I have been rereading a fascinating book entitled More Than Meets the Eyes by Richard A. Swenson, M.D. In chapter four Dr. Swenson deals with the brain and the nervous system. Our understanding of the brain is very limited. But even that limited understanding leaves us agreeing with the Psalmist when he wrote: “I am fearfully and wonderfully made” (Psalm 139:14). Author Lyall Watson had this to say about the brain: “If the brain were so simple that we could understand it, we would be so simple that we couldn’t understand it.” Amen! Now just think about that quote for awhile and the profoundness of it will sink in.
One of the marvels of the human brain is its capacity for memory. Although we often lament our failure to remember things, if we would stop and consider it, we would be amazed at how much we actually do remember. Just give yourself fifteen minutes. Sit back and try to think of nothing but different things from your past that you have learned or experienced. Try to think of as many different things as you can. You will realize that in that fifteen minutes you have barely skimmed the surface of all that you actually do remember. For example, consider your memory of words. Dr. Swenson pointed out, “The average adult has an active or use vocabulary of 10,000 words and a passive or recognition vocabulary of 30,000 to 40,000 words.” You could not count how many different words you know, if you tried. You remember so many words that you cannot remember how many words you know. Or maybe you think you can remember how many words you know. Okay, go ahead and start listing them. Let me know when you have finished. And if you know more than one language, you do have your work cut out for you! Just realize that you have an amazing capacity for memory.
Memory is the capacity to retain what we have learned. It is not enough just to get information. That information has to be retained, if we are going to benefit from it. The retention of information is the function of memory. So the challenge we face is to get information, and getting it, to retain it. To remember something is the opposite of forgetting it. The word forget is made up of the prefix for combined with the verb get. The prefix for means to miss or forfeit something through what is expressed by the verb. Therefore, forget means to miss getting. If you forget something, you miss getting it. Notice how Solomon contrasts getting with forgetting in this passage:
Proverbs 4:5 Get wisdom, get understanding: forget it not; neither decline from the words of my mouth.
If you forget wisdom, then you haven’t got it! It’s that simple.
Now God, Who created us to be able to remember, requires us to use this ability in our relationship with Him. This brings us to the passage that I asked you to read. Notice how much the subject of memory is brought up in Deuteronomy 8.
DEU 8:2 And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no.
DEU 8 11 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:
12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;
13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;
14 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;
DEU 8:18 But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.
19 And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.
Observe that Israel was told once to remember all the way God had led them in the wilderness. They were told once to remember the Lord their God and three times they were warned not to forget Him. Verse 11 teaches us that we forget God “in not keeping His commandments.” If we forget to do what God commands us to do, it is because we have forgotten Him. Then verses 11-14 specifically warn us against the danger of letting the accumulation of material wealth cause us to forget our God. Someone has wisely observed that the more things you own, the more things own you. With so much to keep up with, it is a constant danger that keeping up with those things will crowd the Lord out of your memory. You run here and there doing this and that and give your God scarcely a thought. That is forgetting the Lord thy God! Oh, yes, you may spend a couple of hours in church hearing about God, that is, if nothing else interferes; but what about the rest of the week? Is the time you spend in church about all the remembrance your God gets? And how much of that time is spent with your mind on other business rather than on Him?
Consider the following passages that show the importance of memory in our relationship with God.
Ecclesiastes 12:1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them;
We should begin early in life to train our memories to include God.
Psalms 103:2 Bless the LORD, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits:
Psalms 105:5 Remember his marvellous works that he hath done; his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth;
How about starting to list God’s benefits, His marvellous works, His wonders, and His judgments (commandments) and see how many of them you can remember. Just try it when you are driving along in the car. Do that instead of listening to the news or the music stations. It will be an exercise in memory that will do you a great deal of good. It will set your mind to thinking more wholesome thoughts.
I have more to say about this subject of memory, but I will let this suffice for today. In the meantime, let these solemn words sink down into your memory: “Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God.” Remember! Don’t forget Him!
No comments:
Post a Comment