Memory – October 14, 2019

“I will never forget . . .”
Amos 8:7

Memory

There is a fascinating new documentary series entitled The Mind, Explained. Each episode explores what researchers have learned about some specific function in the human brain. The subject of the first episode is memory.

Researchers have discovered that the capacity of the human brain to commit things to memory is breathtaking. For instance, one woman featured on the show is able to memorize a random series of 500 numbers in just 10 minutes and then repeat the numbers in their proper sequence without making a mistake.

However, researchers have also found that there are many aspects of human memory that are far from reliable. Another woman recalls what she remembers from September 11, 2001. While the main arc of what she remembers is accurate enough, there are various details in her recall that are not.

All of which brings us to our Lord. Our God’s capacity to remember is perfect. It is all-encompassing. It is eternal. All by itself, this is a chilling thought. It tells me that if my plan is to stand before a perfectly good and just God one day and presume that, somehow, my failures will be small enough to have been forgotten by him, then I am the one with a faulty memory. I have forgotten that my God knows all and remembers all that I do.

But that’s why God chose to send his Son. He saw our desperate need for rescue. Jesus remembered his heavenly Father’s will and lived a life of perfect faithfulness on our behalf. He also carried our every sinful failure to the cross. There he washed them away in his blood. Now, through faith in what Jesus has done in our place, God declares that he will remember our sins no more (Jeremiah 31:34).

And here’s one more beautiful thing. Even on those days when you don’t fully remember how much God loves us in Jesus, he does.

Prayer:
Lord, thank you that because of what Jesus has done for me, you remember my sins no more. Amen.