remembrance

Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and grandsons. –Deuteronomy 4:9

I’ve been reading the Bible chronologically. Right now I’m in the beginning of Deuteronomy and one theme that really stands out to me is remembrance. God wants us to remember what He’s done for us. Remembering His faithfulness, power, involvement, and love is important on so many levels.

First, it gives us strength and encouragement. We can look back at all the times we’ve seen God’s mighty and outstretched hand in our lives and remember that He is still the same, good, involved God who cares for us. And in that we can take comfort. Deut. 5:15 says, “‘You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt, and the LORD your God brought you out of there by a mighty hand and by an outstretched arm…’” So, remember all those bad times? And remember how God pulled you through that? Yeah, He’s still doing that. He’s proven Himself faithful! We can be encouraged that we can depend on Him always!

It also keeps us from sin. Deut. 8:11-14 says that when we forget God by not keeping His commandments, we will become proud and “forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” Or we can think of the examples of the Israelites following idols made of human hands or grumbling as a result of not having a remembrance for what God did for them. I mean, God parted the Red Sea and brought them out of slavery and now they’re worshiping false idols? They must be forgetful (and aren’t we all!).

But most importantly, remembering what God has done is glorifying to God. In Deut 4:35, Moses says to the Israelites, “To you it was shown that you might know that the LORD, He is God; there is no other besides Him.” God was making His name known. He was showing the Israelites His character, might, holiness and love for them. Remembering what He does gives credit, fame, honor and glory to Him. Everything good comes from Him and there is no greater good than Him. Remember what He’s done for you – it points back to Him and gives glory where it’s due.

Deuteronomy is a great book….especially after Leviticus and Numbers…