THE REFORMED WITNESS HOUR"Spiritual Alsheimer’s"Rev. Carl Haak(e-mail: Rev. Carl Haak) |
Dear
radio friends,
Remember these names of God: El ro’i (God who sees); El-shaddai (God
almighty, or God all-sufficient); El-gabore (mighty God); Jehovah-jireh (the Lord will
provide); Jehovah-meqadosh (the Lord most holy); Jehovah-shammah (the Lord is there);
Jehovah-shalom (the Lord, our peace). Remember. Do not forget.
Remember these names: Tom Brady (quarterback of New England Patriots);
Ozzie Osborne (well, if you don’t know who that is, I’m not going to tell you);
Dixie Chicks (reportedly a singing group); Tom Cruz (movie star); Terri Hatchet (one of
the desperate housewives).
What is the point? The point is this:
All of God’s children have what may be called spiritual Alzheimer’s
disease. We cannot remember what we should;
and we do remember what we should not, causing us to humble ourselves before God, to adore
God for His infinite patience, love, and faithfulness, and calling us to repent and praise
God for His faithfulness of remembering us.
I am going to talk today about
spiritual Alzheimer’s. We often ask the
question, Why the Lord sends certain diseases upon His children, dreadful diseases? Especially we ask those questions when the person
is old and we would say, “Is not their journey now complete; may they not be
delivered and taken to Thy presence?” Very
often in the last days of our life the Lord sends to us some of the heaviest burdens and
afflictions. We might ask that question
concerning Alzheimer’s disease. We have
an answer, I believe, at least a partial answer why the Lord sends such diseases —
especially with the disease of Alzheimer’s. I
believe that therein the Lord reflects our spiritual state, that among all of His
children, even those who are the most mentally keen and sharp, there is the sin of
spiritual Alzheimer’s. We do not
remember the names, the mercies, the goodness of our God.
We do not remember where we are at as God’s children, causing us to humble
ourselves, to repent, to adore God for His infinite patience upon us, and to praise Him
for His faithfulness.
When I refer today to the
disease of Alzheimer’s, I in no way wish to minimize the heaviness of this
affliction, and that only the mighty grace of God is able to bear us up under such a way. It is indeed a most difficult and dreadful
affliction. We are told that Alzheimer’s
is a form of dementia. It is the loss of
memory and of mental capacity. And it has
become much more publicly recognized in recent years.
It is a progressive degenerative disease of the brain that results in memory loss,
impaired thinking, and personality change, as well as frustration and anger. It is a disease that follows a process that could
go on up to twenty years. It is a disease
that is always fatal and primarily begins after the age of 65. However, we are told, ten percent of those who are
afflicted begin to experience the symptoms already in their forties and fifties. The symptoms are readily recognized. There is the loss of short-term memory (the loss
of people’s names and the loss of where you are at); the loss of cognitive abilities
(that is, the abilities of the brain to reason, to make decisions, and to make judgments). There is the loss of sense of time or the ability
to function, to eat, to clothe oneself. Very
often, those who are afflicted with it will no longer recognize their husband or wife,
their own family, their children, their friends. And
one begins to revert to earlier times, most often from the ages of 10-17, so that their
childhood or teenage years are relived. Along
with the symptoms there is often depression, withdrawal, stubbornness, frustration,
confusion, irritability. A disease that is
dreadful. And we are told that the symptoms
are especially prominent at the close of the day.
Recently I received a note from
a young lady who has worked in a nursing home among those who are afflicted with
Alzheimer’s. I had asked her about this
dreadful ailment, and she took the time to write a few lines. I would like to share with you what she sent to
me.
She writes: “I’ll just tell you a little bit about
life without a memory. I have worked at the
same job for three years. I can name three
residents who might remember me from day-to-day. I
could have spent sixteen hours with them the day before and they won’t know my name
the next morning. Most of them will recognize
me as someone they trust, but that is all. I
guess one of the best ways I can put it is: Try
to imagine waking up every morning and not knowing where you are, where your wife or
husband is, not knowing the person who is checking in on you every hour, and not even
knowing who you are.
“One of the saddest things
that I have seen for the family is that very often they no longer remember their children
even when the children are present. They
think that they are young.
