The Way to Better Memory

“I have remembered thy name, O LORD, in the night, and have kept thy law. This I had, because I kept thy precepts.” (Ps 119:55-56 AV)

Compliance to the law of God results in a memory that does not forget God.  A God who cannot be seen or heard is a God that is often forgotten.  Maybe we do not forget Him completely.  After all, we read our bibles, go to church, and listen to songs of praise.  We may surround ourselves with things about God, but how much to we retain Him in our minds?  How much of our day-to-day activities includes the presence of God?  The nighttime is an especially hard time to remember God.  When we fall off to sleep, how many of our thoughts are heavenward?  Are our minds occupied by the events of the day or the next day’s duties?  Does our mind entertain fears and anxieties?  Do will fill our minds with fantasy or complaint?  What, or who, do we remember in the stillness of the night?  That which is more real to us is what occupies the mind.  The Psalmist says that he possesses the memory of God in the night because he has lived his word in the day.  Being in the word, especially living in the law and promises therein, is what makes God real to us.

Recently, my wife and I traveled to a foreign country.  The experience was surreal.  People are the same no matter where they live.  Being five-thousand miles from home did not change human nature.  People are still people.  There are more similarities than differences.  However, culture and laws are different.  What is amazing to me is the assumption we make that the laws from where we come are identical to the laws to where we went.  I imagine the same is true no matter where someone is from and where they are going.  I remember being told to shoot the moles who made my front yard as personal trenching ground.  There were tunnels all over the place.  It looked like my lawn had a severe case of varicose veins.  My church member told me to take my .22 and stalk those ground rats very early in the morning.  I thought he was kidding.  The state from which I came would never permit it.  When my wife and I went to a different country, we lived as though we were in the United States.  We expected the laws to be identical.  Most were similar.  Some were not.  Living by the laws of our home country kept in memory our origins and our love for country.  It was hard to forget home when we lived as though we were there.

Forgetting God is something we face every day.  Not retaining God in our minds is part of our human condition.  Sometimes, it is deliberate.  Other times we fail to retain God because the events of life make it so.  One key of memory is found above.  It is not enough to study the Bible as a textbook.  It is not enough to use the Bible merely in a devotional sense.  If God is to be remembered, His word must be lived.  This may sound simple.  Paul tells us there is a simplicity in Christ.  If life has become so complicated that we begin to doubt God’s existence, it is not because God made it so.  We have.  Believer, if you are struggling, slow your learning about the Bible and increase living in the Bible.  Let your walk catch up to your thoughts.  If your thoughts get ahead of your walk, then your walk becomes undisciplined.  Do you want to remember God?  Then live in His word.