NEVER FORGET
If you're anything like me, it's easy to forget things; especially if they're not written down. Researcher Karen Bolla lists the top three things people most often forget: 3. phone numbers. 2. where something is. 1. names.
Sometimes we can even forget something important like a special occasion. Davon Huss writes, "On a business trip to California, I realized I had forgotten my wife's birthday the day before. Expecting I was in big trouble, I went to the jewelry section of a department store. After explaining my situation the woman said, "I’m sorry sir, but we don’t sell anything as expensive as what you're going to need."
It's important to do things that will help us to remember. Memorial Day commemorates those who gave their lives serving their country. Webster's defines memorial as, something designed to keep remembrance alive. Having memorials is important so we're reminded of important events and people. If Memorial Day wasn't established some people wouldn't remember to honor the men and women who served and gave their lives to establish and protect our nation's freedom.
There's a 1991 movie titled, Never Forget, about a Holocaust survivor. If you went through it, the Holocaust is something you'd never forget. And you'd want to keep the memory alive so people would never forget what the Jews dealt with.
When the anniversary of 9/11 comes around, you see pictures depicting the phrase, we will never forget. Most people remember where they were when 9/11 happened. But over the years, unless you're someone who dealt with it on a personal level, the horror of it fades. So, remembrances are done to make sure we never forget.
It's good to establish memorials and hold events to remember important occasions or people. What about when it comes to God? If we're not careful, we could allow our focus on God and what he's done for us to lose their impact to where we think of him less and less. We have to be careful to not forget God.
1) Never forget God's lessons.
God told Moses that he would not be entering Canaan with Joshua and the Israelites. But God wanted Moses to make sure he impressed on them not to forget about God or his laws and decrees when they left the desert and inhabited the land of milk and honey.
Deut. 4:5-9, "See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the LORD my God commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”
What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today? Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them."
God knew a warning was necessary. They had been taught but they needed to continue in that teaching. They were told to observe God's laws carefully. And it wasn't just about them but it was also to make an impression on their children and others for God's sake.
The Hebrew word for forget can mean ignore, overlook, unmindful. God wanted his people to be careful to not ignore or overlook any of the lessons they had been taught all these years. There was a concern that the laws of God would not stay in their hearts and minds.
Unfortunately, as it would turn out, the Israelites did forget. They began to abandon God and followed the gods of the people they were driving out. Judges 3:7, "The Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD; they forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asherahs."
It's not like they had a sudden case of amnesia and forgot everything they were taught; they began to minimize and ignore what they were taught. They had forgotten how great it is to have a God who listens to their prayers and acts on their behalf and communicates with them.
Instead of cherishing and appreciating that, they exchanged the wonderful God for false gods; gods of wood and stone. Gods who couldn't listen; wouldn't act on their behalf and who would offer no wisdom to live by.
They were instructed to remove all indications of pagan worship that the former inhabitants followed but they didn't do that. So, because they allowed some of these things to remain, they ended up falling prey to worshiping these false gods; neglecting what God had said and what he warned would happen if they did it.
As I said last week, Israel would break partnership with God and they would suffer the consequences. Sometimes they were taken captive and exiled from their homeland. God's people had forgotten how much of a blessing it was to be able to serve the one true God. They were not grateful that he delivered them from Egypt and brought them to a rich and plentiful land filled with goodness.
If we stop thanking we'll start forgetting. R. G. Lee wrote, "In the Sept. 1923 issue of Literary Digest, it said, 'History knows no disasters which parallels the earthquake and fire that visited Japan this month and laid waste the capital city and the chief seaport'. The New York Tribune called this earthquake “undoubtedly the greatest disaster in recorded time.”
The New York Times described the havoc as covering 45,000 square miles which contained five big cities and a population of 7,000,000. Other dispatches reported that virtually every building in Yokohama was destroyed. Estimates say that 3/4 of Tokyo was burned and the entire city with its 5,000,000 inhabitants was shattered by the earthquake.
A joint survey made by Herbert Hoover and the Red Cross estimated the dead at almost 300,000 with 2,500,000 people homeless. Disease and despair rode throughout the island empire. Then, help came from America! Food, clothing, medical supplies and volunteer workers came in droves.
The American Red Cross collected ten million dollars to bring to the suffering and homeless. Those who lived through the awful tremors, gigantic waves and fires were likely to perish from starvation or disease. But they didn’t. Why? Because America remembered—remembered their need, their suffering, their hunger. The Japanese were grateful. They even put their appreciation in writing: “Japan will never forget!”
But Japan did forget! American ships of mercy were forgotten, and the Rising Sun sent planes of destruction in return. On December 7, 1941, Japanese airplanes brought death and destruction to Pearl Harbor—and the Rising Sun proclaimed that America, brought to her knees, would beg for mercy."
Sadly, a mere 18 years is all it took for the nation that said they would never forget, to forgot the help that was given to them that no doubt saved their nation from total destruction.
The Israelites forgot too. If God hadn't intervened they would've remained Egyptian slaves. But it wasn't long after they entered the promised land before they were forgetting what God had done for them.
What about us? Although we won't suddenly forget everything we've learned, when we start to compromise on God's word, when we start to take it less seriously, we'll be on our way to forgetting. We'll forget how great it is to have a God who is so near to us when we pray. We'll forget how blessed it is to have the word of God teaching us how to live a life that benefits us and pleases him.
We need to remember how our lives were before Christ. We need to keep in mind what our outcome would've been had we not been saved. There may be times we're not very grateful for what God has done for us. Maybe we're not as passionate as we once were; the precious gift of salvation doesn't hold the same value it once did. We can get to the point where we lose sight of what our lives are supposed to be about. Never forget God's teaching, lessons and deliverance.
