Forget Me Not

Nehemiah is an interesting man. Not much is known about him, save for the name of his father and that he was a cupbearer. He went to Jerusalem to rebuild it after the captivity, but one thing that's striking about him is he keeps reminding God, four times throughout the book, of all the good he's done.

It sounds self-serving, certainly at first glance. After all, why would you remind God of anything unless you feel He'll forget otherwise? Why would you remind Him of the good you've done even though all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags?

There's a Bible study we had last night that casts a different light on it, though. What if Nehemiah was giving God a status report, much like some of us have to do in our jobs or for other projects? I don't know about you, but there have been times when, for whatever reason, I've had to say that I've made absolutely no progress in the last week on what was requested of me. It stinks. People have asked me from one week to the next how writing is going and I hate when I have to say that I've written little, regardless of whether it's because I have writer's block or other things have gotten my attention or I've been down or have been just lazy.

What if Nehemiah was calling out to God to say, "Look at what I've done for You in this past month. Are You pleased?" It still (to me, at least) sounds a little self-serving, until you consider the purpose of a status report. A good boss is, generally speaking, going to know more or less where a project is. God, being omniscient, knows where it is, was, will be, when, and how well it will be done. So the status report seems to be more for us rather than our bosses, because no one likes to show up empty-handed.

To practically apply that: would you rather that God remembered or forgot what you did this week? Don't take the cop-out answer of, "I'd rather He remembered some things and forgot some things." If you had to pick one or the other, which would you choose? Have you done a significant amount of good this past week? Have you tried to help someone? Make him or her feel better? Corrected them in love? Helped the needy? Served the church? Shared the Gospel, both verbally and through your conduct? Been honest, even to your own detriment? Turned down temptations because God is more important to you?

Or what about the bad? Have you been complaining too much? Focused on yourself and your problems, especially to the extent that you hurt others or are insensitive to their needs and feelings? Gotten into any addictions, like drugs, alcohol, or pornography? Just been lazy and not done anything? Tried finding answers in your friends, family, and relationships rather than in God and His Word? Lost your temper?

We've all probably done some things from both lists, but which list would you say describes your last week more closely? Would you want God to take this last week as a snapshot of your life? Would you want others to know that this is a fairly typical week for you? If so, pray that God gives you the strength to live like this as much as you can and that you can continue to improve where you need to. If not, pray that God will help you with your struggles and guide you in living more as He wants you to live.

Remember that this is not about judgment. If it was, our only option would be to have God forget every week because we sin every week and just one makes us unworthy of Him. It's not about getting benefits from God, for He owes us nothing. We can never repay what He's done for us already. This is about living a life pleasing to Him because it's not about our works, because we love Him for how good He already has been to us, because we worship Him just for Who He is, regardless of what He does for us.

This next week, give a status report to God, whether it's good or bad (better yet, try to do it daily), and ask Him to help you make the next one better. Sometimes it will be, sometimes it will be worse, but asking for His help and praying often will help you be able to give a good one, full of God's strength and blessings and love.