Do you ever feel like your faith suffers from ‘short-term memory loss’? Be reminded of the faithfulness of God, despite our faithlessness at times.
{Guest post: For more on this writer, see bio at end.}
“The glory of God’s faithfulness is that no sin of ours has ever made Him unfaithful.”
~Charles Spurgeon
Recently, I’ve been reading through and listening to Matt Chandler’s exegetical sermon series on Exodus. Spurgeon’s quote is especially powerful in light of this Pentateuchal book. My takeaway:
We sometimes forget God,
but God never forgets us.
Still, the Lord provided
The Exodus narrative opens with the people of Israel under the rule of the new king of Egypt, being forced to work as slaves because the king believed the Hebrews “too many and too mighty to defeat” (Ex. 1:9).
This sets the stage for the Israelites’ divine deliverance from Egyptian oppression. According to Chandler, “The bedrock of the story…act one if you will…is God’s kindness, his mercy, and his initiating love toward us. The people of Israel cried out in their oppression. Not to God. They just cried out, and God responded. God heard them. God saw them. God delivered them. God provided for them. God made a way to give them what their heart most desperately needed: himself.”
Fast forward to chapters 7-14 and we read how the Lord delivered His people from Egypt via divine methods like the 10 plagues, pillars of fire and cloud, and Rea Sea parting.
The remainder of the narrative illustrates the Lord’s faithfulness in spite of His people’s forgetfulness.
In 14:10-14, when the Israelites came upon the Red Sea, a dead end, with the angry Egyptians tight on their heels, they cried out in fear. Still, the Lord provided. He parted the Red Sea so they could cross on dry land and then closed the waters overtop the Egyptians.
In 15:23-25, when the Israelites discovered the water at Marah was too bitter to drink, they complained. Still, the Lord provided. He told Moses to throw a log into the water and it became sweet.
In 16:2-5, when the Israelites came to the wilderness of Sin and had no food to eat, they complained. Still, the Lord provided. He sent fresh manna from heaven every day.
In 17:1-7, when the Israelites again came to a place in the desert with no water, they complained. Still, the Lord provided. He told Moses to strike a rock and it sprung forth water.
FaithFUL despite faithLESSness
But the story doesn’t stop there. In Exodus 32, while Moses was on Mount Sinai with God, the Israelites asked Aaron to erect a golden statue of the very animal that God destroyed in Egypt–a cow.
When I read this about the Israelites’ behavior, I become annoyed. I throw my hands in the air and think, “Israel, do you not remember? Has not the Lord protected and provided for you over and over again? Yet you forget and now you worship a golden calf?!”
But the Lord has recently opened my eyes to how often I act the very same way.
I shift my focus from my Savior to my circumstances and in so doing, begin to fear and forget. In this regard, I often feel like Dory in Finding Nemo—I suffer from short term memory loss.
The good news? The Lord is faithful even when His children are faithless.
There is no limit to how many times He will pick us up when we fall.
There is no limit to how many times He will show us grace when we doubt Him.
There is no end to His love.
The Lord’s kindness is immeasurable, His faithfulness unceasing, His love steadfast.
Help me not to forget
I love what Matt Chandler says: “God’s plan is a good plan, but it will rarely play itself out like we think it’s going to. Do you know why? Because he’s infinite and we’re not.”
A favorite hymn of mine is “Come Thou Fount” because of the powerful, poetic lyrics:
Come, Thou Fount of every blessing
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace
Streams of mercy, never ceasing
Call for songs of loudest praise
Teach me some melodious sonnet
Sung by flaming tongues above
Praise the mount, I’m fixed upon it
Mount of Thy redeeming love
(Public domain: Source)
The Lord’s goodness is not contingent on circumstances. It does not ebb and flow like the tide. God is good. All the time. Period.
As for me, I want to write this on my heart and engrave it in my mind.
I don’t want to forget.
I don’t want to be like the Israelites who repeatedly allowed their fear to overshadow their faith.
I want to fix my eyes on the author and perfecter of my faith.
I pray my thoughts, actions, and words reflect my confidence that God is who He says He is. I want my praise to echo that of David in Psalm 18:
“I love you, O Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge. my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”
(Psalm 18:1-3)
And above all, I want to remember He is faithful, despite my faithlessness. Regardless of what I see before me, I want that truth to envelop and sustain me.
And if my short-term memory loss sets in again, may God help me to just keep swimming until what I forgot is remembered again.
If you’d like help “remembering,” check out the new book:
Revival: 6 Steps to Reviving Your Heart and Rebuilding Your Prayer Life by Christi Gee.
About the Guest Writer:
Maddie Gee is just a Texas girl living in Virginia who loves the Lord, life, laughter, and all things southern. She graduated with her master’s from Liberty University and is an account manager for RST Marketing.
She’s also a freelance designer at Maddiejgee.com and the daughter of this blog’s owner, Christi.
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