08/09/2017
What do we do when our memory fails us? Are there repercussions to forgetting? What are the certain things that Jesus has asked us to remember, and are there particular things that God asks us to remember as well? Does God remember everything, or does He actually forget some things? Is it good when we forget? Do we?
God tells us to remember. The Word “remember” is used 144 times in the King James Version of the Bible, but only 27 times in the New Testament. I have thought a great deal about this disparity recently. Why was it so important in the Old Testament and less mentioned in the New? Maybe it was the difference in timespan covered by the two, or perhaps Christianity is more about the now... and the imminent second coming of Jesus. I concluded something interesting as I contemplated this mystery... we are already saved by the blood of Christ, so although we are waiting for Him to come again, it is not the same kind of waiting that the Jews were doing in the Old Testament. They were waiting in hope of redemption and a Messiah while we are waiting in anticipation of a risen Christ, and our rapture at any moment. We remember a few specific things of faith and relationship, like communion, while they were tasked with remembering law after law, the escape from bondage in Egypt and feasts such as Passover that surrounded it… and so much more...
In the New Testament Jesus simplifies our faith by fulfilling the law but He also tells us to remember things; He asks us to remember Him…
“And he took bread, and gave thanks, and brake it, and gave unto them, saying, This is my body which is given for you: this do in remembrance of me.”
Luke 22:19 KJV
In the Old Testament God says to remember many things like loving Him, remembering the sabbath, to be holy unto Him, and more:
“That ye may remember, and do all my commandments, and be holy unto your God.”
Numbers 15:40 KJV
“And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lord thy God brought thee out thence through a mighty hand and by a stretched out arm: therefore the Lord thy God commanded thee to keep the sabbath day.”
Deuteronomy 5:15 KJV
How would you like to remember everything you had ever done in your life... not just the fact that you had experienced a particular thing, but every minute detail regarding it; everything that happened during the birth of your first child, the first time you kissed your spouse, or every detail of every Christmas morning? At first blush this sounds rather appealing, but what about the times when you stumped your toe and how painful that was, or maybe when you had a bad fall in which you broke a bone? Remembering everything is more than not forgetting the times that God blessed us, that would be nice, but remembering also returns us to the painful things in our lives too. Total recall comes with a price; for each of those wonderful blessings comes the recollection of a sin we once committed and all our suffering... It means that we would remember them as though they happened just moments ago. Can forgetting actually be a blessing? Are we meant to forget... just as we are meant to remember?
There is a young man that lives in Nashville, TN who has that gift of total recall. He remembers every detail of his life... where he was, what was said, what he ate that day, and when. He is remarkable, and one of only 25 people in the world known to have this ability... but it comes at a price. BK Derryberry was born blind and with cerebral palsy. His mother died in a car accident, and he was extracted 3 months premature from her dead body... she was an alcoholic. His father abandoned him when he was 5 years old, and he was raised by his grandmother. I encourage you to visit a remarkably touching and short video prepared by WTVF News Channel 5 Nashville for broadcast on 7/27/2025 regarding this young man...
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=24728013406783478
Does his innocence, humility, and faith bring tears to your eyes? Do you cry at the thought of him remembering every sin, although forgiven, and his not being able to forget them... not a single detail? We might remember a very large sin we committed in our own lives, but time even dulls the intricate details of those from us eventually... this is not true for BK. In some small way this makes him similar to God... and like a perpetual child… he is innocent.
“But they do not consider that I remember all their evil. Now their deeds surround them; they are before my face.”
Hosea 7:2 ESV
Yet, God remembers not just our one life, but all life and all things. How does he forget after forgiving? Do we believe that He does? He tells us so…
“The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins, nor repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgressions from us.”
Psalms 103:8-12 ESV
God forgives and separates us from our sins, but then He does something remarkable, He chooses not to remember them again! This is amazing because God is omniscient; he sees all and knows all, so forgetting would take an amazing and powerful act of grace and mercy to achieve.
We think of forgetting as a trivial thing because we forget all the time. We forget appointments, our spouse’s birthday, anniversaries, and too many things to count, but according to the Bible, our sins are the only thing that God has chosen not to remember. Have you ever prayed for a better memory? If so have you considered that by doing so you might have been praying away the blessing that forgetting can be you? Were you praying for total recall or actually praying for the ability to selectively remember the good, the enjoyable, and the useful things?
“"I, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not remember your sins.”
Isaiah 43:25 ESV
“And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more.”
Hebrews 10:17 KJV
Some argue that God forgetting and choosing not to remember are two different things, but this is a rather academic argument; for our purposes they are the same because the end result is identical, our sin is wiped from the conscious mind of God.
God choses to forgive and to forget (or not remember) our sins, but unlike Him, BK and the other 24 who we know to be like him can't blot out their past transgressions... what a burden. Another interesting attribute of people like BK Derryberry is that they spend an inordinate amount of time thinking about the past, and why not? It is as fresh as if it had just happened... I wonder if they don’t occasionally get confused between the past and the present. Have you ever woken up suddenly from a dream and thought you were somewhere other than in your own bed? What if that began to happen to someone with total recall in the middle of their day as they awoke from a daydream? So, as we pass through life, what should we remember and what should we as human beings let go of?
God says this of Himself:
“I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty.”
Revelation 1:8 KJV
And perhaps He has placed the knowledge of this eternity within us as well, but has simply hidden it from our sight:
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
So, there is remembering and forgetting, and it is different in many ways between God and man, but there is much that is the same, and some things that are hidden from our understanding, but will one day this will all be revealed to us... perhaps, in that day, we will prove to be more like BK Derryberry than we can imagine, and just maybe our hearts will become as innocent and humble as his.
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for remembering all the details of my life because in the care of your remembering I see the love you have for me. I also thank you for choosing not to remember the sins for which you have forgiven me. Your mercy and grace are without end and I weep at the thought of the suffering of Jesus as He paid the price for this forgiveness and paved the way for your grace. Holy Father, you have planted the mystery of eternity within us, and I long for the day when You reveal that hidden mystery to me and my eternity begins with you in full understanding of what that means. I thank you Father for BK Derryberry and a glimpse into you that he gives us as we look at his remarkable life and his memory of it. You choose the meek, the humble, the innocent, and in BK we learn that lesson once again. Bless him in his life Lord, and may his inadequacies and sins be hidden from him even as you remember them not... let his purity be completed in this single act of forgetfulness. I praise you Father in all you know and do... and for choosing to separate my sins and shortcomings from me. Praised be your name for you are indeed great! HOLY, Holy, Holy are you my God who holds the world in the palm of your hand… and the memory of all is was, is, and will be… in your heart.
Amen!
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also, he has put eternity into man's heart, yet so that he cannot find out what God has done from the beginning to the end.”
Ecclesiastes 3:11 ESV
Definition:
hy·per·thy·me·sia ˌhī-pər-ˌthī-ˈmē-zh(ē-)ə
: the uncommon ability that allows a person to spontaneously recall with great accuracy and detail a vast number of personal events or experiences and their associated dates : highly superior autobiographical memory
People with hyperthymesia can recall almost every day of their lives in near perfect detail, as well as public events that are personally significant. Those affected describe their memories as uncontrollable associations, so when they come across a date, they "see" a vivid depiction of that day in their heads.—Miriam Stoppard (https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/hyperthymesia )
Rich Forbes