Sermon

Psalm 106:1-5; 43-48

A Matter of Remembering

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Psalms 106:1-5; 43-48

A Matter of Remembering

Dr. Philip W. McLarty

Psalm 106 is another one of those psalms steeped in the history of Israel. It goes on and on about the long road of Israel’s journey from Egypt to the Promised Land. It contains a two-fold theme: The people’s rebelliousness and God’s faithfulness. You see it right off:

“Our fathers didn’t understand your wonders in Egypt.
They didn’t remember the multitude of your loving kindnesses,
but were rebellious at the sea, even at the Red Sea.
Nevertheless he saved them for his name’s sake,
that he might make his mighty power known” (Psalm 106:7-8)

God delivered the people from bondage, parted the waters of the Red Sea, and led them across the wilderness; and yet …

“They soon forgot his works.
They didn’t wait for his counsel,
but gave in to craving in the desert,
and tested God in the wasteland” (Psalm 106:13-14).

What I’d like for us to think about in the sermon this morning is the importance of memory – not only our history, but the part we play in it, both when we’re faithful and when we’re not. My thesis is this: Only in retrospect can we fully appreciate God’s willingness to overlook our sinful nature and reconcile us to himself. It’s a matter of remembering.

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Let’s begin with a confession: When it comes to recalling the past, we have a selective memory. We remember those things that are pleasant and try to forget that which is painful.

It’s only natural, and, in a way, it’s healthy. Someone once said, “A selective memory is necessary to maintaining a positive attitude.” So, we emphasize our wins and minimize our losses, as we seek to build on a track record of success. There’s nothing wrong with that.

In their book, Spiritual Mentoring of Teens, Jim Weidmann and Joe White tell the story of a father who wanted to give his son a special gift for graduation. So he put together the highlights of his son’s basketball season. He went through the tapes of each game and picked out clips of his son’s best moments on the court – three-pointers that swished through the net, great passes that helped teammates to score, rebounds, take-aways, layups and fast breaks. Then he put them together with upbeat music to create a capsule of the season. The finished product made his son looked like an NBA all-star. Omitted, of course, were the missed shots, stolen passes, fouls, double dribbles and disappointing losses.

Well, why not? Isn’t that how we’d all like to think of ourselves – to be seen at our best? If you’ve ever prepared a résumé, you know what I mean: You list your accomplishments, not your failures. Who wants to be thought of as a klutz? A positive attitude and a selective memory go hand-in-hand.

There’s only one problem: There’s a fine line between selecting highlights from the past and being dishonest and living in denial.

One website I found had this to say: “People who block out unpleasant memories or issues may enjoy short-term gains but emotionally detaching themselves causes long-term consequences.” (www.physorg.com)

Life experiences, both pleasant and painful, live on in our memory, whether we like it or not.

You may not want to recall something stupid you did years ago, but the memory of it is still there. Only as you’re willing to bring it to the surface and examine it honestly and turn it over to God will you be able to put it to rest.

Think of it as a form of confession. It may involve a confession of sin, if you hurt somebody intentionally; or it may simply involve admitting that you made a mistake, that you were wrong, that you acted inappropriately.

We’ve all done and said things we’ve regretted. If I were to write my autobiography, I would devote a whole chapter to “do-overs,” things I would do differently if I had a chance to do them over again.

Going back to the father’s highlight film, it would have been a better gift if he had included the goof-ups as well as the outstanding plays. It would have given his son a more realistic picture of what life is really like – and what he can expect of himself and others in the future.

One of our favorite TV shows these days is Castle. It comes on after Dancing With the Stars on Monday night. It’s about a mystery writer who teams up with a police detective to help solve difficult murder cases. Castle lives with his mother and teenage daughter, Alexis. Two episodes ago, Alexis made a big deal about applying to Stanford University, the college of her dreams. In the last episode, she got a letter from Stanford saying her application had been denied.

Now you need to know that Alexis is a bright and precocious high-achiever. She’s a straight-A student who’s never failed to accomplish any goal, and she’s certainly never experienced rejection.

At first, she threw a fit, then she cried, then she got depressed; finally she asked her Dad what to do. He told her to hang on to that letter. “Save a rejection letter?” she asked. “You’ve got to be kidding.”

He went on to tell her that he still had the rejection letter he’d received from the first time he’d submitted a book to be published. He said he’d gotten forty more rejection letters before his first book came out. He said he saved the letter to remind him that it wasn’t rejection that determines who you are, but how you deal with it.

The same can be said of regrets and painful experiences: It’s no sin to fall on your face; the question is how you deal with it … and whether or not you’re willing to get up and try to do better. In his autobiography, H. G. Wells begins the first seven chapters with the words, “I started over again.”

It’s healthy to remember the past as it was – the good, the bad, and the ugly. Admitting your hurts, your failures, your disappointments and heartbreaks opens the door to learning from your mistakes; plus, it opens the door to experiencing God’s forgiveness and love.

