A Poor Memory by G. B. Thompson

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D. C. · Aug 9, 1906

A Poor Memory

By G. B. Thompson

G. B. THOMPSON

Many complain of a defective memory. Church-members give as an excuse for not having a good Sabbath-school lesson on the Sabbath, and for a general ignorance of the real teaching of the Scriptures on many subjects, that they can not remember the texts. While they can remember with considerable accuracy the market reports concerning the price of corn, butter, and cattle, or the details of some scandal gleaned from a daily paper, the words of the most high God who spoke the universe into existence seem to leak out of the mind. Their memory retains the chaff better than the wheat. Though earnestly exhorted to give heed to the words of God, they somehow let them slip.

To all such Christians, the late H. L. Hastings offers the following advice:—

“How many of these leaking vessels there are! Like an old vinegar barrel, as empty as air! Nobody has pulled the bung out, it looks all right, but it won’t hold anything. There are lots of church-members just like those old vinegar casks—they count all right; they show off all right; but O how dry they are inside! You know what to do with such an old cask. Wait until there are signs of a good, long rain-storm, get out the old barrel and put it under the spout, and let it rain into it about four days, and it will swell and soak; and it will hold water all right when it gets thoroughly soaked. And this is the way to treat a memory that can not hold the Word of God. Shove it under the spout and let the word of God come into your heart, and you will find that though heaven and earth pass away, his word will not pass away.”

What is frequently termed a defective memory, is more often mental laziness. What is needed is a vigorous and persistent application of the mind to the study of the Scriptures, and our memory will be perceptibly improved. When the things of the world to come rest with greater weight on our minds than the ephemeral things of this earth, we shall find less trouble in memorizing the words of the Guide-book which is given by the Lord of the place to direct the pilgrims who are sojourning thither. In this time, when every wind of doctrine is blowing, and when every delusion and trap which the enemy can use to deceive and ensnare souls is found on every hand, the words of the Master to us are, “Search the Scriptures.”

Takoma Park, D. C.