Spiritual Amnesia

Has God ever delivered you from something?  Your answer is likely a resounding “YES!”  Now comes the hard question: Do you live today like God has delivered you in the past?  Do you face new challenges with the perspective that God can deliver now because He has already done it before?  Or do you suffer from the same condition that Israel had in Exodus 17? 

Israel had experience the deliverance of the Lord (Exodus 12).  They saw the salvation of the Lord (Exodus 14).  They tasted the goodness of God (Exodus 15).  And the received the provisions of God (Exodus 16).  Yet when they faced the challenge of having no water, they murmured and complained.  They suffered from spiritual amnesia.  They lived as if they had forgotten that they had experienced the deliverance of the Lord, seen His salvation, tasted of His goodness and received His provisions.

We have been the beneficiaries of the bountiful blessings of God.  But we frequently have bouts of spiritual amnesia.  God has delivered us, provided for us, strengthened us, comforted us, and guided us in the past.  Yet we tend to forget what God has done for us in the past, which leads us to doubt what God can do for us in the present. 

So what is the cure for spiritual amnesia?  It is real simple: don’t forget to remember.  One of the causes of spiritual amnesia is a loss of memory that leads to a loss of faith.  When we pause to remember we will discover that many of the things that we go through in life really aren’t new to us.  Some of the details may be different, but the core issue is still the same.  Don’t forget to remember the blessings of God.

​Don’t forget the promises of God.  Not only did Israel forget about their personal history with God.  They forgot about what God had promised them.  Israel should have known that they were not going to die of thirst in the wilderness because God had promised them entrance into the land of Canaan.  As you live from day to day, don’t forget the promises of God, for He who promised is faithful.  Second Cor. 1:20 states, “For  as many as are the promises of God,  in Him they are yes.”  If God promised it to those who are in Christ, rest assured that God will stand by His promises.