This is the pattern we see in the psalm: “Both we and our fathers have sinned … but God saved (us) for his name’s sake.” (Psalm 106:6, 8) It’s a long litany:

“They soon forgot his works (13) …(they) tested God (14) … (they) envied Moses and Aaron (16) … they made a calf in Horeb (19) … they despised the pleasant land (24) … they murmured in their tents (25) … they joined themselves also to Baal of Pe’or and ate sacrifices of the dead (28) … they mixed, and learned their works (35) … they sacrificed their sons and daughters to demons (37) … they shed innocent blood (38) … they prostituted themselves in their deeds.” (39)

All this, yet the psalmist writes,

“They were rebellious in their counsel,
and were brought low in their iniquity.
Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry.
He remembered for them his covenant,
and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses” (Psalm 106:43-45)

Had the psalmist only recounted the glory days of Israel – the times when they trusted God and acted in faith – he could’ve painted a rosier picture, but he would’ve missed the point: That God loves us not because we get it right, but because God’s nature is love … and we can only experience that fully when we’re willing to own up to our sinful nature. As Paul told Timothy:

“If we are faithless, (God) remains faithful.
He can’t deny himself.” (2 Timothy 2:13)

I was reading Chuck Colson’s story this week. The son of Swedish immigrants, he got a scholarship to Brown University and graduated with honors, went on to law school and started his own law firm. His career skyrocketed, both in the legal profession and in politics. Richard Nixon picked him to be Special Counsel to the President. He became Nixon’s right-hand man, partly because he was so devoted to Nixon, and partly because he was so ruthless in getting things done. They called him the hatchet man. He would stop at nothing. He once told reporters he’d run over his own grandmother to get Nixon elected.

Watergate put an end to that. He was convicted and sentenced to three years in a federal penitentiary. It humbled his spirit and opened his eyes to a reality he’d never seen before – the plight of the inmate population.

Shortly after his release a friend gave him a copy of C. S. Lewis’ Mere Christianity. He was born again. He repented of his sins and accepted Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior of his life. He went on to form Prison Fellowship, a ministry committed to bringing hope and the knowledge of salvation to those whom society has cast away. To this day he continues to speak and write and proclaim the Good News of God’s forgiveness and love.

On the twentieth anniversary of Watergate, Ted Koppel interviewed Chuck Colson about his role in the scandal. He made no bones about – he was guilty and had no one to blame but himself. But most telling were the first words to come out of his mouth. He said, “Ted, I thank God for Watergate.” Then he went on to tell how this tragic event in his life had been the catalyst of a whole new life of peace and joy he’d never dreamed of before.

It’s no fun going back over the past when it includes admitting mistakes and dredging up painful memories … and it serves no purpose, if all you do is open up old wounds and air old grievances and let them fester and grow.

But if you’re willing to swallow your pride and take the risk, there’s a hidden benefit, for beyond the hurt and embarrassment and pain of it all, if you look closely, you’ll see how God has been faithful through it all – that God never gave up you, no matter how grievous your sin. God perseveres even when we don’t in order to reconcile us to himself.

Listen once more to what David said:

They were rebellious in their counsel,
and were brought low in their iniquity.
Nevertheless he regarded their distress, when he heard their cry.
He remembered for them his covenant,
and repented according to the multitude of his loving kindnesses” (Psalm 106:43-45)

It’s not all up to you: God remembers, and God takes the initiative long before you have the courage to ask.

This is the essence of the psalm: Israel failed, time and again, to keep covenant with God, but God never failed to keep covenant with Israel.

What this says to me is that God knows everything we’ve ever said and done – and everything we’re likely to say and do in the future – and loves us anyway. As Paul told the Romans,

“But God commends his own love toward us,
in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, being now justified by his blood,
we will be saved from God’s wrath through him” (Romans 5:8-9).

Years ago I had a friend who went through the 12-Steps of AA. When he got to the 8th and 9th steps, he shifted into overdrive. That’s where you have to go back to everyone you’ve wronged and make amends. He took it on with a passion. He made a list of everyone he could think of whom he’d lied to, cheated, stolen from or defrauded in any way and started calling on them, one by one. It took him months, but he did it – he made amends. If he owed them an apology, he apologized. If he owed them money, he paid them back.

What’s amazing is that no one put him down, tried to shame him or criticize him in any way. Some didn’t even know he’d wronged them. Most had long forgotten about it. Everyone commended him for his honesty and courage to own up to his actions and offered him their full encouragement and support.

I like to think that, if others can be that understanding and forgiving, how much more understanding and forgiving is God, who knows our faults and loves us still.

Yes, it’s a matter of remembering – being honest about where you’ve been and what you’ve done and doing what you can to make amends – but, beyond that, knowing that God remembers, and therein lies our hope. So, remember this:

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him should not perish,
buct have eternal life” (John 3:16).

Put your faith in him and nothing will be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)

In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.

SCRIPTURE QUOTATIONS are from the World English Bible (WEB), a public domain (no copyright) modern English translation of the Holy Bible.

Copyright 2011, Philip McLarty. Used by permission.