Jump Start # 1898

Psalms 25:7 “Do not remember the sins of my youth or my transgressions; according to Your lovingkindness remember me, for Your goodness sake, O Lord.”

Our verse today is one of David’s Psalms. It’s a prayer. It is about remembering and forgetting. He was asking God to forget some things and to remember some things. This prayer could very well be our prayer as well as a guide to our lives.

There are things that need to be forgotten. When it comes to God, how can an all knowing God forget? God doesn’t have memory issues like we do. I sometimes forget names. The older I get the more that “ready recollection” doesn’t recollect very well. God’s not like that. For God “not to remember,” means He forgives. It’s not so much a memory issue as it is an accountability issue. Forgiveness means the sin is no longer there. Forgiveness means the sin is gone. David was praying for God to forget the sins of his youth.

Sins of my youth makes us think of Paul’s warning to Timothy to “flee youthful lusts.” The mistakes, immaturity, that lack of conviction, often makes young people do things that are sinful. High school years and college years were hard on many of us spiritually. Young and impressionable, we often didn’t have the courage to stand up like we should have. We found ourselves in places that we shouldn’t have been. The sins of our youth were not pretty. David’s prayer is that God would not remember those.

But in the same verse, he asks God to “remember me.” Forget my sins, but remember me. Again, how could God forget? We don’t have to reintroduce our selves to God. He knows and has always known who we are. What David is driving at is relationship. Remember me. This is how Nehemiah ends his book. This was the prayer of Hezekiah. Remember me for good. Remember the good that I have done. He was wanting God to remove the sins that stood between him and the Lord and to restore the relationship with him. Remember me. Not a memory issue, but a relationship issue. David was wanting to be close to the Lord. David was wanting to be in fellowship and to continue his journey with the Lord. Remember me.

Not only should this be our prayer to God, but these two things would help us with our outlook on life.

There are some things that we ought to forget. Do not remember would help us with our attitudes and outlook on life. What happens so often is that we remember what we ought to forget and we forget what we often should remember. We get these things backwards and inside out and it causes us to become worried, anxious and upset.

Here is a list of things that we ought to forget:

We need to forget the hurtful things folks say to us. Some people are just mean and some have a potty mouth that they will not keep closed. Criticism ought to be helpful not destructive. We tend to hold on to the ugly things people have said. When we do that it ruins our relationship with them. We are not like children. They can say mean things to each other and within an hour be back playing together. Not us adults. Once the words fly, we are finished with that person. Just about every person who has served publically in worship has heard some harsh things. Young men who give their first lessons are too often told, “You’ll never make a preacher.” Some become the finest preachers. Some who lead songs for the first times are told, “You are no song leader.” Those mean things stick. They can ruin a person from ever serving again. Forget them. Don’t remember them. Let them go.

We need to forget the good that we do. Just do things. Remembering can make you proud. It can make you feel like telling others, which is nothing more than tooting your own horn. No one likes that sound except the guy who is playing it. Remembering what you have done can mess with your head and change your thinking. You start to think that the person you helped owes you something back. That thinking, just ruins the good that you did.

We need to forget sins that are forgiven. That’s hard. Forgiveness doesn’t come with a memory block. You can still remember the sins of your youth. If you think hard, you can remember saying things under your breath to your parents when you were mad. You can remember wrong choices, temptations that you allowed to take over your heart, and running with “evil companions.” Not good memories. Many regrets. However, if God has forgiven you and if God remembers them no more, why do still remember them? Why do we not forgive ourselves? Why do we continue to beat ourselves up over things that are forgiven? Let it go. Remember no more. Put those things in an unmarked grave and do not return to put flowers there.

But there are some things that we ought to remember. Forgetting some things and remembering others.

We ought to remember the kindness of the Lord. To be blunt, we have been disrespectful, rude and hurtful to God. Yet, He chose to forgive us. He gave us another chance when we didn’t deserve that. Let us never forget the goodness of the Lord. He loves us. He never gave up on us. He never walked away from us. He has always loved us, even when we didn’t love Him. Never, ever forget the graciousness of God.

We ought to remember the blessings of a home with godly parents. Not everyone had that, but some of us did. Going to worship services on Sunday was just as expected and normal as going to school on Monday. What fond memories of home. What a great advantage we had. What a joy to have parents who poured their lives into our lives. They wanted us to have a better life than what they did. Don’t forget that. Sacrifices made. Hours devoted to helping us. Tons of prayers said for us. What a blessing that was. Never forget.

We ought to remember the help that others have given us spiritually. There were those men and women who took the time to teach, show and help us. Most of us who preach can look to some older preacher who gave up time to answer our questions, who pointed us in the right direction and helped us in so many ways. Don’t forget. And, in remembering what others have done for you, do the same for someone else. There is that young heart that is trying. Spend time with that person. Show them the ropes. Help them with what you have learned. Be a blessing to someone else.

Forgetting and remembering…found in our prayers and found in our lives.

Roger