February 19 - Don’t Forget To Remember

Don’t Forget To Remember

“Ask and it shall be given unto you; seek and you shall find; knock and the door will be opened unto you.”  Matthew 7:7

Memory is a funny thing.  Don’t we all know it? 

Sometimes it can be our best friend.  God has given us the ability to recall life’s treasured moments, interactions, people, trips, sights, smells, songs, and events of varying types.  It separates us from all other creation.   Experts have estimated that each person’s memory capacity has the equivalency of multiple massive computers.  

Other times, it can be our  worst enemy.   It can fail us at the most inopportune time even causing us to wonder if we can hide our own Easter eggs and still make it a competitive game.  As one friend noted, “I have an incredible memory…I just don’t have any film.”  In a digital age, we might have to explain the word “film” to a new generation.

As a young person, I remember using memory methods to help recall key facts that could help me should my memory lapse on tests and other occasions.  These included pegs, placements, and even acronyms which triggered a key fact or something to be retained.   

Phrases like, “My Very Excellent Mother Just Sold Us Nine Pizzas” had leading letters that prompted the nine (now eight) planets in descending order from the Sun including “Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto (with the last one now sadly downsized from The Planet Row).

Other phrases in music such as “Every Good Bird Does Fly” helped in my treble clef sheet music so that I knew the “E, G, B, D, F” as well as “Great Big Dogs Fights  Animals” bass of “G, B,D,F,A.” While the word “HOMES” gave the five famous lakes of Michigan including Huron, Ontario, Michigan, Eerie, and Superior. 

All of these are so simple but ultimately pale in comparison to God’s greatest reason for memory both in Bible days and our days.   

God desired that Israel would remember something more important than planet orders, music tables and lakes.  He has given us a memory to think of our reflexive need for Him and His indescribable faithfulness in every season of life and to thank Him for it.   Knowing our vulnerability of forgetting, time and again, He spoke to the Israelites to use memory methods to recall all that He had done including:

1)    Lay down “stone” as reminders of how He brought them through the Jordan.  (Joshua 4:6,7)

2)    Tie them on your hands and foreheads as a reminder; inscribe them on the doorposts of your homes and on your city gates. (Deuteronomy 6:8,9)

3)    Challenging them to remember the marvelous works He has done. (Psalm 105:5)

But one of His biggest admonishments is to remember to turn to Him in a time of need.  It’s one of those areas that most often we forget to do (and often).  Matthew 7:7 says,

                        “A-sk and it shall be given unto you:

                         S-eek and you shall find;

                         K-nock and the door will be opened unto you.” 

Built within the first word of each of those phrases are the letters “A-S-K” for “Ask, Seek and Knock.”  Easy to remember and all boiled down to one word. Twenty  times in the New Testament, we are told to “ask” when in need.  The idea is to make a request or to seek assistance in need.    

God wants us to turn to Him whether a physical challenge, marital impasse, heavy trial, or spiritual growth.  When it comes down to it, don’t forget to “ASK.”  And when He answers, it’s good to remember to thank Him.  It’s only fitting.

Terry Risser

Reflections:

1)   What is the biggest reason we struggle to ask God for help?

2)   Mention an area in your life where you can ask for an answer today. 

Consider reading the word today:

Copyright 2014- Terry Risser