The "Impersistence" of Memory

Today’s readings: Psalm 105:1-42; Exodus 33:1-6

Today's psalm, in full, represents one of the capsule summaries of the Torah, which is a good thing for those days when you don't want to get bogged down in the "who begat whoms" or the ritual dimensions of the Ark. Like Psalm 78 before it, we get a nice, readable summary of the journey from covenant with Abraham to the highs and lows of Egypt and the escape via the desert to the Promised Land. I can't help but see the wrinkle in verse 41, however. While the "he" in this case stands in for God doing things like squeezing water out of stone in the desert, left unsaid are the details and consequences of that miracle.

Back in Numbers, Moses is frustrated with the pleadings of the people and in a moment of weakness, questions whether the sign must be done. A quick note is made that Moses won't make it to the Promised Land because of this slight, despite 40 years of desert leadership. The same passage in Exodus lacks this reproach. By the time we celebrate the Greatest Hits of the Israelites in this Psalm, the breach is a distant speed bump. Ultimately, the miracle stands, the people get to the land that will become Israel, and Moses is generally remembered for the totality of his life and not that one time in the desert he got a little salty. Because we live life forwards, every day is a new opportunity to live a better version of our past failings. One day we might even be able to look back on everything with the levelling eye of time and marvel at the greater themes and direction that God might see in our lives.

-Daniel Okobi

Let us pray…

Lord, by your grace you led, fed, attired, and performed for the people of Israel in the desert. Today as we navigate our own journeys through the wilderness, please help to keep us thankful for your similar support in our lives. Give us the gift of perspective as we seek to do better by others and ourselves, so that we may more often turn, in patience, to do what is right. Amen.