The Danger of Forgetfulness | Sunday, January 31, 2021

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart; and you shall teach them diligently to your children... You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. (Deuteronomy 6:6–9)

Then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 6:12)

We may not want to admit it, but we are forgetful people—and that forgetfulness is spiritually dangerous.

We Are Forgetful People

We may not want to admit it, or we might like to think otherwise, but we are forgetful people. Several years ago I came across an article in which researchers from the University of Notre Dame described something they call an event boundary. We've all experienced its effects, even if we never knew it was an actual, identifiable psychological phenomenon.

What is an event boundary? If you have ever entered a room in your home and immediately forgotten why you went in—what you came to retrieve or to do—then you have experienced an event boundary. It happens to me often. I walk upstairs to get something, and as soon as I arrive I've completely forgotten what I came for. I go back downstairs, remember, and head up again, only to forget once more.

Psychology professor Gabriel Radvansky said of this phenomenon, "Entering or exiting through a doorway serves as an event boundary in the mind, which separates episodes of activity and files them away. Recalling the decision or activity that was made in a different room is difficult because it has been compartmentalized."

The older we get, the less access we seem to have to the "random access memory" of our brains, and unfortunately there are no RAM upgrades available. A couple of days ago I sat right here in my chair trying to recall a single small word that was right on the tip of my tongue, and I couldn't get it for minutes. Some of you who are older than me are thinking, "Just wait, Pastor Miles—it gets worse." I know that's true, and it's a little frightening.

Why God Commanded Reminders

Just as doorways create an event boundary that seems to reset our memories, many things increase the likelihood that we'll forget important truths. That is why it is essential to create reminders and build reinforcing mechanisms for our memories. This is exactly what Moses does in Deuteronomy 6. After giving the greatest commandment—which we considered together last week—he says God's words should be in our hearts, taught diligently to our children, talked about constantly, bound on our hands, and written on our doorposts and gates.

The same reinforcing exhortation comes to Joshua, who led Israel after Moses' death:

This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. (Joshua 1:8)

Why does God want His Word written on our hearts, fixed in our minds, and placed all around us? So that we will meditate on it, keep it, and walk in it. And the promised result is His presence, His blessing, and success in our lives.

"Lest You Forget"

Look again at Deuteronomy 6:12: "lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage." You might think, "There's no way they could forget the God who delivered them from four hundred years of slavery." Many of us, reading the Old Testament, assume that if we had seen the plagues, the Passover, the parting of the Red Sea, the manna every morning, and water from the rock, we would never forget the Lord.

But that is exactly what happened. It did not take long for Israel to begin living as though they had forgotten God. How is that possible? Because our memories are fungible—they can be lost, altered, and changed, even the big ones.

There is striking research on how memories degrade around major events. These are sometimes called flashbulb memories—the events we're sure are indelibly imprinted on our minds. After the September 11th terrorist attacks in 2001, NYU studied almost 3,000 people who wrote down their memories within days: where they were, who they were with, what they saw. Over the next ten years, those same people returned to recount their memories—and they had completely changed. When researchers handed them their own handwritten accounts from days after the attacks, people were shocked. Some read their own words and said, "That's not how it happened."

If our memories can change like that, how can we trust them? In some respects, we almost can't. That is precisely why God wanted His people to write these things down, meditate on them often, and teach them to their children.

The Danger of Better Days

People are sometimes amazed at my ability to recall passages of Scripture, but almost all of that comes from teaching these things to others. When you teach something, it is imprinted more deeply on your heart. So God says: write these things down, meditate on them continually, teach them to your children and grandchildren, and even establish annual festivals—Passover, Pentecost, Sukkot—so that you will remember.

Here is the amazing thing. Eventful, flashbulb moments seem so great in the moment that we think, "I will never forget this." But when the stress fades, the memory fades too—and so do the huge lessons we learned. Notice what Moses says:

So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land... to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good things which you did not fill, hewn-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant—when you have eaten and are full—then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage. (Deuteronomy 6:10–12)

Important lessons learned in the stress of hard times are often forgotten when better days come. When you are no longer under the threat of bondage, no longer forced to trust God daily for food and water in the wilderness, when you have cities you didn't build and wells already full of water—that is when the opportunity to forget the Lord comes.

