THE KIND OF MEMORY THAT HELPS
Psa. 78:42 “They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered them from the enemy.”
Psalm 78 is a psalm when sung that will remind the people of God of the history of God’s redemption of them from Egypt and His deliverance of them from their enemies. It set before them how He supplied their every need and how they turned back and limited Him by their unbelief. Then in our text, we learn that they never allowed the history of God’s dealings with them to help them avoid the same mistakes in the present. Israel gives us the inspired history of God’s dealings. If it is not to profit them, why write it? If it will not save them from repeating things that got them into trouble, it is of no practical value. God inspired this Psalm to be repeated over and over again to be a constant reminder to Israel of His mercy and grace.
The Psalmist says, “They remembered not his hand, nor the day when he delivered from the enemy.” The Psalmist carefully uses the word “They” so as to write this from God’s point of view. And he is taking sides with God against the sin of forgetting. He is saying “I have not forgotten but they have.” I think all of us experience the thought that is presented. We can look at an unfaithful and unbelieving church and say, “They remembered not his hand . . .” We can think of it in this way. Maybe we have not forgotten. Maybe we can take sides with God and against the unbelieving believers and say they are wrong and need to repent. That is what this psalm is saying. And the Psalmist is not accused by the Lord as judging. There are so many who, when confronted by the truth, say to the one who brings the truth of their sin before them, “You are judging.” Well God is the Author of the truth of this psalm. The Psalmist is not judging. And it is as true today as it was then. Let’s don’t blame the messenger if the message is right.
Israel had forgotten and the Psalmist writes, “They remembered not his hand . . .” We have a tendency to forget what God has done for us. It seems to be in our very nature. It was in Israel’s case. If we are trained on a new and complex job, one of the ways we learn to be good at it, is to learn as we go then remember later what we did. We continue to add by experience to the present operation. The more time spent, the more lessons learned, the better we become. But what if, in the process, we were not profited by our past mistakes, and we continued to make them over and over again. Our boss would come to us and say, “You have made that mistake several times. When are you going to learn?” That is one of the reasons when you get a job there is usually a probation period before you are considered a permanent employee. According to that principle, God would have fired Israel!
We have baptism and the Lord’s Supper in the church as ordinances to remind us over and over again of our redemption. We have the Bible that records’ heresies that invaded the early churches and how they dealt with them, all a reminder to keep us from making the same mistakes. The words, “For Demas hath forsaken me, having loved this present world . . .” (2 Tim. 4:10), remind us that God is not pleased with us when we allow the world to divert our attention away from our duties as Christians. We have the perversion of the Lord’s Supper and how Paul by inspiration dealt with that problem in First Corinthians chapter 11. It is there as an inspired historical record. That should help us in the present. This is what the Bible is for us as Christians. Thank the Lord that He has given us His word so that we will not fall into the errors of the past. But in spite of this the historical record has not helped in many cases. I have to admit, it is not always THEY, it is sometimes WE. I have to include myself. My memory is so short. It is easy to forget how God dealt with me on certain things in the past and make those very same mistakes again. Thank God for His grace.
