The irony in this statement is literally two days before, I texted my mom about a profound prayer experience as I walked out of Adoration. Sadly, this isn’t even a record for how quickly I can forget an obvious spiritual consolation. How am I this forgetful?! What is Spiritual Amnesia? On more than one occasion, it was later the same day when I found myself begging for a(nother) sign of Christ’s presence after a pretty noticeable God-wink. This condition of spiritual amnesia is both humbling and frightening. Thus the sons of Israel did not remember the Lord their God, who had delivered them from the hands of all their enemies on every side… -Judges 8:34 How can I so easily forget how great our God is? It becomes clear when looking all the way back to Adam and Eve’s lack of trust to the Israelites wandering in the desert to Peter’s denial and fear. If I’m honest with myself, I often judge the Israelites when reading these passages. How could they so quickly turn away from God? He wiped out Pharoah’s army, and that was right after He parted the waters of the Red Sea for them to walk through. I would never make and worship a golden calf, let alone after such incredible wonders. Yet, I do the same thing, just the 2019 version, as I worship the idols of my smartphone and the comma in my bank account. I take my eyes off Our Lord, I look around at the mess of this world, and I get discouraged. I forget who God is, what He has done, and what He has promised.
I shall remember the deeds of the Lord Surely I will remember Your wonders of old. “Remember” is used somewhere around 350 times in the Bible. If you use a variant of the word, the occurrence jumps to nearly 550. Unfortunately, simple does not equal easy.
Examples of social amnesia how to#
Δ How to Remember in the Midst of Spiritual Amnesia The answer to our spiritual amnesia is clear: we must remember. The Lord makes His Spirit known in both subtle and obvious ways. Keeping our eyes on Him and open to Him is the key. The Advocate, the Holy Spirit whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything and remind you of all that I told you. Jesus knows we cannot simply will ourselves and depend on our own strength to remember. Frequent prayer for the power of the Holy Spirit to help us remember is vital to battling spiritual amnesia. Notice what He is doing daily and thank Him for it. If I am in the market for a red minivan, I will begin to notice all the red minivans. There aren’t suddenly a spike in red minivans, I am just noticing them for the first time. Similarly, if I notice God working in my life, I will begin to see it more. He’s always been there, but I am often too busy with an over-scheduled Google calendar or my face buried in my social media to notice. Our memories of good moments are not nearly as strong as our memories of bad experiences. Writing them down ensures the positive experiences are not lost. I’ve tried to depend on my memory to preserve moments of the Lord moving in my life. Yet, I can walk in to a room and forget why I am there just 30 seconds later. My memory does not have a strong track record I have to write it down.
Practically speaking, I have a spiritual amnesia list in the “notes” app on my phone. It contains with examples of moments I’ve felt God’s love. I add to the list whenever I remember or experience a new moment, and I read the list as often as I need it (which is very often). Spiritual desolation is a true condition. We can expect to have seasons of spiritual dryness. Being able to separate real desolation from simple spiritual amnesia is important. Ignatius of Loyola defines spiritual desolation as containing attributes “such as darkness of soul, disturbance in it, movement to low and earthly things, disquiet from various agitations and temptations, moving to lack of confidence, without hope, without love, finding oneself totally slothful, tepid, sad, and, as if separated from one’s Creator and Lord.”Īn intentional recollection every day, of the moments I knew God was with me, has been a life raft in seasons of true desolation.
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