“Watch out! Be very careful never to forget what you have seen the Lord do for you. Do not let these things escape from your mind as long as you live; and be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.” -Deuteronomy 4:9
Wow! What a powerful message Moses gave to the people of Israel when they were about to possess the Promised Land He told them was theirs. They had witnessed God do the perceivably impossible and win battles for them that they never could have won on their own. They experienced deliverance from the hands of their oppressors and those that enslaved them and had been fed and clothed in a desert by the hand of God for 40 years. How could you not love and serve a God like that? As easy as that seems, the Israelites also showed us that it’s easy to do just that if you get caught up in the appearance of things around you, and get distracted by what you see instead of what you know.
Every time they became overwhelmed by their apparent situation and FORGOT about the fact that their God was the same God who delivered them from Pharaoh, defeated their enemies, and cared for them day and night when they couldn’t care for themselves, they strayed and became ensnared by the very thing that took their attention.
This is a powerful lesson for all of us. The God that we serve is the same God He was yesterday, today, and forever. He is irrespective of person
(Hebrews 13:18 and Romans 2:11). This means, He will do for us what He did for them IF we REmember and obey.
To remember is to recall and reintegrate that which has occurred before, and bring it into our NOW. We serve a right now God. He is always present. Our job is to remember that what He brought us through in the past. He is the same God who can bring you through the situation in your present.
One way in which the Israelites chose to revere God and remember His providence was by building altars of stones to commemorate the site of their deliverance. We, too, will do well to have our own “stones of remembrance”. In my prayer corner, I have my mother’s glass jewelry box, in which I have stones to remind me of situations that God delivered me from. On each of the stones I affix a sticker with the date He answered my prayer, and the incident He delivered me through. I can pick up a stone and see that October 2, 2004, God brought my son safely home from Iraq; and August 6, 2005, I celebrated 10 years of God keeping my business, The Pathfinder Project, open, despite all the obstacles we faced as a new business.
Brothers and Sisters in Christ, let’s take heed of the warning Moses gave the Israelites, and choose to remember all the Lord has already done. May we stand on the fact that He is able and will do what He’s done before once again, if we ask Him, obey Him, keep our eyes on Him, and take Him at His word.
Let’s not make the mistake the Israelites often made by forgetting who He is and what He’s already done. Let’s take courage and stand on what we know, so as to see the salvation of the Lord; and let’s teach our children and our grandchildren to do the same.
Peace and Blessings,
Gail