By: Gwen Smith
My daughter calls me Dory. She even gave me a small travel sized tin for cotton swabs because Dory is on the lid. Think back to the adorable movie Finding Nemo. Yeah. That Dory. The adorably lovable blue fish-friend who struggles with short-term memory loss. Ahem.
I do forget things.
Regularly.
Where I put my keys. Why I was going upstairs. Who that person is. What I was talking about… mid-sentence.
Now, let’s pause for a reality update before you start sending me emails advising me to take ginkgo biloba, use essential oils or meet with a doctor… it’s more my personality than a brain function issue. I’m good, people. Just a bit forgetful and easily distracted.
But as I read Psalm 106, my heart is crushed and crumbles at the realization that I’m dangerously similar to the forgetful Israelites who experienced vibrant miracles from the God who leads His children through and delivers them from deep, dark waters.
They forgot the tenderness of the Hands that had snatched them from chains of oppression and bondage, lifted them from pits of depression and hopelessness, and restored them from brokenness and rebellion.
We have sinned, even as our ancestors did;
we have done wrong and acted wickedly.
7 When our ancestors were in Egypt,
they gave no thought to your miracles;
they did not remember your many kindnesses,
and they rebelled by the sea, the Red Sea
8 Yet he saved them for his name’s sake,
to make his mighty power known.
(Psalm 106:6-8)
They forgot the God who called them His own. His chosen. His redeemed. His children.
They gave no thought to His miracles.
They forgot the God who provided and guided.
He rebuked the Red Sea, and it dried up;
he led them through the depths as through a desert.
10 He saved them from the hand of the foe;
from the hand of the enemy he redeemed them.
11 The waters covered their adversaries;
not one of them survived.
12 Then they believed his promises
and sang his praise.
13 But they soon forgot what he had done
and did not wait for his plan to unfold.
14 In the desert they gave in to their craving;
in the wilderness they put God to the test.
(Psalm 106:9-14)
They forgot the God who remembered His covenant.
They doubted. They grumbled.
They gave into carnal cravings.
They put God to the test.
Reading about the forgetful Israelites is like looking into the mirror of my soul and seeing my own forgetful heart.
Lord, I’m so sorry. Help me remember.
Dory may be a cute movie character, but she’s not a cute soul-sister.