HomeI think sometimes that I suffer from amnesia. Or maybe selective amnesia. Or maybe that I have some sort of debilitating memory disease that requires that I have to go back and learn something that I know that I know. I know that I know it, but for some reason, I can’t seem to piece it together.
I remember going on my honeymoon, 14 years ago this August and worrying that I wouldn’t remember how to do my job after 2 weeks being gone. I remember how silly that was, but I even had a dream that I couldn’t remember how to use the computer system at work.
That was a long time ago. but that’s not what I’m talking about today. I’m talking about God, knowing God, knowing His truth, trusting Him. It is easy to forget what you know. It is easy to lose track and fumble around trying to figure out what it was that you knew and why it made sense at one time and then today it does not. Sometimes you are full and amazed and the next moment you are flailing for breath. Maybe it is just me, I’m worried at times that it is, but it seems that it is easy to lost track of what is important from within this body of flesh.
If you look at the Israelites, through out the Old Testament, you see a pattern. They would witness miracles and they would then grumble, or turn away to other things. You might think to yourself “hello!? what are you doing!?” but then again, you might want to look closer at yourself and how you measure up, at least I do. I can feel totally full and high on God’s grace and filled with passion for the things of God. And then sometimes, right around the corner, I can feel low and without that hunger or desire or passion. What is that? It is like I forgot. It is like I don’t know what I know.
So, at that point, what do you do?
I think at that point, it is a good idea to start at the beginning. When I say the beginning, a good place is Genesis 1:1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. God was there in the beginning. God made everything. God owns everything. God made man.
Next, man had a good gig. Peace with God. The gift of Woman. Paradise. Absence of Sin.
And then… the Fall. Man fell. Wanted to be like God. Wanted it His way. Disobeyed. Actively. Then tried to shirk responsibility onto God and onto the Woman. Eve sinned. Adam sinned. The Devil tempted. We fell for it.
I say we because, well, you would have done the same thing. No pretenses. Each of us would have messed up too. But there is no “woulda, shoulda, coulda”. It was done. It is not our story anyway, it is His story, God’s story, part of history. You may or may not believe it actually happened, but regardless, we have to deal with this sin problem and thankfully God does.
Through this sin, we lose, or rather lost, our closeness with God. With Sin, He cannot relate. Or rather His perfection and holiness cannot intermingle with Sin. So kicked out of the garden, out of relationship, we are separated from Him, from His fellowship.
This put man at enmity with God. no peace. sinners deserving punishment, wrath and destruction before their holy perfect creator. We are lost in our sins, on our own. For any hope, God would have to do something.
He promised a savior. God still had to punish this sin, but He would do it in a substitute, His own son.
There is so much yet to say and reveal, but you have to start over when you forget. You have to remember that all was good and we sinned and disobeyed the maker of the Universe, our own maker. He owes us nothing, we owe Him everything. We are sinners and we deserve destruction and yet, God has made a way. Through faith in His Son, who paid the price for our sins on that Cross. And He resurrected 3 days later, that we too might live with God.
so much more to say, but you have to start at the beginning. If you miss the creator and our state, then you start at the wrong place, demanding answers to questions that really, you have no right asking. And if you looked in the right place… you might start finding them.
If I only knew what I knew…
tom