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A number of years ago a popular show on TV was called “Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader”. The show pitted adults against 5th graders to see who could answer a variety of questions typically taught to kids during the early years of school. I watched a number of episodes and quickly discovered that the questions were easy; things any 5th grader would know. They asked about things like government, geography and science. None of the questions were particularly hard and yet while I would always find myself thinking Oh, I know this… I couldn’t seem to find the answers. It was all stuff I’d learned but unfortunately forgotten. Therein lies the basic premise of the show and the reason it worked. Most of what we learn, we forget. We spend the early years of our lives learning things and the rest of our lives forgetting them. You might say life is one big exercise in forgetting.
The story of the Exodus tells of the Israelites encamped at the foot of Mt. Sinai waiting for Moses to come down. It tells us that when Moses delayed to come down, the Israelites quickly turned away and began to worship a golden calf. They spent the early part of the exodus as witnesses to some of God’s most amazing acts. But it didn’t take them long to forget it all when things didn’t go their way. The whole Red Sea event had just happened and yet at Mt. Sinai it all seemed but a distant memory. Psalm 106 says it this way; “our ancestors when they were in Egypt did not remember God’s steadfast love… they soon forgot his works… they forgot God who had done great things in Egypt.” We seem to have short memories when it comes to the things we learn in school as well as the work of God in our lives. We all too often take a “what have you done for me lately” approach with God. We’re thankful for his blessings but too easily forget them when things aren’t going our way.
This week’s texts are a call for us to remember God’s blessings even when things are not going as we’d like. We’re called to remember the works of God in our lives from former days. We’re reminded not to take a short-term view- but to remember the things we once experienced; the lessons we once learned; that we have a God who has done great things in our lives and in the world around us. We have a God who acts; just not always on our timetable. Our disappointment and frustration with the present circumstances should always be coupled with a reminder of all that God has done from our past. When God is feeling strangely silent and absent from our present, may we never forget his blessings from the past.
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