Read: I Corinthians 11:23–26

Don’t Forget to Remember

A Personal Paraphrase of Deuteronomy 8

 

If you want to get out of this desert of mediocrity and cross over into the abundant life in Canaan, just do whatever God says. It’s that simple.

Never forget the things you’ve learned these past forty years in the desert. God brought you through those trials to humble you and to test you so that he could know what was really in your heart. That’s why he let you go hungry. He wanted to show you how he could supply your daily needs. He gave you bread from heaven every day so that you would realize that you need more than bread. You need him and his Word! Bread alone is just not enough.

Don’t you see? God was treating you as a father treats his son. The discipline he used may have been painful at the time, and perhaps you didn’t understand what he was really seeking to do. He allowed these hard things to happen for your good. See, just over the Jordan River, there is your inheritance. You’ve almost made it! And though the journey was long and hard, not once did you lack for clothing or food. God made sure you had everything you needed each step of the way.

So don’t forget! Remember God’s faithfulness in the past so that you will be fortified for the challenges up ahead. Just keep walking with God and doing whatever he tells you. Canaan is better than you could possibly imagine. It is a place of streams and fountains, of valleys and hills. It is a fruitful land with an abundance of wheat, barley, vines, fig trees, pomegranates, olive trees and honey. And the minerals in the ground will enable you to manufacture great quantities of iron and copper. Yes, Canaan is a truly wonderful place.

 

But be careful. Make sure you don’t forget God, because the dangers up ahead are in many ways greater than the dangers behind you. You see, blessings have just as great a capacity to destroy your soul as adversity . . . maybe more! So be on your guard! When you move into nice houses and have lots to eat, and when your farms and businesses prosper and you have a fat financial portfolio, be careful that you don’t become proud. When you are happy and life is good, how easy it will be to forget that you were once slaves in Egypt. So don’t forget those years in that snake-infested desert. God took care of you then, and God can take care of you tomorrow. Never, never, never forget! As you enjoy the blessings don’t forget to remember the One who gave them!

 

Dear people, I trust no one among you will ever have the audacity to say, “The reason I’m healthy and wealthy is because I’m smart and worked hard. I’m enjoying the fruits of my own labor.” Really? Have you forgotten already? God is the one who gave you the ability to prosper. Everything you have, and everything you are is the result of His grace . . . grace alone! If you forget that fact, I’m warning you; you will surely perish. Just like all those other nations that have been thrown on the ash heap of history, you too will be destroyed because you did not remember God.

 

 

 

 

But if I were asked today to formulate as concisely as possible the main cause of the ruinous Revolution that swallowed up some sixty million of our (Russian) people, I could not put it more accurately than to repeat: Men have forgotten God; that’s why all this has happened.  —Aleksander Solzhenitsyn

 

 

 

 

point to ponder • Why is spiritual amnesia so prevalent in the church today?

 

prayer focus • Thankfulness for God’s graciousness, goodness, and his kindness.