Articles
Sorry, I Forgot
Sorry, I Forgot
by Doug Kashorek
I have always navigated life by lists. Even if I manage to do a task not on my list, I will write it
down just to cross it off. So, I have developed a very limited short-term memory … to the point
that if I’m verbally asked to stop after work and pick up three items, I won’t even remember, after
all the details of the day, that I even had an errand to run, let alone what items I was supposed
to get. To compensate, I’ve made it a habit to call home before I leave the church parking lot.
That’s so much better than walking in our front door and saying, “Sorry, I forgot.”
Perhaps it’s human nature to forget what we should remember and remember what we should
forget? This can be humorous when a young man complimented his grandfather in a recent
cartoon I saw that the older man was always calling his wife pet names like ‘Honey’ and
‘Sweetie.’ “That’s because,” the grandfather confessed, “I forgot her name two years ago and
am afraid to ask her what it is.” It’s not so funny when it’s the redemption God has given us that
we no longer remember.
Last Sunday, we glimpsed the grieving heart of God as He remembered the relationship with the
people He took for His own from their slavery in Egypt and the covenant He made with them on
Mt. Sinai—a covenant that they broke because of their sin and idolatry. This seems to be the
very love and salvation that they’ve forgotten as Jeremiah 2:32 says, “Can a virgin forget her
ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten me days without number.”
The LORD says, “I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake, and I will not
remember your sins” (Isaiah 43:25), yet we either punish ourselves for what He has forgiven or
dismiss the pain they caused Him to follow our own wills, instead of His, once again. When
called to give account, we don’t want to say, “Sorry, I forgot.”
