All Amnesia...the Cure

Have you thought about amnesia recently? (Did you forget? I’m sorry, could not resist that.)

You and I have amnesia. We are very, very good at forgetting. Stop a moment, before you deny having amnesia, allow me to explain. While you may remember your birthday, you may remember your phone number and your address and many other things. In one area, both of us suffer from an infallible amnesia. Much of the time you and I are oblivious, almost all of every day we forget.

Yes, I’ll tell you.

Just a few more words to build the case regarding our amnesia. Because of this amnesia you and I have a problem. Because of our amnesia we believe we are in control of our lives. We think we make decisions about what to do, where to go. We think we are in control, of what we say. We aren’t…because of this ongoing case of amnesia we both suffer from. When our life decisions, choices, and plans, fall apart, what usually happens? Aren’t we often angry? If not angry, then depressed? But go one step further with me. Let’s add the fact that you prayed about the plan, the choice, the decision you made. You told God. And then everything you prayed for fell apart. Nothing worked out like you planned. When our plans fail is it God’s fault?

Never.

Our amnesia can cause us unnecessary heart ache and frustration. We forget WHO is in control of all things. Just so we remember, allow me to give this human condition a name: “ALL Amnesia.”

We both suffer from “ALL Amnesia.” What a difference it makes in our lives when we can calmly, and with patience respond to a life setback with, “God is in control.” Instead of becoming angry, frustrated, and stomping our feet, even screaming if things don’t work as we plan…our response to life becomes significantly truer and more productive with this response: “God is in control.”

“ALL Amnesia” causes us to forget this fact. All things are in God’s hands.

Allow me a few more moments of your time. You need examples to make this life truth of “ALL Amnesia” clear. Remembering that we are not in control of any life situation provides you and I with significantly less stress and substantially more peace in our hearts.

The first illustration is nature. All of nature is under God’s control. Consider one powerful example as proof. Butterfly and Bird migration. If the Monarch butterfly on the photo for this blog ever had amnesia, it would either freeze because it did not migrate, or likely fly to the wrong place on earth. It never does. Monarch migration never fails.

If birds seem to be directed by an unseen hand it is because they are. One of my favorite migration illustrations is the Common Loon. The state bird of my home state, the Common Loon pair in a good nesting season will reproduce 2 loon chicks. If these chicks survive fish and turtle predators, stormy weather and a number of other factors which take loon chicks, they will come to the day in their life when their parents fly away. Right, you read that correctly-the adults fly away. There is a catch-the parents do not come back. They migrate. Not the two loon chicks. Now in juvenile plumage, and likely able to fly, the chicks stay in the body of water where they developed. They feast on the fish, call each other, and grow stronger…meanwhile with each passing day, their parents move to the loon wintering grounds on the Atlantic coast and in the Gulf of Mexico. Loon chicks remain on the spring and summer territory waters often until October colors are built into the leaves.

It gets better. Sometime before the lake they have spent the summer and fall living on freezes over, the loon chicks begin their own migration journey to the Atlantic or Gulf coasts. But…they have never flown there before. Yet season after season loon chicks from all around the northern nesting grounds find their way to the loon wintering grounds. This has happened for generation after generation of loons. How do young loons find their way? Here is the short answer: God. God is in control. His power directs the young loons, puts the “migration route” in their heads. It never fails. God is in control.

You and I aren’t the only ones to have “ALL Amnesia.” The religious leaders during the time of Jesus’ life on earth had it. Unfortunately, they suffered with it during the entire time of Jesus’ life on earth. Some of them never did realize that God is ALWAYS in control. The event in the Bible on my mind to share with you happened on a Sabbath. Remember, the Sabbath was a holy day for the Jewish people. Originally, God’s plan for the Sabbath was for it to be a day of mental and physical rest. We people soon corrupted the Sabbath. Concerned, but suffering human misconceptions, Jewish Religious leaders determined to add a “rule” to observing the Sabbath: No harvesting. (Yes, over time Jewish people decided they need to harvest on the Sabbath.) So leaders added the rule about harvest.

Here’s the point. One Sabbath, Jesus and His disciples were walking along and came to a field of grain. Likely wheat, the disciples walked along, plucked some heads of wheat, shelled out the kernels and ate them. The religious leaders were unhappy with Jesus and the disciples. They were harvesting on the Sabbath.

Read the story here:

When the religious leaders were done “correcting” Jesus and His disciples. Jesus reminded the leaders of their “ALL Amnesia” Jesus told them, “So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath.” In this statement from Jesus we read a significant truth. Jesus is LORD.  He told them He was Lord of the Sabbath. He is over all religious activity. But He is Lord of ALL. That mean He is over all, in control, sovereign. If Jesus is over ALL, then there is nothing He does not control. We are in His control. Out daily life, and our life forever-both are controlled by Jesus.

Do you see now why “ALL Amnesia” is a serious problem? It is so easy for us to think, we are in charge. When we forget it leads to frustration at a minimum and despair in some cases. The reality is God is in control of ALL things. Wishing you had a better memory about who is in control? Do you wish you could be free of “ALL Amnesia?

You can, I can. It is humbling. To cure “ALL Amnesia” we need a regular trip into God’s presence. Daily is best. The humbling part is to confess to God our case of amnesia. The best part is asking Him to enable us to remember WHO is in control-every day. When we ask, He will listen…and answer.  God desires that we know He is Sovereign.

Because He is sovereign…Only He can cure our “ALL Amnesia.”