Spiritual Amnesia

“… ‘they gave no thought to your miracles; they did not remember your many kindnesses…’ Yet he saved them for his name’s sake, to make his mighty power known…The waters covered their adversaries; not one of them survived. Then they believed in his promises and sang his praise. But they soon forgot what he had done…In the desert they gave into their craving…So he gave them what they asked for but sent a wasting disease upon them.” Psalm 106:7-15

We find our Israelites suffering from spiritual amnesia. God had continuously granted miracle after miracle and provided for every need that arose. In the brief periods following the miracles we are told that the Israelites believed and gave glory to God. The next word following their response is one of the heaviest words in the Bible – ‘But’. They immediately became forgetful in His faithfulness, impatient in His timing and demanding in their requests. Sound familiar?

Why is it so much easier to recite what we feel we are missing instead of recounting how God has provided for in the past? We see God in His provisions and we feel Him in His comfort so why in the world do we make impossible pleas of passion to Him as if we know better? He will give us what we ask for when ‘it’ becomes our god. With that granted request He will send ‘leanness in our soul.’

When one of my children was around 10 years old, she begged and begged for me to allow her to ride her bike to Harris Teeter which is about 2-3 miles from home. I continuously told her no giving her the reasons why it would not be good for her. Her pleas were so passionate that I finally gave in to her request. After 30 minutes I got a phone call from her crying and begging me to come and pick her up. The trip was too much on her and her strength had failed her. She had abandoned her bike in the ditch half way there and walked to the payphone the rest of the way alone. She never asked to do that again – she learned through experience instead of words.

God will give us what we plead for when the object becomes our god. We cannot demand things of God without receiving consequences with our requests when they are not His will.

As Matthew Henry said, ‘What is asked for in passion is often given in wrath.’ Believer’s Bible Commentary.