Forgetitis – the act of forgetting Who God is, or what God has promised in the face of life’s challenges; neglecting to keep one’s promises to God after God has delivered-fulfilled God’s promise
Hi
Here’s today’s Holy Nougat
“So this stone which I set up as a memorial stone will become God’s House, and of everything You provide me I will definitely give a tenth of it to You.””
Genesis 28:22 TLV
Isn’t it funny how selective our minds can be? We remember Some things, yet the details of other things that occurred round about the same time seem to disappear from our internal storage. For, it seems to me that Jacob would be cheered by the covenant, especially when he saw God’s house In his journeys. We note that at the time Jacob spoke, the ‘house’ was a mere rock memorial; it was not yet anything. But that rock represented his intent.
Should he not expect the same from God re God’s promises?
Or maybe it is that the great vastness of God is so etched in our consciousness that we expect God to always speak immediate transformation into our lives. For sure, most of us express and experience deep disappointment when God doesn’t deliver at the time or in the way we expect. And that occasionally gets transformed into unbelief.
Jacob didn’t entirely disbelieve, he just wanted reassurance that God hadn’t forgotten him. It might even be that his own transformation from selfish schemer to profound believer separated his experiences to BG-BL (ie Before God-Before Laban) and after. The problem with that theory is Jacob’s last action in this pericope (scripture segment).
With no evidence of prompting from God, his parents, family, friends or foes; Jacob covenanted to tithe. This tithe, unlike that mentioned in Genesis 14, did not accompany victory or spoils of war. In fact, this tithe is a promise of future giving as a response to the anticipated blessings (proof that God hadn’t forsaken him). One wonders then, what happened to Jacob’s tithe? For, if he at all gave the tithe back, he should not have forgotten God’s benefits. And while we have no proof of Jacob ever tithing; we know that his faith in God’s integrity was so bolstered by the time his family relocated to Egypt, that he insisted his bones be returned to the land God promised and gave to him.
You see; forgetitis is curable. Especially when we have the chance to experience God’s goodness first hand in our lives. The challenge is acknowledging God’s goodness and also in making vows hard enough to be sacrificial and simple enough to be achieved. And that’s where God’s Spirit comes in.
May God’s Spirit so touch our lives that we give ourselves in return for all God’s benefits to us.
In Christ’s love and grace . . .
