Just one glance at my over-stuffed bookshelves will reveal that I love to read. And my favorite genre is historical fiction. It’s like a history lesson made palatable (thus readable) with the addition of stories of fictional people and relationships slotted in between real dates and real historical people. I’ve just finished an 800-page tome on Paris. Great story, plus I learned a bit more about the many volatile, shaping influences of that great city. Admittedly, any ‘history’ gleaned was incidental to the joy of holding a book in my hands. I emerged from my reading struck anew with the realization that change is constantly imposing itself on individuals and on geography (a glance in the mirror confirms the former). Our buildings and roadways in existence today were likely unheard of a century ago (this is less true in Europe, perhaps, with the untouchability of original structures). We tend to tear everything down and erect the latest and greatest, thereby erasing any traces of the past.
Spanish philosopher George Santayana said: “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.” (1905, The Life of Reason). Winston Churchill rephrased it like this: “Those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.” (1948, British House of Commons). A reading of the Old Testament lends credence to the truth contained in those statements. God clearly outlined for His people, Israel, what His expectations were, with both His blessings and His curses (Deuteronomy 30). They repeatedly either forgot or failed to learn, resulting in the arrival of the promised consequences.
God always says what He means and means what He says. Maybe it’s our fallen, Adamic nature that makes us squirm and get restless when confronted with His honesty and clarity. Maybe we forget who we are and think we can skirt His law, or we forget Whose we are and feel put upon by His commands to us. Maybe we just focus on ‘restrictions,’ to the forgetting of the abundance of good things promised with obedience. Maybe we can’t picture ourselves as the wayward child returning home to be greeted by a loving, forgiving, rejoicing, ready-to-celebrate father. Maybe, just maybe, we should. Looking forward to seeing all you God’s kids tomorrow, 10 AM, 4 PM. PD
