There are times when forgetting the past is the exact right thing to try to do. You've got to move on; maturity demands it, is tied to it, and sanity even. The band Relient K recognised that in a song about the painful aftermath of relational betrayal:
I'd rather forget and not slow down
than gather regrets for the things
that can't change now.
And with piercing clarity and spiritual power the Apostle Paul laid bare his heart:
"forgetting what is behind and straining towards what is ahead, I press on towards the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenwards in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:13f)
Those words deserve to be writ large on all our hearts, through all our days.
But at the same time Scripture counsels us to remember and to remember well. Deuteronomy was, effectively, the last sermon Moses preached to the people of Israel; in chapter 4, verse 9 he urges them,
"Be careful and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live."
(His words find an echo in the solemn charge of Prov 4:23, "Guard your heart with all diligence".)
And the Apostle Peter, also conscious he is writing a final letter to Christians he loves deeply, lays bare his heart and their need when he says,
"I will make every effort to see that after my departure you will always be able to remember these things." (2 Peter 1:15)
The Bible repeatedly takes seriously our tendency, personally and collectively, to forgetfulness - not of the facts of gospel truth, but of their force, through a loss of sustained focus and consideration and delight in their wonderful, transforming reality, of the Lord himself.
Moses is urging the people to do all they can to keep in mind what the Lord had done, to keep the truth fresh and unfading in their hearts. We have to acknowledge our frequent sad and slow drift towards the ossifying of our faith and our walk with the Lord. And yet, "because of the Lord's great love we are not consumed, for his compassions never fail" - never dull, never fade. In fact, "they are new every morning."
The challenge to "not...let them fade from your heart" is so graciously provided for in the mercies of God that are anchored in history yet are fresh and vibrant every day, meeting us in our tragic slide into dullness.
Psalm 143:8 gives us words to pray, from within that struggle, for vital, spiritual engagement with the living Lord: "Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you." Every new day affirms God's intent to hear and answer that prayer, for the sun rises "like a bridegroom coming forth from his chamber" (Ps. 19:5) on his wedding day, in testimony to the undying, covenant love of the Lord, so great is his faithfulness!
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Come, Thou fount of every blessing,
Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;
Streams of mercy, never ceasing,
Call for songs of loudest praise.
Teach me some melodious measure,
Sung by flaming tongues above;
O the vast, the boundless treasure
Of my Lord's unchanging love!
Here I raise me Ebenezer,
Hither by Thy help I'm come,
And I hope by Thy good pleasure
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed his precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I'm constrained to be!
Let that grace, Lord, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Take my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it from Thy courts above.
(Robert Robinson, 1735-90)
