear. I have a laptop. I have internet. I have a house to stay in. Now these may seem like little things, but God is all about the little things too. If you look at all the ways that you are blessed, the ways you aren't seem a whole lot less.
Back to forgetting... We need to remember, or else we'll forget. God told the Jews to tie His word to their foreheads and to their door posts - so they would see it in front of them all day, and would be reminded of it whenever they walked in or out of their home. This is why they built alters - as reminders of what God had done, and so they could pass the story on to the next generation. Psalm 78 is a beautiful example of this, reminding the people of the importance of learning from the past and telling their children of God's faithfulness and what He has done.
There is this story of a village where they suffered from insomnia and slowly started to lose their memory as a result. One of the guys realised what was happening, and didn't want to forget, so he started labeling everything, and then wrote instructions for what they were for. At the entrance to the village, they had the name of the village, and a sign that said 'God exists'. This may seem like something sad and almost pathetic, but it's really a story about all of us. The only way we learn is by repetition and constant practice. We have to continuously remind ourselves about important things. Brushing your teeth may seem like the most natural thing ever, but try doing it with your other hand - it's not as easy. So often we forget who God is and what He has done. We need to remind ourselves daily that He even exists, and also of His nature and character.
When God made His covenant with Abraham and promised Him thousands of descendants, He used two different metaphors: that He would have as many descendants as the stars in the sky, and at another time, as the grains of sands. God gave Abraham visual reminders for the day and night, so that when feelings of doubt came, He only had to look at creation to be reminded of God's promise.
I found this on the Axiom page (christouraxiom.com), and I cried the tears of my Beloved as I realised how far we have fallen:
Robert Benson tells the story of a four year-old girl who was overheard whispering into her newborn baby brother’s ear, “Baby”, she said, “tell me what God sounds like—I am starting to forget”.
How far have we come and how much have we forgotten about what God sounds like? We need to practice listening and hearing His voice, so that in the storms of life, we can pick it out amongst the chaos. We were made for intimacy with Him, but we forget and so easily stray to do our own thing, that we don't hear the desperate cry of our Beloved for us to come back to Him.
In 2 Chronicles 7:14, God says that "if my people who are called by My Name will humble themselves and pray and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sins and restore their land."
May you open your ears to hear and your eyes to see that the LORD is God, and that His unfailing love and faithfulness endure forever. I pray that He will remind us, and that we would make a conscious effort to remember who He is and what He has done for us, for He has done so much!
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