"What I want instead (of animal sacrifices) is your true thanks to God;
I want you to fulfill your vows to the Most High.
Trust Me in times of trouble and I will rescue you and you will give Me glory."
Psalm 50:14-15
"For You are great and perform great miracles.
You alone are God."
Psalm 86:10
The sign for "forget" in sign language is to swipe your right hand across your forehead to symbolize that whatever might have been there left the premises. This sign portrays a good old Southern phrase, "I clean forgot." To sign "remember" you hold your left fist in front of you, thumb up, while bringing your right thumb from your forehead to meet the left thumb. This sign signifies pulling something out of your mental file cabinet to look at it again. (If I mangled the explanation, click here to watch a video of a really sweet teen-aged guy teaching these signs: How to sign "forget" and "remember" ) Our spiritual short-term memory makes each immediate challenge appear bigger than any we've ever had to face. This false perception leads us to question and doubt whether God can handle this one or not. If we don't counteract the questions and doubts in time, they can cause us to clean forget every past hurdle God has knocked down, every wall He's burst through, the seas He's parted and calmed, heavy fog He's lifted, sicknesses He's healed, doors He's opened, mountains He's leveled and blankets of peace He's used to cover and comfort us.
How can we prevent clean forgetting and be better rememberers? We can follow King David's example and recite and repeat what God has done from the beginning as well as what He can do now (see pretty much any Psalm by David). When we share answered prayers, we're sealing in the memory. When we ponder and review each miracle God performs in our lives as it happens, we etch it into our memories before the cement hardens. When we revisit all the ways God's grace and personal ministries have strengthened us, we build immunity to spiritual short-term memory loss.
Father, You're incapable of being incapable! Mighty God of miracles, You perform daily miracles we appreciate for seconds because the next challenge looms ahead. Don't let us file these faith-shaping events away. May we guard and treasure Your Words and Your Ways as defenses against doubt. Cleanse our hearts of sin but clutter our minds with memories of every time You've ministered to us.
In the Name of Jesus Who never forgot what His Father-God could do
Inspired by Live Loved, by Max Lucado
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