How Quickly It Happened

You may think it is impossible to forget the Lord. But after Moses preaches Deuteronomy, he dies. Joshua takes over leadership. Then, immediately after Joshua, comes the book of Judges:

So the people served the Lord all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders who outlived Joshua... When all that generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation arose after them who did not know the Lord nor the work which He had done for Israel. (Judges 2:7, 10)

It hardly seems possible, but the very next generation did not know the Lord. The mighty works of God were just stories to them. Paul addresses this directly:

Now all these things happened to them as examples, and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages have come. Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall. (1 Corinthians 10:11–12)

We are incredibly forgetful, and so we read in Judges that Israel "did evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals; and they forsook the Lord God of their fathers." One chapter later: "So the children of Israel did evil in the sight of the Lord. They forgot the Lord their God, and served the Baals and Asherahs" (Judges 3:7).

We must be careful not to underestimate our capacity for forgetfulness. Take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall.

Foul Weather Followers, Fair Weather Heathens

You shall fear the Lord your God and serve Him... You shall not go after other gods... for the Lord your God is a jealous God among you, lest the anger of the Lord your God be aroused against you. (Deuteronomy 6:13–15)

My hope and prayer is that, through all the challenges of the last year, you have learned important things about God—and about yourself—and that you have grown closer to Him, establishing new patterns of prayer, devotion, and trust. My own faith has been stretched and strengthened.

But better days will come. The trials of 2020 and 2021 will one day be behind us, and the real danger is that the lessons, patterns, and habits built during these hard times will easily be forgotten. Honestly, sometimes it is easier to maintain closeness with God in difficult, stressful times than in easy, calm ones. When there's no work, we cry out for help. When there's no money, we pray for provision. When there's illness, we draw near to Him and to the body of Christ. But when there's a long list of clients, too much work to finish, and a full bank account, there's very little pressure to live by faith and prayer.

Our great danger is becoming foul weather followers of God and fair weather heathens—coming to Him only when things are hard. I can't help but think of a certain children's book, The Giving Tree. If we're not careful, we can treat God like a giving tree, coming to Him only when life is challenging and forgetting His faithfulness when things improve.

But the Lord our God is a jealous God—not jealous of us, but jealous for us, for our affection, devotion, and time. In the same way you would be rightly bothered to see someone flirting with your spouse, God is jealous for our hearts.

You shall diligently keep the commandments of the Lord your God... And you shall do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord, that it may be well with you. (Deuteronomy 6:17–18)

The only way we guard against becoming foul weather followers and fair weather heathens is by diligently maintaining closeness to God and His Word. The result of that closeness is the blessing of His presence—and in His presence is His blessing: "that it may be well with you."

Teaching the Next Generation

How do we maintain such closeness? Moses tells us:

When your son asks you in time to come, saying, "What is the meaning of the testimonies, the statutes, and the judgments which the Lord our God has commanded you?" then you shall say to your son: "We were slaves of Pharaoh in Egypt, and the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand... Then He brought us out from there, that He might bring us in, to give us the land of which He swore to our fathers." (Deuteronomy 6:20–23)

I love that phrase—He brought us out that He might bring us in. There will come a time in the land when your children ask what all these routines and festivals are about, and you must be ready to tell them the story of God's deliverance.

We must create and maintain memory of God and the essential lessons of His law. In many ways, the entire Old Testament is the sobering story of God, His people, and their perpetual forgetfulness. All these things happened as examples, written for our instruction. So take heed when you think you stand, lest you fall. Beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of your trials, challenges, and burdens.

My prayer is that this past year has drawn you nearer to the Lord—that you've learned more of His faithfulness, seen Him provide financially, emotionally, and spiritually, and built new patterns of devotion, prayer, and community. Do not let those things go by the wayside. Easier days will come, and it is in those times that we are most prone to drift. So set up routines. Create and maintain memory of God and the essential lessons of His law, so that you will keep drawing near to Him.

Closing Prayer

Father God, I pray that You would cause these things to be deep in our hearts, that we would not soon forget them. Whatever mechanisms and patterns we need to develop, help us to be more apt to spend the time we need with You—in Your presence, in prayer, and in fellowship with others. Sometimes, Lord, it is so much harder to maintain devotion to You and closeness with the body of Christ when everything is good and the weather is fine; it is so easy to drift. I pray You would not allow that to happen. Help us take advantage of this challenging time to draw near to You and grow close in our relationship with You. Do that work in me, and do that work in my brothers and sisters, I pray. We ask this in Jesus' name, amen.