The most dangerous thing we can do is forget. Now I forget things a ton. I nearly lost my passport 3 times merely getting to Thailand. But there are some things that we just can’t afford to forget. Things we can’t afford to lose. Like our trophies.
I’m not talking about the little plastic thing my mom still keeps just for participating in 1st grade softball. But I think there are moments that we must remember in the same way that trophies help us remember moments of significance.
When I am able to look back on my life and am not able to remember all the moments that God did something incredible, that is when I am most susceptible to the enemy. Thailand is a very dark place and ministering to the red light district is no easy task. The spiritual warfare is intense and in this battle I cannot afford to forget the things I know to be true.
That was where the Israelites strayed the most. When they forgot. Time and time again, they would forget that their God was mighty to save and they lost faith. While spending some time in Exodus 16, I was reading about how God provided manna while they were wandering in the desert. God then had them take some of the manna and save it, putting by the ark of the covenant, as a reminder for what the Lord had done for them. God had them use a token, like a piece of bread, to make sure they wouldn’t forget that He is strong and when they had nothing else, He was their provider.
In the same way, I think we should be diligent in collecting “trophies” like the manna as a way of remember the God we serve. The more that I am able to look back and remember the times that God has healed me or guided me or spoke to me, the more that I can trust him in the future. He is the same God yesterday, today, and forever. It is easy to forget that in a place like Thailand. It is easy to ask ‘where is God?’ here in the red light district and in the Buddhist temples. But He is is here and He is strong. Every evidence of that reality in my life is a trophy that I most hold as tight as I cam. Because when I stop and think about how the same God I talk to everyday also parted the Red Sea, made the sun stand still, and knit together the entire cosmos, I’m just like ‘damn what am I even worried about.’ That same God is on my side. He’s here with me now. He’s fighting with me and for me.
That’s why trophies are so important. Because it’s so dangerous to forget. When I forget how big our God is, I plunge into an ocean of doubt and discouragement.
This whole month has been a series of Lord of the Rings references for me, but I’ll share just this one. When Frodo and Sam are climbing the slopes of Mount Doom, Frodo begins to fall into despair. But Sam reminds him of the Shire. Of the strawberries with cream they used to have there this time of year. He reminds them of the good they are fighting for.
It is the trophies like that which will help us push through this darkness. There is so much hope that shines eternally, but we only lose sight of it because our vision becomes clouded. When we forget what the light looked like. So here’s too the little reminders. My little trophies. Like when God spoke to me audibly for the first time when I was 14. When the Holy Spirit comforted me when I was discouraged. Every time I see something beautiful and I remember that He created it. And like when Jesus completely healed my shingles last month.
Those are some of my trophies. They help me push through the darkness. Because there is no darkness strong enough to snuff out the Light of the world.