2) Never forget God's blessings.
Part of Israel's forgetfulness had to do with living the good life. In Egypt they struggled. In the desert, they struggled. But now, being able to occupy and settle down in a good and plentiful land of their own would cause them to be ecstatic. But Moses warned them about that, too.
Deut. 8:10-14, "When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."
God knows the human nature; he knew the temptation his people would be facing. So he warned them to be careful not to disregard him once they were living a better life. Their struggles as Egyptian slaves were behind them and soon their trials as desert wanderers were going to be behind them. How would they respond to this newfound peace and freedom? Would they take God's warning to heart? No.
God told Moses in Deut. 31 that soon after the Israelites would prostitute themselves to the foreign gods in the land they were entering, forsake him and break the covenant he made with them.
Jeremiah 2:7, "I brought you into a fertile land to eat its fruit and rich produce. But you came and defiled my land and made my inheritance detestable. The priests did not ask, 'where is the Lord?' Those who deal with the law did not know me; the leaders rebelled against me. The prophets prophesied by Baal, following worthless idols."
This is the sad state the Israelites ended up in after they were given the Promised Land. Israel had a history of going back and forth with God. Some of it had to do with who their king was at the time; whether he was good or evil. And we see in Jer. 2:7 that the religious leaders were part of the problem too. They should've been leading the people in their worship of the one true God but instead were following other gods and leading the people astray.
Instead of continuing in a state of gratitude and appreciation God's people pushed him aside and went their own way. Selfishness and pride are the main destructive factors that bring us to the point of forgetting God.
Deut. 8:17-18, "You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today."
We forget about God when we put ourselves on the throne. If we want to think that all of what we have and accomplish is due to our own efforts we put ourselves at risk of having God teach us a lesson on humility.
In Dan. 4, Nebuchadnezzar was on the roof of his palace and said, 'Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?' The words were still on his lips when what he was warned about a year earlier by Daniel came to pass. He went insane and was driven away from the people. Eventually, he came to the point of humility and God restored his sanity.
Selfishness and pride cause us to push God aside and assume control. I know what I'm doing and I'm going to do things my way. That never works out.
Because the Israelites forgot God, the word of God eventually became forgotten for a long time. In 2 Kings 22, it tells about the Book of the Law being found in the temple. Why had it been put away and forgotten? It was due either to the negligence of the temple priests or the abolishment of it by wicked kings. Either way, the word of God had been forsaken for many years.
And when King Josiah heard the word of God being read, he tore his robes in great anguish. He was upset that his forefathers had not been obedient to God.
When our lives are going well we can forget about God. Other things take precedence over God and before long, we find ourselves pushing the things of God further and further away. We can be more serious about God when we're in trouble but forget about him when life is good.
But forgetting God doesn't just happen when times are good. It can work the other way too. When calamity strikes we can turn away from God and forget about him. But we need to be like David, who said in Psalm 119:61, "Thought the wicked bind me with ropes, I will not forget your law."
Though God allowed David to be in a perilous situation, David was determined to not forget about God. The God who had proven his love for him. The God who forgave his sins. The God that enabled him to defeat Goliath. The God he sang to. He would not forget about God or his precious word.
Neither should we. Whether times are difficult or times are easy, we need to keep God and the things of God at the forefront. If we lose our focus on God and neglect our spiritual disciplines long enough we could push him so far away that we would forget about him entirely. That will have major consequences. Never forget God's blessings.
3) Never forget God's sacrifice.
Derrick, you're telling me not to forget about God but he's forgotten about me. Have you ever felt that God has forgotten about you?
Isa. 49:13-16, "Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones. But Zion said, “The LORD has forsaken me, the Lord has forgotten me.” “Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you! See, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are ever before me."
Isaiah uses the most extreme example in saying, 'can a mother forget her own baby that she has nursed and shown compassion to'. Then he takes it a step further by saying, 'though it's possible she could, God won't forget you'. Typically the closest bond in humanity-mother and child-still is nowhere near as strong as the bond between God and his child.
'I have engraved you on the palms of my hands'. Does this remind you of anyone? Though this line isn't directly connected to Jesus, it has been seen as a prophetic statement. What a poetic way to describe what he did for us. He took the nails in his hands and feet for us. His wounds have our names on them! How could he forget about us when his sacrifice was all about us?
Memorial Day helps us to remember the men and women of the armed forces who have sacrificed their lives serving the USA. Memorial Day prompts us to reflect on the love they had in being willing to give it their all for their fellow man. This kind of sacrifice involves self-denial and an undying commitment. It involves a willingness to face perilous situations and press on despite fears or setbacks. It involves staying true to the mission even if means death.
These are the attributes of Jesus. His life was about self denial and sacrifice. He was committed to the cause of saving mankind from their sins. Jesus' purpose was to give his life as a ransom, as he said in Matt. 20:28. We should always remember these things.
Whenever Satan tries to tell you that God has forgotten about you all you need to do is remember what Jesus did for you, how much he loves you and that your name is engraved in the palms of his hands. So, let's do as Isaiah instructed, "shout for joy; burst into song!" for the Lord hasn't forsaken you, he hasn't forgotten you; he loves you. He will comfort, forgive and restore you.
Psalm 103:1-6, "Praise the LORD, O my soul; all my inmost being, praise his holy name. Praise the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits—who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit and crowns you with love and compassion, who satisfies your desires with good things so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s. The LORD works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed."
We need to be careful not to let things like selfishness, apathy or pride draw us away from our devotion to Christ. We need to keep what God has done for us fresh in our hearts and minds so we'll always be grateful. Let's make sure we never forget.
