During our first year of marriage, April asked me to fold towels. In my eagerness to please my new bride, I performed the towel-folding with new-husband gusto. Upon my finishing, April informed me I had folded them incorrectly. All that hard work was for naught.
April then taught me how to fold a towel correctly. Three months later a pile of unfolded towels confronted me once again. When I finished, they looked like a stack of bloated burritos. Alas, I had forgotten the rules of towel-folding. Was April’s wrath soon to follow? If we adjusted Habakkuk 1:13 to reflect April’s predicament, it would go like this: “Your eyes are too pure to approve horrible towel-folding, and you cannot look on horrible towel-folding with favor.”
April’s problem with my towel-folding resembles God’s problem with the Israelites. They simply couldn’t get it right. A large part of their problem was their memory, just like with my towel-folding. I couldn’t remember.
When God sent Moses to deliver the Israelites out of slavery in Egypt, He performed twelve jaw-dropping miracles. They were intended to show Pharaoh who was truly in charge, who was supreme over all. Bottom line was Pharaoh was going to release the Israelites from slavery whether he wanted to or not. He truly had no choice.
The Israelites were ecstatic. Finally, the God of the universe had heeded their cries, and He would lead them back to the promised land of long ago. He had chosen them to be His people, and that relationship would be restored.
It’s not long, however, before the memories of those twelve incredible miracles fade away, and the Israelites were complaining about pretty much everything: “Manna again? How about some grilled cheese sandwiches?” Remember those complaining kids in the backseat who keep demanding every five minutes: “Are we there yet?” That describes the Israelites.
Their complaining was much worse of course. The wandering Israelites are complaining against the sovereignty of God, against His desire to be their God. It’s an incredible insult to God when they declare they should just return to Egypt and be done with Him.
It wasn’t people muttering in the confines of their tents. They threatened outright rebellion against God. The crowning insult against Him occurred when Moses ascended Mount Sinai and was absent for forty days. The people convinced Aaron, the second-in-command, to build a god for them.
That’s certainly head-scratching. The true God had delivered them from slavery and promised to take them back to their promised land. He had cared for them in every practical and tangible way. But now, they turn to worshiping a hand-crafted god. What clueless college student attends pottery class, molds some lop-sided vase and then worships it? The whole concept of worshiping something you created teems with ridiculous, illogical thought.
Memory is vital. Memory helps us keep our relationship with our God thriving. Suppose your child went off to college. You made sure he got there, and you paid the tuition, room and board. You bought his books along with everything else he needed.
Then around the mid-semester date, you call him, just to check in. But he doesn’t remember you. “You’re my dad?” he asks. “What’s your name again?” You tell him, and he responds, “How interesting—you have the same last name as I do.”
Wouldn’t you feel like pulling the proverbial plug on him? Ungrateful little punk! We should wonder if God feels the same way when we don’t remember Him. We don’t remember the blessings He has provided, especially how He has provided the most precious gift anyone could ever give—eternal life with Him in a perfect paradise.
On the other hand, when we do remember, those remembrances stir our hearts. That stirring causes actions of love and devotion, worship and service, self-sacrifice and humility.
Now, we can see the blending of God’s holiness and His love. We can accept we can never attain His level of holiness. However, He makes a way for us to come to Him. With Him and because of Him, our relationship melds together both in holiness and love. Let us always remember that.