Psalm 103:1-2: Bless the Lord, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the Lord O my soul, And forget not all His benefits; David the man after God’s heart made this demand on his soul, not to forget the benefits of the Lord.
This implies that it is possible for his soul to forget what God has done. It is a wise saying that the shortest pencil is longer than the longest memory. God has not given us the spirit of fear but of love and of power and a sound mind. The mind is that which brings to remembrance the benefits of the Lord which should not be forgotten. David said to his soul (mind) not to forget the benefits of the Lord.
The operation of the mind can be divided into three main parts namely the memory, the contemplation and the imagination. With the memory we retrieve event that have taken place in the past, while contemplation is for the present; most of the time when we are at cross-roads it is with the contemplation of the mind we make decisions. The imagination is the ability to forecast into the future. Thinking of things in the future. Every great event, projects or construction start from the realm of imagination. When your imaginative ability is strong then your product is good. With the imagination a man is formed; for as a man thinks in his heart so is He.
The ability to remember which stands in the place of memory is what God wants us to look at today. There are so many things in the past God desires us to remember in the same vain. He also desires us to forget things like our failures and events which manifest the workings of devil.
The devil desires us to forget the benefits and goodness of the Lord that is why he continues all day long to paint pictures of sickness, sorrow and pains to our mind from time to time; however it is our responsibility as children of God to delete such pictures as they surface in our mind.
When the children of Israel left the land of Egypt and got to the red sea having no where to turn to again, they quickly forget their past, how God dealt with their Egyptian task masters before they were left to go free. Moses was left alone while they all accused him asking why he brought them out of Egypt to destroy them in the Wilderness. Irrespective of their ungratefulness, God still went ahead and divided the red sea for them to cross-over. Sooner than later, they forgot this again, only for the devil to play back the picture of the land of bondage to them, how they ate onions and other Egyptian foods. The later craved it.
God knew that the memory of man could be short especially when it comes to remembering His goodness, hence when it come to the miracle of parting the Jordan which was a prototype of the red sea experience. He (God) instructed them to take from underneath the Jordan twelve big stones. Each stone representing each tribe of Israel to stand as a remembrance to them in the future so that when their children ask them what the stones were about, they may recall to them the event that occurred. God wanted them to remember what He has done for them and say thank you.
Whenever we don’t show gratitude for what He has done for us, we shut the heavens against ourselves.
Some years ago I was at the hospital on evangelism and I met a woman with a projected stomach, I was of the opinion that she was pregnant and as I move closer to her to pray for her she said, please pray for me as I’m not pregnant. She had an infirmity, she said “let God take all I have and restore my health”. I was moved with compassion. What a request, yet many of us are healthy and strong and we don’t appreciate the health we have which cannot be quantified in any form. I pray we will it loss it before we appreciate God. Beloved, no matter what you desire of God, that is yet to manifest in the physical, please don’t take His goodness for granted lest he curse the blessing he has given you already. Do you realize that the same plane you fly and landed on the other side is the same plane others flew and never landed in peace? The same road you walk and drive is the same road a whole lot of people have walked and driven and today have become history. The same food you eat which nourished your body is eaten by others and has caused them diabetic and some other form of ailment or sickness. Many times you ride on bikes and other do the same and are not more. Many have guaranteed some trusted people in one transaction or the other and are behind the bars yet you do the same and you are free.
Don’t forget the benefit of the Lord. I will stop here and give you the opportunity to recall His benefits on your life and appreciate Him. We will continue next week. Shalom!