Don’t forget
Deuteronomy 8:10-18 Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. 11Be very careful so that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and ordinances and his statutes that I am commanding you today. 12When you eat and are satisfied, and you build nice houses and move into them, 13and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have prospers, 14watch out so that your heart does not become arrogant and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves. 15Do not forget the Lord, who led you in the great and terrifying wilderness, where there were venomous snakes and scorpions, where the thirsty ground had no water, but the Lord made water come out of a flint rock for you. 16Do not forget the Lord, who in the wilderness fed you manna, which your fathers had not known before, to humble you and to test you so that it would be good for you later on.
17You might say in your heart, “My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.” 18But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, to confirm his covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath, as he does to this day.
My God will fully supply your every need, according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:19). Amen.
What are some things that your mom told you that you’ve never forgotten? “Don’t swim after eating.” “Don’t run with scissors.” “Don’t play with matches.” “Don’t talk with your mouth full.” “Don’t talk to strangers.” Especially with your mouth full.
“Call me when you get home.” “Wear clean underwear in case you’re in an accident.” “Wear a jacket or you’ll catch cold.” And then one of my favorites. “Finish your dinner. There are starving children in China.” Or Africa. Or wherever.
Did your mom ever say things like that to you? … Maybe your mom still says those things. That’s fantastic.
Our moms love us. They are concerned about their children. They want them to stay healthy and safe. They want what’s best for them. That’s why they remind their children of things that are important. They don’t want them to forget.
In the Book of Deuteronomy, Moses is playing the part of mom. His children are the Children of Israel. He’s been their leader for the past 40 years. During that time, he’s developed a close relationship with them. He must have felt like a parent to them. He led them. He taught them. He felt responsible when they messed up. Then he had to discipline them. I wonder how many times he yelled at the people, “Knock it off back there or I’m turning this whole caravan around!”
But now their relationship was coming to an end. Like children moving out of the house, the Children of Israel were finally moving out of the desert. They were moving into their new home of the Promised Land of Canaan. But Moses would not be going with them. Because of his own sin, Moses was only permitted to see the Promised Land from a distance.
Before they left him and followed Joshua into Canaan, Moses offered them some words of encouragement. Like any good parent, Moses reminds his spiritual children of some important things. The theme of what he tells them in Deuteronomy 8:10-18 is “Don’t forget.”
“Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. Be very careful so that you do not forget the Lord your God by not
keeping his commandments and ordinances and his statutes that I am commanding you today” (Deuteronomy 8:10-11). Don’t forget the Lord and his commandments. God’s people had been given directions on how to live. They were going to be living in a land filled with heathen unbelievers. God’s people were to stand out by living differently than everybody else. They were to live for God rather than live for themselves.
God has given us the same commands on how to live. We are living in a nation filled with unbelievers. We Christians are to stand out because we live differently from everybody else. As sanctified saints, we are to live for God rather than for ourselves.
“When you eat and are satisfied, and you build nice houses and move into them, and your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and everything that you have prospers, watch out so that your heart does not become arrogant and forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, where you were slaves” (Deuteronomy 8:12-14). Don’t forget the Lord who brought you out of slavery. The Israelites had been slaves in Egypt. They were used and abused. They were oppressed and mistreated. Slavery was their way of life. There was no way they could regain their freedom as a people.
So, the Lord rescued his children from slavery. God poured out his wrath with plagues – blood, frogs, gnats, flies, livestock, boils, hail, locusts, and darkness. God then brought death upon the Egyptian tyrant and his nation by striking down the firstborn in the families. Pharaoh finally relented to Moses’ repeated call to “Let my people go.”
When the Israelites were trapped between the Red Sea and the Egyptian army, God provided a strong wind that parted the Red Sea waters so his people could walk safely to the other side. When Pharaoh and his army were in the middle of the Red Sea, God caused walls of water to come crashing down and drowning the mighty Egyptian army.
God had freed his people from their slavery. He would bring his free people home to Canaan. This freedom was won only by the hand of the Lord.
We are blessed here in American to be a free people. We enjoy way more freedoms than anybody else in the world. The freedom to speak, assemble, protect ourselves, vote for our leaders, and even disagree with our leaders. We especially enjoy the freedom to worship.
God has granted us these freedoms by his grace. We should not take these American freedoms for granted. Use these freedoms to glorify God as sanctified saints. But we can also abuse these freedoms to indulge our sinful nature and bring shame upon God’s holy name.
God has especially freed us from the slavery of sin and death. Satan is a terrible tyrant. We were used and abused. We were oppressed and mistreated. There was no way we could free ourselves from this slavery. We were hopeless. We were helpless. We were doomed to live in misery forever.
God used his only begotten Son to bring death to death. He broke the stranglehold Satan had on humanity. Jesus endured the wrath of God upon humanity’s sins. Jesus paid the price to win our freedom from sin, death, and the power of the devil.
