Exodus 23

The Right Kind Of Memory

Ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt. Exodus 23:9.

Today I want to speak about the right kind of memory, because although the memory is not a thing we can see and touch like the hand, or the ear, or the tongue, yet it has a very important part to play in our life.

It is a splendid thing to have a good memory. The boys and girls who have good memory should consider themselves very fortunate. It will be a great help to them through life and make many things easier for them. Yes, it is great to have a good memory; but it is a better thing to have the right kind of memory.

What do we mean by the right kind of memory? Well, some people seem to remember the things they ought to forget, and to forget the things they ought to remember. They remember all the little insults and injuries they have received from others. They count them over and feel very badly used and very sorry for themselves. Indeed they seem to take a positive pleasure in doing so. And those are very often the people who forget the good that they have received they forget to be grateful.

This is not the kind of memory you would wish to have. The right kind of memory remembers to forget It remembers to forget all the little injuries and insults that do not matter. It remembers to forget itself. And the right kind of memory, above all things, remembers to remember. It remembers to remember others.

Now in our text the Israelites were reminded to remember. They were told to remember the strangers who came among them, to be kind and hospitable to them, because once they too had been strangers in the land of Egypt. Sometimes, in those days, strangers were not treated very kindly. They were looked upon as outsiders and were given no rights. Often people tried to get out of them as much as they could and to give back as little as possible. Now the Israelites had had a very hard time in the land of Egypt. They had been oppressed and overworked and persecuted. They knew all about the disadvantages of being strangers and so they were told to be kind to the strangers who came to their land for the sake of all the hard things they had once endured.

I wonder if you have ever been a stranger in a strange land? Have you ever known what it is to be an outsider? Have you ever gone to a new school or a new park and felt out in the cold? The other boys and girls had their own interests; they were all friendly with each other; each had his or her special chum, and there seemed to be no room for you. If this has happened to you, then when you get to know the others and are taken into their circle, be kind to the new pupils who come after you. Speak to them, try to make them feel at home, for you have known “the heart of a stranger.”

It is those who have been in trouble themselves who know and understand best how to help other people out of their troubles. Let me tell you two stories.

Once a handicapped person was hobbling down a city street with the aid of two canes, and he stopped at a corner to knock a banana-skin off the pavement with one of his canes. Three healthy people stood near, but not one of them had thought of removing the skin. Do you know why the disabled person bothered about it? He had broken his hip by slipping on a banana-skin a few years previously, and he did not want others to suffer as he had done. That is the first story.

Here is the other. One day a lady was visiting a hospital in a large city. In one bed was a boy about sixteen years of age. She went to speak to him and he lifted the corner of the bed-clothes a little bit. What do you think was underneath? Just a baby boy about two years old. The young fellow explained that he himself had a club foot which had been operated on some days previously. This baby had just come in for the same operation, and he had begged the nurse to let him have the little boy beside him. There he was caring for the baby as tenderly as any mother and trying to make him forget its troubles.

It is those who have suffered themselves who know best how to sympathize. But don't wait to suffer before beginning to sympathize. You can all begin this very day. It just requires a little thought for others. A smile, a kind word, will not cost you much, but they may make all the difference in the world to the person on whom they are bestowed. And some day you will hear the glad welcome of One who ever made it His business to cheer the lonely, and comfort the sad “Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for... I was a stranger, and ye took me in.” (The texts of the other sermons in this series are 1 Samuel 3:10; Psalms 24:4 (2), Psalms 34:13; Proverbs 6:13; Malachi 1:13; Luke 6:41; 1Pe 3:4; 1 Peter 5:5.)