Heart racing, my upper lip moist with perspiration, I stuttered as I recited these words, "Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting You are God." Psalm 90:1-2 (ESV). Was this a traumatic memory from Sunday school, parochial school or confirmation class? No, rather a recent recitation of memory work before thirty-two adults gathered to study God's Word in preparation for comforting God's people as Covenant Partners through Cross Connections.
Why does the thought of memory work create such panic for us? After all, "memory work" is what our mind does all day long from the very moment we are born. Throughout life we experience the world through our five senses and our mind catalogues it for future use. From this wealth of stored information we move, speak, learn, interact with others, make decisions, and live.
While most parents, parochial school teachers and Sunday school teachers, principals and pastors attest to the need for children to do "memory work," we adults don't always have the same urgency to do this ourselves. After all, who has ever heard of adult "memory work"? Yet the Lord Himself established "memory work" as a way of life for His people. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 says, "You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates." God intended that His Word be part of our everyday existence, like breathing in and out, as life itself. It is our source of identity, knowledge, comfort and hope throughout life.
Who among us doesn't think of Bob Hope every time we hear "Thanks for the Memories"? Most of us can readily identify such phrases as, "It's the real thing." "Have it your way." "Takes a licking and keeps on ticking." We remember tunes, jingles and slogans almost effortlessly. Quotes from famous people, lines from prose or poetry, the lyrics of favorite songs, the fragrance of fallen leaves or freshly baked bread, the taste of chocolate, the swish of a ball as it enters the net, the cooling touch of a gentle hand on a fevered brow – these all enter our minds and are stored there as memories, surfacing from time to time. So too is God's Word stored as we listen, speak, read, sing, and taste the bread and wine at His table as we receive His Word of forgiveness. In John 6:68 the Apostle Peter confesses, "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life."
Yet, as our lives are bombarded with sensory information we often neglect and even forget God's Word. In our troubles and desperation it can be difficult to recall the promises and faithfulness of our Lord. And as with much of life, memories fade. Our Lord anticipated our need and prepared everything for us. John 14:26-27 tells us, "These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid." So also does God aid His people through our pastors, teachers, counselors, deaconesses, Covenant Partners, Stephen Ministers, and other Christians through whom He delivers His Word. 2 Corinthians 3:2 says, "And you show that you are a letter from Christ delivered by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts."
In the end our feeble human memories do fade. Ultimately it is not our memory work in which we trust. It is the Lord's memory of Christ's work of salvation for us on the cross that is the one thing necessary. Psalm 98:2-3 assures, "The LORD has made known His salvation; He has revealed His righteousness in the sight of the nations. He has remembered His steadfast love and faithfulness to the house of Israel. All the ends of the earth have seen the salvation of our God." For Christ's sake our heavenly Father even has selective memory. From Hebrews 8:12, "For I will be merciful toward their iniquities, and I will remember their sins no more." Lord, while we may struggle to remember Your Word, and our memories fade, Your memory is perfect! Thank you Lord for Your memory work on our behalf!
Amy Rast, MSW, is Lead Counselor-Covenant Partners at Cross Connections, and is a student in the Deaconess Studies Program at Concordia Theological Seminary. She is a member of St. Paul Lutheran Church.
