Remembering to Forget
Author Richard Mouw tells of a Black theologian from South Africa who struggled with dark memories of life under apartheid. Mouw wrote, “He told a story about an African child whose teacher asked her to define ‘memory.’ After thinking about it, the child said, ‘Memory is that thing that helps me to forget.’ ” Out of the mouths of babes! Her past held much she didn’t want to recall, so she wanted to remember the good things.
Many carry the scars of terrible, seemingly unforgettable things. But that child’s wisdom offers hope. If we learn to remember better things, those memories can strengthen us to move forward from our painful past. In Psalm 42, the psalmist feels like a deer running for its life. However, he also says, “These things I remember as I pour out my soul: how I used to go to the house of God under the protection of the Mighty One with shouts of joy and praise among the festive throng” (v. 4).
The singer’s memories of worshiping God encouraged him to praise, even in the midst of pain. “Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God” (v. 5). Remembering who our God is—and that we are His—can help us move beyond the painful past we can’t forget.
By Bill Crowder - Our Daily Bread Ministries
Psalms 42:1-8
For the director of music. A maskil of the Sons of Korah.
1As the deer pants for streams of water,
so my soul pants for you, my God.
2My soul thirsts for God, for the living God.
When can I go and meet with God?
3My tears have been my food
day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
“Where is your God?”
4These things I remember
as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
under the protection of the Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
among the festive throng.
5Why, my soul, are you downcast?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.
6My soul is downcast within me;
therefore I will remember you
from the land of the Jordan,
the heights of Hermon—from Mount Mizar.
7Deep calls to deep
in the roar of your waterfalls;
all your waves and breakers
have swept over me.
8By day the Lord directs his love,
at night his song is with me—
a prayer to the God of my life.
