Spiritual Memory
A Surprising Key for Breakthrough
Unlocking the Depths of God’s by Remembering
On a near horizon is a company of people we can describe as ‘Lovers of God’. They will embrace God’s full intention with the vigour of Solomon’s Shulamite woman dispelling generations of tepid devotion in favour of fiery passion. In their possession is a critical key for unlocking the full measure of God’s own intense desire. What is it? It is the little-understood capacity we could call ‘Spiritual Memory’.
An Unlikely Romance
The lack of memory creates a unique kind of misery. Whether we are referring to people or God it is the same. As such God, anticipating He will have a problem with us, repeatedly urged Israel NOT to forget(Deut. 8:11). Which, of course, they failed to appreciate! It is this dynamic we wish to reference, asking ourselves ‘what could happen if we remembered?’
Were we to characterize their history alongside our own, we can see a pattern of forgetfulness. To which the movie 50 First Dates comes to mind. The story depicts an unlikely romance between Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore, where a love-struck man suffers the pain and solitude of endless unrequited love. His epic struggle is rooted in the fact that the object of his affection has no capacity to maintain any memory of either their bond or their time together.
Drew Barrymore plays the part of Lucy, a woman with a chronic memory impairment called Goldfield’s Syndrome. The condition meant she was struck with short-term memory loss and anterograde amnesia, severe enough to erase all recent history. As a result, Henry is required to daily reorient her on their relationship.
An Impossible Task
The fanciful tale demonstrates the impossible task Henry navigates. Upon realizing that no shared moment, conversation or act of kindness can ever be recalled by this woman, He looks for a solution.
Despite the hurdle, he still enters a relationship where each and every encounter is always a first for her—hence the title, 50 First Dates. Tragically, the relationship is entirely one-sided since no history is accumulated or credited to him. Commendable as it may be as an example of devotion, it is utterly unsustainable.
The resilience of a man in love, while admirable to behold, is most certainly stamped with an expiry date. As deeply felt as passion may be, the cycle of one-way intimacy and the effort required to keep romance vibrant and aflame, cannot last without an eventual response. Even when the party is God Himself!
Extended Arms
The story reflects Biblical history, replicating the way God characterizes His relationship to the apple of His eye—Israel. Rebuffed and repeatedly forgotten He forges on in a solo effort, pursuing a people who will eventually respond. As such God relentlessly pursues a generation He knows is about to come of age. They will lay hold and remember and will become that promised generation.
Until then the journey is one of frustration since, like Henry, He cannot do enough to ever secure the devotion His love deserves. He laments the lack of response. Through the prophets, He reveals the disappointment in the current one-sided courtship.
I have stretched out My hands all day long to a rebellious people, who walk in a way that is not good, according to their own thoughts;
Isaiah 65:2
It is easy to empathize with God in this case and we have all likely shaken our heads in disbelief at Israel’s slumbering hearts. Yet we may be equally guilty.
It Seems Simple
From a distance it all seems pretty simple—mankind ought to respond to such faithful and relentless love. However, there exist spiritual realities possessing complexity our presumptuous judgments cannot fathom. In addition, no race or generation is immune from the struggle.
To remind us of this the Apostle Paul twice emphasized how history was written to warn us against repeating it.
For whatever things were written before were written for our learning…
Romans 15:4
From a distance and with the benefit of the Biblical records it is easy to diagnose and wonder at the unfaithfulness of God’s people. However, the warnings are not given in vain. Simple wisdom suggests loving God in the way He deserves is a greater task than we imagined.
The Challenge of Trust
Further review of the film’s central theme ought to paint a familiar picture. We should see it in Lucy’s inability to remember the faithfulness of her partner. The result is she cannot trust! This is an impossible hurdle.
Her response to Henry each day is one of shock until He gently recreates the narrative of their history. Imagine how wearying this would be. Yet we may actually be there ourselves.
Ask yourself how often you ask God to prove Himself to quell your fear. Trusting God in the way He deserves is our greatest challenge. Like her, we do not implicitly trust and are unable to give ourselves fully to God. Few things are more damaging to the integrity of a relationship.
The Daily Struggle
Like Henry, God is forced on a daily basis to manage our history. He relives rejection, or at the very least, is forced to suffer the scrutiny of our groundless suspicions when crisis overwhelms us. When we recoil in despair we are acting like Lucy and treating our Provider as though we had never met. He must patiently suffer the indignity of distrust, shock and uncertainty along with the implied demand He prove Himself over and over. This is an intolerable circumstance which stifles the progress of any connection.
The worst part of this comes to light when you consider the role reversal behind distrust. It puts God on the defensive and us in the position of evaluating and measuring His worthiness. We become the judge charged with determining whether or not He has risked enough to win our confidence. If our sense of discomfort is satisfied then we extend the sceptre of permission as we proceed to reward Him with tentatively rationed intimacy.
Imagine the audacity of mankind demanding assurances from God. Distrust makes Him hopelessly obligated to prove himself, without the slightest hope of recognition or gratitude the next.
Is it any wonder then that faith pleases Him?
Pleasing Faith
Yes! Faith pleases Him because at its core is memory. Those who believe have determined to remember! So then faith is the assurance emerging from our shared history. It neither needs nor demands restarts from scratch. Without this kind of faith, no real relationship can continue to thrive or even exist. Faith becomes a foundation on which relationships grow.
Our recall accesses our history. We do this by reminding ourselves of the many ways God has already fulfilled the criteria deserving a wholehearted response. In this sense accrued history is not only necessary, but it is also critical.
All who have walked with God understood this. It’s the reason the Psalmist commits to remembering God’s works in a time of anguish (Psalm 77:10-11) Faith says, ‘I remember who You are and what You have done’. The writer of Hebrews says it plainly:
But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him.
Hebrews 11:6
Elementary to faith is its capacity to hold onto the knowledge that God ‘is’ and that He ‘rewards’. How could God or anyone be anything but displeased when our history is dismissed? Particularly a flawless history? When we trust God, we are crediting Him and refusing to forget His benefits.
The Reward of Memory
Our memory of God’s faithfulness brings its own reward. This was the secret King David embraced during his years of hardship. He remembered God! While facing moments of struggle he chose to recall the faithfulness of God. The result was rather than needing to be propped up and pulled out of self-pity, God found a kindred spirit–someone He could trust would not turn on him. This is the basis for a solid friendship.
David was able to stay afloat, keeping his head above water by remembering. Because he remembered he was able to pull providence into each and every crisis.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed that I would see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
Psalm 27:13
We anticipate at this moment a generation unlike any other is choosing to remember. These ‘Lovers of God’ are focused on what they know to be true. Their healthy regard for God esteems Him above themselves ensuring a reward. What will that be? Like no other generation before them, they will be recipients of the secrets of the Lord. They will find the hidden treasures of His unfathomable glory… Himself!