“Another sad thing I
remember was caring for an old lady whose husband had died a couple of hours before. She sat by his bedside while he died, not
understanding that he was dying, and becoming frustrated with him because the family was
there and he wasn’t responding. He died. But she did not remember. The family told her but she forgot within ten
minutes. For the family, it was either lie
about it and say he is in the hospital, or tell her over and over and over again that her
husband was dead, breaking her heart over and over and over again. It was very hard for the family and for her.
“A common occurrence for
people with Alzheimer’s is that they revert to their younger days. One lady I took care of got up every morning to go
to school. Actually, that was the only way
that we could get her out of bed. Many days,
in her mind, she had been walking to school all day without food or water and had lost her
little brother or sister on the way.
“Violence is another common
thing. I guess I would be violent too if
someone I didn’t recognize came in and tried to make me change my clothes or to get
cleaned up. Alzheimer’s takes away the
ability to do the simplest things, such as: buttoning
your shirt, taking your clothes off, using the bathroom.
After some time it begins to so work on people that the person no longer remembers
how to sit up, stand up, or walk.
“Just think. Constant confusion.
That sick feeling in your stomach when you don’t know what is happening and
you are totally lost.”
Going back to the point of our
program today, God’s people, all of them, have what might be called spiritual
Alzheimer’s. In that disease there is an
accurate reflection of our spiritual life and of the infinite patience of God with us. Is it not true — as you reflect upon your own
spiritual life, do you not see it? Only now,
as we look into spiritual Alzheimer’s, there will be, at the conclusion, good news,
very good news! There is a cure for this.
The symptoms of spiritual
Alzheimer’s are with the people of God. They
are with you and they are with me. First of
all, can you remember God’s name? Can
you remember God’s name as readily as you can remember other names? Was it five minutes ago that I gave the
explanation of the meaning of God’s name El-gabore?
You remember? El ro’i. El-shaddai. Jehovah-jireh. Jehovah-meqadosh. Tom
Cruz. Terri Hatchet. Do you remember?
Do you have selective memory?
When we talk of spiritual
Alzheimer’s we are talking about a disease not of the mind but of the heart. For all true spiritual knowledge is a knowledge of
the heart. And if that spiritual knowledge
does not abide in the heart, it is not real. We
can forget God’s name in a moment of trial. When we do not understand what is happening to us,
then we do not remember His name! Jehovah-jireh
(the Lord will provide). Or, in a moment of
temptation — was it Friday night, with a group of young people? Perhaps you did not want to go but you were
invited. There was going to be drinking, a
party, and you went there. You said you would
not drink, but then, yes, you did. And then
other things happened. What was His name? Do you remember the name of God — the
God that you confess: El-ro’i (God who
sees all), Jehovah-shammah (the Lord is there)?
What about the other day when
you were at the job (or in the school) and you cursed, you swore? Did you remember the name of God?
But there is also among us a
loss of short-term memory, a short-term memory of what God has done. We seem not to be able to remember very far, very
long, the great, staggering blessings of God. What
blessings, you ask? You see what I mean? Forgiveness of sins. Can there be a greater blessing than that? All of our sins forgiven. Have you ever asked, What has He done for me
lately? Where is He? How can you, how can I, forget? He pardons all our iniquities — the infinite
debt and weight of sin, graciously forgiven in Jesus Christ. And we ask: exactly
what has God done for us? All the physical
blessings — everything that we possess — life and breath and food. Is it not so often true that as children of God we
open our Bibles, quickly do our devotions, and are up within five minutes to consume His
goodness? And when we have consumed His
goodness, we forget that it was God who gave and we return to Him no thanks.
How long do you remember the
lessons that He teaches you in the way of trial? How
long do you remember the greatness of His grace upon you when He calls you to walk in the
way of trial? We have a very short memory. We require a very patient and loving God who needs
to tell us over and over and over again. He
is far more patient with us than we will ever be with another human being.
But then there is also the
symptom in our spiritual Alzheimer’s that we forget. We forget where we are, we forget where we are
going. We forget what day it is — for
the time is short and the day of the Lord is at hand.
We forget who we are: we are
pilgrim-strangers on the way to eternal glory. We
forget where we are going and where our home is: in
heaven with Jesus Christ. We begin to think
that this world is our home.
Where are you today? Do you remember?
