by Jonathan Holtrop
Note from John Beeson: From time to time I will be opening up my Saturday post to others. Our first contributor is Jonathan Holtrop, a member at our church and a gifted writer. I’m glad to have him share his thoughts!
At this season, in this week, I have considered the heaviness of the scriptural accounts that indicate the forgetfulness of our human natures. My regular day-time job as a dispatcher has me running all over the place and I have to take notes on my computer lest I forget what it was that I was supposed to do or promised I would do later. Life in general can be like this regarding my walk with Christ if I am not careful.
One particular account can be read in Exodus. From Exodus 7 to 12 we are given a glimpse of the awesome power of God through the text in the punishment of Egypt. One can only imagine how the Israelites experienced all of these events. After they had crossed the sea in escape, they sang “The Lord is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.” Exodus 15:2 (ESV).
In Exodus 32, mere months later, when Moses went up to the mountain to receive the law from God the Israelites thought Moses wasn’t coming back or had perished on the mountain and worshiped a golden cafe. Had they forgotten what they had just been through? Certainly it would be difficult to actually forget physically walking through the sea with walls of water to each side, but the present circumstances happening right in front of them caused them to forget the magnitude of what they had just experienced. I do not fault the Israelites from a higher moral ground; rather, I see myself in them at many times in my own life. Without God’s grace, we will forget what is important, even when the truth is right in front of us.
I look forward to reflecting more on forgetfulness in the coming months (I guess you better bookmark this blog to keep from forgetting to come back!)