Where Am I And How Did I Get Here?

Where Am I and How Did I Get Here?

Pastor Jim May

Victor Borge told about a couple going on vacation, standing in line waiting to check their bags at the airline counter. The man said to the wife, "I wish we had brought the piano." She said, "Why? We’ve got sixteen suitcases already!" He said, "Yes, I know-- but the airline tickets are on the piano!"

There’s a story about a man from the city who was visiting relatives on a farm. He was out walking around with the farmer when the farmer gave a whistle and his dog herded the cattle into the corral, and then latched the gate with her paw. "Wow, that’s some dog. What’s her name?" The forgetful farmer thought a minute, and then asked, "What do you call that red flower that smells good and has thorns on the stem?" "A rose?" "That’s it!" The farmer turned and called out to his wife. "Hey Rose, what do we call this dog?"

Your memory is a terrible thing to loose. There are a lot of people out there who have lost all or part of their ability to remember things. All of us suffer from memory lapse at some time or another. We forget things so easily.

Have you ever stopped in the doorway to the kitchen or some other room and wondered whether you are coming in, or going out?

Have you ever found yourself standing in the closet wondering what you were in there for? Did I come in here looking for something, or to put something up?

Have you ever met someone you knew and just couldn’t remember his or her name? That’s an embarrassing moment for all of us.

What about when you go to the grocery store to get one thing and then arrive at home with bags filled with things you didn’t go after and realize that you forgot the one thing you really wanted?

What about riding down the road, in very familiar surroundings, and then suddenly you wonder where you are? My first thought is often, “Was that last traffic light red or green?” And then I realize that my Guardian angels must have really been on the job because I don’t even remember the last few miles.

Those are the kind of memory problems that plague us all.

Those types of memory loss are disturbing but there are some poor folks who lose much more than that. One of the most dreaded diseases around is that of Alzheimer’s. It begins subtly but before long those stricken can’t remember where they live or even what their names are. Sometimes it’s the long-term memory, of childhood and early marriage that they loose. At other times it’s the short-term memory that is gone. They can remember many years ago, but can’t remember what they did yesterday.

God knew that man would have the tendency to forget things. That’s why He had to put down His Word in writing, so that we could have something to go back to and refresh our memory from time to time. That is one of the reasons why He has instructed us to come together as often as we can, so that we can be reminded of things of God.

If you don’t think that’s necessary, then will all of you who cannot remember what the sermon was about last Sunday morning, please raise your hand. Why, you can’t remember that one! It was one of the best that I’ve had in a long time – and you have already forgotten it! I can’t believe it. You’re memory is really bad isn’t it?

I had a lot more to say about that, but I can’t remember what I wanted to say!

God knew that we would quickly forget where we have come from and how we came to be where we are right now, so He gave us some instructions and some warnings, to constantly remind ourselves of those things.

Israel was always forgetting what God told them. In fact, Jeremiah the Prophet is very emphatic when he corrects Israel for its forgetful ways in Chapter 2, verse 32, "Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number."

In Deuteronomy 8:11-14, God gives Israel a clear warning about their forgetful ways, "Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;"