LEST YOU FORGET

You would think the people of Israel would never have forgotten God. Not only had God brought them out of slavery in the Land of Egypt, but He brought them through the Red Sea. Then each day in the wilderness He fed them with manna. He even saw to it that their clothes didn't wear out (Deut. 8:4; Neh. 9:21). And He brought them into a land filled with abundant resources.

Everywhere they looked, the Israelites saw God at work. Yet they turned to other gods and forgot the One Who had led them and cared for them. That memory loss proved fatal. Before they entered the Promised Land, Moses warned them: "Only take heed to yourself, and diligently keep yourself, lest you forget the things your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. And teach them to your children and your grandchildren" (Deut. 4:9). "Take careful heed to yourselves, lest you act corruptly and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of any figure, the likeness of male or female, the likeness of any animal that is on the earth or the likeness of any winged bird that flies in the air, the likeness of anything that creeps on the ground or the likeness of any fish that is in the water beneath the earth. And take heed, lest you lift your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, you feel driven to worship them and serve them, which the Lord your God has given to all the peoples under the whole heaven as a heritage." (Deut. 4:15,16, 19).

What was Moses point? Don't forget what you've seen! Don't forget what God has done for you! Remember and teach these truths to your children! "Take heed to yourselves, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your Go which He made with you, and make for yourselves a carved image in the form of anything which the Lord your God has forbidden you. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God" (Deut. 4:23, 24).

We are not living under the old covenant today but there is an important lesson here for us. Will we remember what God has done for us? Will we recount His blessings and teach our children? Will we follow the same forgetful path that Israel followed? Let us take time to remember what God has done for us and then give Him the love, devotion and service He deserves.

By - Shane Williams in The Lilbourn Light, Vol. 11, No. 5, Sept. 2010.

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