Do you know what life is today? Do you
know, young person, that you are on a battlefield, a spiritual battlefield? Do you know and do you remember your Friend, your
Lord Jesus Christ, who alone can cause you to stand up in this battlefield through faith
in Him? Where are you going? Do you know where you are at? So often, as children of God, we lose our way, we
do not remember, we cannot say where we are at.
Yes, Alzheimer’s disease is
a dreadful thing. But do you not see that all
of God’s children suffer from spiritual Alzheimer’s? We forget the name of God. What was the meaning of Jehovah-jireh? I said it twice now: the Lord will provide. What was El-ro’i? Do you remember?
The God who sees. Jehovah-meqadosh? Do you remember that one? Lord God Most Holy.
Tom Cruz? Do you remember?
I said that there is a good
message about this. The good word is this: there is a cure.
The cure of spiritual Alzheimer’s is repentance. The grace of repentance restores memory. I do not have time today to go through the
Scriptures and show you that, but you can do your own study. Do a study of the word “remember” in the
Scriptures and find out how often that word “remember” is associated and
connected with repentance. I’ll give you
just one example: The prodigal son. It was repentance that stirred his memory of his
father’s house. Apart from repentance he
did not remember anything. He could not have
told you his father’s name. He could
not have told you much of his father’s house while he was in the way of sin. But when repentance came, his memory became sharp. We must repent.
That is the cure for our spiritual Alzheimer’s.
But there is another word here. That word is this:
We must remember the Lord in the days of our youth.
In physical Alzheimer’s, one resorts very commonly to the days of his youth. Now, follow me carefully, young people. I trust that you are listening. Very often we are told when we are young,
“Remember the Lord, for you could die.” Perhaps
the Lord in this year, in your school life, has touched your life by taking away a
classmate and bringing to you the reality, the sobering reality, of the certainty of death
— that we could die at any moment — and, by faith, given you to trust in a
faithful God who lives and reigns forever. But
now my point is that, as a young person, you ought not remember the name of God just
because you could die today. You must take
heed to your spiritual life today because the spiritual life you live today (12, 13,
16-years old) could well be the spiritual life you live when you are 80. You may live till you are 80. You may live till you are 75 or 85. The Lord may send to you dementia. You will resort to the days of your youth. How are you living now? Those things that fill your life right now, not
just because you might die tomorrow, but those things that fill your life right now might
indeed be the quality, the character, of your life when you are 80. How do you want to die? At what spiritual level will you die? Where is your heart right now, today? In the Lord Jesus Christ it matters. It always matters.
The things of this world — fornication, drunkenness, cursing, swearing. Where is the level of your spiritual life today? For its level could well be the level of your last
hour.
Then the third thing we want to
remember, in conclusion, is this: the
wonderful fact that Jehovah remembers me. Is
that not a glorious thing? Is there anything
greater than this in all of the Scriptures? Isaiah
says in chapter 49 that God has engraven us upon the palms of His hands, so that He cannot
forget. Yes, there are things God cannot do. He cannot go contrary to Himself. He is a faithful God. He will always remember. He never forget His children, for they are seared
into His heart through the blood of Jesus Christ His Son.
He remembers each name. He remembers
each moment. He never takes His eye from His
children. He always knows. Jehovah will remember me. Oh, what grace, what peace. What shame I have that I must confess that so
often I do not remember Him. But He always
remembers me!
Jehovah remembers. You who suffer under Alzheimer’s, the
physical disease, and family members, remember: God
remembers your loved one. And, remember this: that Jehovah is not dependent upon a cognitive
brain, that is, a brain that is functioning to be able to communicate with His child. He draws near to the soul. No matter how confused the mind may be, He draws
near to the soul through the Word of God. So
read the Word of God to your loved one. Be
sure to go and visit them. Be sure you do
that. Be sure you pray. Be sure you read God’s Word, for I tell you,
I tell you on the authority of God Himself, that God communes with the spirit of His
children. If their mind does not function,
this presents to God no impediment. God is
able to communicate with those who cannot communicate to you, through His Word and by His
Spirit.
So, remember the name of your
God today. Hold fast to Him in faith and
dependence upon Him in Jesus Christ. And
rejoice that all the trials of this present time serve, they work, our salvation, until
that last day when we shall stand before Him and our memory will be perfect. We will know all.
And we will remember the name of our God.
Let us pray.