We should not take these freedoms for granted. We glorify God as we live freely as sanctified saints. We shame God when we put ourselves again under Satan’s tyranny. As Christians, we are not to use our freedom to do what we want, but rather to do what we ought.
“Do not forget the Lord, who led you in the great and terrifying wilderness, where there were venomous snakes and scorpions, where the thirsty ground had no water, but the Lord made water
come out of a flint rock for you” (Deuteronomy 8:15). Don’t forget the Lord who rescued you from the wilderness. The Israelites had to deal with extreme heat and cold living in the desert. The sand was everywhere – their clothing, their eyes, even in their mouths. They had to deal with scorpions and snakes. There wasn’t a whole lot of food in the desert. There was no Chick-Fil-A or Starbucks or a Kwik Trip on every major corner.
God has blessed us in America with heated houses, running water, and indoor plumbing. We enjoy restaurants, grocery stores, refrigerators, freezers, stoves, microwaves, grills – and my new favorite toy for making lunch tomorrow – a smoker. We have hills, mountains, lakes, oceans, rivers, forests, and deserts. We have sunshine and rain, warmth and snow – possibly all in the same week in Wisconsin.
“Do not forget the Lord, who in the wilderness fed you manna, which your fathers had not known before, to humble you and to test you so that it would be good for you later on” (Deuteronomy 8:16). Don’t forget the water from the rock, the quail to catch, and the manna that fell from heaven. The Israelites did not need refrigerators or pantries. That’s because they didn’t have any food to store for the next day. They would go outside each morning to collect manna. They would go out every evening to catch quail. They were to thank God for this daily bread and meat.
We are blessed to have turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, rolls, corn, green bean casserole, apple pie, and pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. This isn’t just a one-day blessing. God blesses us richly with daily bread and meat.
The Israelites were hungry and thirsty, hot and dusty, cold and stinky. They were bitten by scorpions and venomous snakes. Even in those difficult times, Moses is reminding his children to still thank God.
We are reminded to be thankful when we don’t have cancer, or we escape the serious car accident, or we don’t struggle financially in this economy. We can still be thankful when we do get that cancer diagnosis, or we are seriously injured in an accident, or we lose our job in this tough economy. Because as difficult as these hard times are, we know these times are driving us closer to God. God uses difficulties – like the fathers of the Israelites had known and like our own forefathers have known – to test us. This testing makes us stronger. It develops more trust. It builds our Christian character.
When we have a lot of success, that can actually be detrimental to our faith. That was the warning Moses gave. “You might say in your heart, ‘My ability and the power of my hand have earned this wealth for me.’ But then you are to remember that the Lord your God is the one who gives you the ability to produce wealth, to confirm his covenant that he promised to your fathers with an oath, as he does to this day” (Deuteronomy 8:17-18).
We often have two-way covenants with people – even our children. We say to our kids, “If you clean your room, we’ll go out for ice cream.” Your parental response is based on your kids’ good behavior. It’s a good thing that God’s covenant with his children is not a two-way covenant. Based on our poor behavior, we would never get any ice cream … or anything else.
So, God established a one-way covenant. His covenant is established through his Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus signed the covenant contract with his holy blood shed on the cross. That covenant means God loves us and calls us his children no matter how poorly we behave. He desires to give us ice cream … and so much more. He has prepared a banquet table of foods better than anything you’ll have tomorrow.
This covenant means that though you may struggle and suffer, God is using it for your eternal benefit.
This covenant means that though you miss your Christian loved one who isn’t here to celebrate with family tomorrow, they are enjoying a better banquet feast in heaven.
This covenant means that through there may be times when it feels like we are oppressed by the devil … or living in the wilderness of this world … or thirsty, hungry, crabby, grumbling, cold, hot, dusting, and stinky … we are content. For one day soon, our Joshua – Jesus – will lead us into the Promised Land of heaven.
Another thing I’m sure your mom always reminded you was to say, “Thank you.” She would remind you, “Write a Thank You card. Do it now.”
Moses is reminding his children of Israel – and you children three thousand years later, “Don’t forget to say Thank You to the Lord. Do it now. Do it often.”
Gratitude is the fruit of the love we have for our Lord and our Lord has for us. The first thing we ought to be thankful for every day is that relationship of children and heavenly Father. If we say Thank You every day and perhaps throughout the day, then we will treat others well. We will be grateful for the people God has placed into our lives. People will notice and become grateful for us being in their lives.
We are grateful to our waitress or service worker for a job well done. We are grateful to our teachers for the way they are helping us educate our children. We are grateful to our government leaders – even those we disagree with a little … or even a lot – they are fulfilling the work of God’s civil servants.
Be more intentional in being grateful of who we are and what we have as children of God. Don’t forget. Amen.
Now to our God and Father be glory forever and ever! Amen. (Philippians 4:20). Amen.