The Art of Forgetting Things

This past weekend I did what millions of other people did: saw Avengers: Age of Ultron. While it was not better than the first Avengers (in my opinion), I enjoyed myself. I saw it with friends, I had popcorn, but best of all: I had Sour Patch Kids.

I haven't had Sour Patch Kids in many moons, or if I have they have been in small quantities. This was a movie theater sized pack, and I devoured all of them (even the yellows)! I immediately began to feel a certain discomfort in my mouth. All those acidic and (dare I say?) sharp sugar crystals had burned my tongue. Chafed my tongue. Wounded my tongue. When I got home, I looked in the mirror and my tongue was bleeding! Even now, as I type these words...my tongue is just a shadow of its former self. I am sad, and I have forgotten the recent joy of eating the sour patch kids. But perhaps that is because I forgot the childhood pain of eating sour patch kids in the first place.

Last year, I was following the Bible in a Year plan. When I was done, I was overcome with the feeling of "...now what?" Maybe I thought I would be "done," but there is no being done with the Bible. So a few weeks ago I started over at the beginning.

And today, I came upon these verses that made me think about the things we forget:

Now Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same; God has told to Pharaoh what He is about to do. The seven good cows are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years; the dreams are one and the same. The seven lean and ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven thin ears scorched by the east wind will be seven years of famine. It is as I have spoken to Pharaoh: God has shown to Pharaoh what He is about to do. Behold, seven years of great abundance are coming in all the land of Egypt; and after them seven years of famine will come, and all the abundance will be forgotten in the land of Egypt, and the famine will ravage the land. So the abundance will be unknown in the land because of that subsequent famine; for it will be very severe.

- Genesis 41:25 - 31

Background

Players: Joseph and Pharaoh
Situation: After being sold into Egypt by his brothers and falsely accused of rape, Joseph has spent some time behind bars. While being a prisoner, he had opportunity to interpret a dream for a member of Pharaoh's court. Two years after that interpretation, Pharaoh has a nightmare and needs interpretation. Joseph's name is mentioned.

Takeaways
Upon first read-through, this was slightly troubling. My initial takeaway was that all of the goodness you have experienced. All of your past joy, triumphs, and happiness can be swallowed up in despair. Looking at the scripture, the people of the land would have 7 whole years of just incredible economic growth and abundance. People will lack for nothing. But the 7 subsequent years of famine would be so bad, that those good years wouldn't even be a memory. All they would know or remember is pain and suffering.

What does this mean? That they literally could no longer remember the good times? No. They remembered. But it didn't matter to them anymore. What good was a memory if they were hungry now? Thirsty now? Crying now? 

I immediately identified with this. Sometimes your trial (your famine) can seem simply too long and too severe. So much so that prior blessings seem useless.

...and maybe they are.

As a result of interpreting Pharaoh's dream, Joseph is freed from prison and becomes the second ruler of all of Egypt. He literally goes from prison to the palace. In a moment. Pharaoh arranges a lucrative marriage for Joseph. So someone who yesterday was thought to be a sex offender, is today's most eligible bachelor. His whole life changed in a flash. And this is what scripture says about it:

Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

 - Genesis 41:50-52

Now, I don't know if there is something theological about the fact that Joseph's personal famine ended right when Egypt's famine was beginning. I don't know. But in both cases, the beginning of something made a person forget the former things. The Egyptians would forget their years of plenty, and Joseph would forget all his years of lack. 

So my revised takeaway was that your past is swallowed up in your present, which will soon be swallowed up by your future. Whatever it is. Good or bad. No matter who you are, or what you've experienced, God will not have you living in your past. You just won't. It's why we pray for our daily bread...because yesterday's bread is gone! 

The past is gone. And it is to be forgotten. Not  literally (of course), but the importance of today, always outweighs yesterday. In fact, yesterday has little to no value. If you're waiting for God to bless you, you're not waiting for it to happen yesterday. You're looking for it today. Always. 

And other scriptures back this up:

Brethren, I do not regard myself as having laid hold of it yet; but one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. - Philippians 3:13-14

Remember not the former things, nor consider the things of old. Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I will make a way in the wilderness and rivers in the desert. 

 - Isaiah 43:18-19

I'm not saying we should be ungrateful regarding the past. I'm just saying God doesn't make you drive on fumes!  That would mean that every praise we ever sung was an "old song" when scripture says "sing unto the Lord a new song." Why new songs? Because His mercy is new every morning (Lamentations 3:23). Then I thought, but Christ died once 2000 years ago, and I'm still grateful for that. OH! Possible breakdown in this theory? Nope. Because Christ's blood is still working. It's still cleansing people of sin, still reconciling sinners back to Christ...it's NOT OVER.

That being said, it's okay to forget things. I think, sometimes, it might be okay to even forget the lessons learned...

Or you'd never enjoy the sour patch kids.