Memory Gaps

"He is not here, but is risen: remember..." Luke 24:6

Good morning, dear friends!

My mind is going.

I used to have a mind like a steel trap, then more like steel wool.  These days, it's a strainer. I didn't used to have to work so hard to remember my train of thought.  Most days, the train has left without me.

I can't remember where I put my keys, or my phone.  I can't remember names, or dates, or addresses, or important events. I walk into a room to get something, and can't remember what I was going after.  My children, amused, always holler out what it was that I was fetching.

Cheeky monsters.  They are the reasons I can't remember anything.  Everyone knows that when you're pregnant, all your brain cells go down to your children.  Oh, well, their day is coming, too...just hope I'll still remember who they are when it happens to them.

Memories are such a funny thing, aren't they?  There are so many events in my life that, at the time, I told myself that I would never forget how they occurred.  I'm thankful now for pictures, because there are so many memories that were so precious at the time, that by now would be lost, except for the visual reminders of the photographs.  Even my children have built a lot of their memories around photos taken when they were small.  They don't have the memory, but the photos are proof to them that what we said actually happened.

I am always amazed about the portions of the Bible where Jesus made references to His own death, and the disciples forgot about them.  It seems impossible, doesn't it, looking back with the knowledge that God gives us in His Word, that the disciples were not readily accepting and expecting Jesus's death, burial and resurrection? Consider Jesus's words to the disciples concerning what would happen to Him:

"And he began to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders, and of the chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31)

"Jesus answered and said unto them, Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." (John 2:19)

"Then he took unto him the twelve, and said unto them, Behold, we go up to Jerusalem, and all things that are written by the prophets concerning the Son of man shall be accomplished. For he shall be delivered unto the Gentiles, and shall be mocked, and spitefully entreated, and spitted on:And they shall scourge him, and put him to death: and the third day he shall rise again." (Luke 18:31-33)

Perhaps it was the fear, or the stress of the situation that they found themselves in, but for whatever reason, the disciples didn't get the message.  If only they had been thinking of his teachings, they would have been waiting at the tomb on the morning of the third day...

They would have been there, when the soldiers fell down to the ground.

They would have been there, when the stone was rolled away.

They would have been there, when Jesus came forth.

They would have been waiting, watching, encouraging each other, saying, "He told us so."

As it was, the women who came to the tomb on that third morning, were expecting to anoint a dead body.  What a surprise to hear the angels proclaim: "Why seek ye the living among the dead?  He is not here, but he is risen!"  What words of hope and encouragement to these broken-hearted women!  The next word holds the key to their understanding of the impossible:

"Remember..."

How much sorrow and heartbreak I would avoid, if only I would take the time to remember....

...that God always keeps His promises: "Saying, The Son of man must be delivered into the hands of sinful men, and be crucified, and the third day rise again." (Luke 24:7)

....that I can trust God's Word: "remember how he spake unto you, when he was yet in Galilee..." (Luke 24:6)

...that all things are possible to God: "...and the third day rise again."

I'm so thankful that the Bible tells me in Luke 24:8, "And they remembered his words..."  How wise these women were, not to rest in shame or guilt because they had forgotten, but that they remembered, and trusted these words of Jesus, and then went to tell the others!

The next time I am in a moment of weakness, or temptation, or doubt, may I take the time to remember God's Word, trust in His promises, and depend on His power and strength to guide me through the tasks before me.

What blessings await God's servants, if only they would just remember....