Threads from Henry's Web

Tag: memory

  • Psalm 119:93 – You Have Given Me Life

    Psalm 119:93 – You Have Given Me Life

    I will never forget your precepts,
    because by them you have given me life.

    There are two directions I’d like to go based on this verse, and I think both are important.

    First, there is the order of events. “Remembering precepts” comes after “you have given me life.” This is a foundational order in scripture. God’s gifts come before our actions. This is very clear in Genesis 1. We can’t possibly respond to God before God has breathed that breath of life into us (Genesis 2:7). Nonetheless it is easy for us to forget.

    We tend to look for ways to obligate God to do nice things for us. The fact is that this is impossible, and always have been. God’s action precedes our own. The order of the universe, which gives us the opportunity to make any choices and get any good results at all comes by God’s gift.

    This is reflected in Psalm 119:1:

    Blessed are those blameless in their living
    Who act according to God’s instructions.

    That verse also leads us to the second point, which is the value of gratitude. You may not, on first glance, see gratitude here, but there are two elements reflected. The first is memory. If you forget those who have benefited you, those who have taught you or given you a boost, it’s not just a matter of being rude. You may also forget the route to your destination.

    I remember just in the last couple of days I encountered an issue, and the answer to the question came from something a professor told me in class in my freshman year of college. I both remembered that professor with gratitude, and mentioned him to the person who had asked me the question. There are other people who have taught me that I quote or mention frequently. Why? Because it’s important to remember how I’ve gotten where I am. It was not a process of figuring out all the answers for myself. Many people contributed.

    i was discussing financing of education with somebody in Sunday School class. Never mind how we got there. It’s that kind of a group! I remembered my parents’ contribution to my college and graduate school expenses. I’m grateful for that contribution. Now you may think I’m just talking about them paying tuition. They did contribute. But they also made it a condition of them contributing that I would hold a part-time job through school. Both of those factors have become part of my life. I haven’t forgotten them.

    Having gratitude is important. In this case, gratitude also leads me to remember good principles on which to base my life. I have been blessed through the years by that.

    Psalm 119 is both a petition and a thanksgiving. Guide me Lord! Thanks!

    What are you grateful for today?

    (Featured image credit:Vadym Pastukh. Licensed from iStockPhoto.com,)

  • Psalm 119:55 – Remembering

    Psalm 119:55 – Remembering

    I remembered your name in the night, Lord,
    So I followed your instruction.

    Dahood (Anchor Bible Psalms III) again has an alternate suggested, based on repointing the word translated “And I kept/guarded/followed.”

    I remember your name in the night
    YHWH,
    and during the watch, your law.

    I won’t discuss the arguments for his rendering, which I consider possible, but not the most probable, but it emphasizes the parallel the Torah, and God’s name. God’s character, his reputation, is closely tied to his Torah, which in this case should be read broadly. It’s not just a list of rules, but rather God’s self-revelation.

    But what I thought about most today was remembering, including the fact that I had to go back to the verse multiple times because it slipped my mind. Weakening memory is considered a sign of old age. As we grow older, we often have trouble remembering things. Just today, I went to get something from the pantry and when I got there, I found myself wondering why I was there. On the other hand, I can remember my zip code from a place I lived 50 years ago.

    My memory has been somewhat odd as long as I can remember(!). People might wonder why I remember things that seem unimportant to them, and cannot remember things they deem critical. But I have had this sort of memory for a long time. Many friends have referred to me as a human concordance, because they’ll just ask me where a verse is, and I often know, at least down to the chapter. The reality is that I can locate far fewer verses than I would like, and I find my Bible software very helpful.

    But when I think about what I notice and what I remember, two very closely aligned lists, they don’t seem at all strange to me. I notice the sort of things I really care about. Well, except when I don’t.

    I don’t remember when some other thought pushes the first thought out of my mind. That’s where lists are useful, though sometimes I forget to look at them.

    Relying on my memory, even in areas where I have a reputation for it, such as Bible verses, is suboptimal.

    If I could always remember the things I would like to imitate in life and the sorts of things I’d like to have in my character, I would surely make every effort to live up to them. But my memory is not that reliable.

    That’s why it’s important to look around, look forward, and ask the Lord to remind you of things that need remembering.

    Give some time to thinking of thoughts you may have laid aside. There are likely some gems in there worth another look. If you’re wakeful in the night, that’s as good a time as any!

    (Featured image generated by Adobe Firefly.)

  • The Importance and Durability of Words

    The Importance and Durability of Words

    Through a Facebook comment on my post yesterday, The Importance of Things Left Out, another thought came to me connected to my other post yesterday, Psalm 119:13 – Speaking It.

    The comment made my push my memory for when it was that my mother made the comment on Hannah and Elkanah in 1 Samuel 1, and I recall that it was in a Hebrew class at Walla Walla University that my mother and I attended together. The class was Hebrew Readings, and I was taking it as my third year of Hebrew, while she was taking it as her second.

    That class was about 45 years ago. I remembered her comment yesterday. That comment has, in turn, encouraged someone else. She would never have imagined this chain of events.

    It reminds me of coming in contact with a pastor with whom I had had no contact for a similar length of time. He was pastor of the church I attended my first year in college, 1974, and I encountered him again online around 2019 or so.

    In conversation, I mentioned to him that I remembered a sermon he had preached in 1974. It was quite memorable, as it was in a very large, well-off church filled with pillars of the community. It was also his first sermon as a new pastor. He preached on the church of Laodicea and how that church needed to take the lesson to heart, not be lukewarm, and reclaim their first love.

    He was surprised that I had remembered his words. I don’t remember many sermons over a long period of time, but I remembered that one as I wondered how long he would remain as pastor of the church he had just begun to serve.

    What words that you have said will be remembered? Do you want them remembered?

    (Featured image generated by Jetpack AI.)