When all the elders of Israel had arrived, the priests took up the Ark. – 1 Kings 8:3

Today's Scripture Reading (October 17, 2022): 1 Kings 8

In his epic "Mars Trilogy," Kim Stanley Robinson spends a little time at the end of the third book examining the subject of human memories. In his fictitious world, the long-lived ones, the early transformers of the surface of Mars who created a place where humans could live, begin to have memory problems. It is like the capacity of the brain had been filled, and there was no room left in their brains for more memories (although Robinson himself rejects that model). But whatever the reason was, the people began to forget.

One of his characters, Sax Russell, begins to work on the problem. And in the end, he finds a way to restore the lost memories; he could allow the long-lived ones to remember again. But that revealed another problem. Do we really want to remember? Memory can be such a mixed bag. There are some things that we want to remember and some things that we need to remember, but there are also some things that are just too painful to remember, memories we would just as soon forget. As one character put it, why isn't it enough to just live in the present? Why do we need to be burdened by our memories?

But the problem with not remembering is that it also means that we don't learn. I carry many painful memories with me every day, and I hope that I have learned, and continue to learn, because I remember even the painful moments of life.

The Ark of the Covenant carried with it some very painful memories. But these memories also provided those who remembered the opportunity to learn a lesson.  Solomon had remembered and had learned the lesson. The first time David moved the Ark, he treated it like a piece of furniture. His lack of knowledge about how the Ark was to be treated caused a good man to die. It was a lesson that Solomon was not going to forget. As the King moved the Ark of the Covenant from the tent that had been its home since David had brought it back to Jerusalem, he didn't try to move the Ark as if it was a piece of furniture being moved to a new home. He brought the Levites in to move the Ark with poles placed in the sides of the Ark. The family lesson survived because Solomon was willing to remember.

Making the most of our present depends on our ability to learn from our and others, pasts. The Bible has often been called our owner's manual for life. We find the memories of successes and painful lessons learned from its pages. The Bible tells stories others might have left out, all so that we would be allowed to learn. Sometimes it might be easier to forget, but then we would end up repeatedly making the same mistakes.  

Tomorrow's Scripture Reading: 1 Kings 9