Keep Your Soul Diligently Lest You Forget

How is your memory?

Some of us remember every movie we have seen. Others remember details of meals they have eaten.

But all of us tend to forget God. All of us tend to forgot who God is, what He has done, and what He tells us to do.

Thus the repeated warnings in Scripture:

  • Do not forget!
  • Set up memorials!
  • Remind yourselves!
  • Teach your children!
  • Remember!

This file includes a compilation of dozens of Scripture passages about forgetfulness. I encourage you to read them over and meditate on them. Here is one way to summarize these warnings and exhortations:

We Naturally Forget God Over Time and Over Generations:

Deuteronomy 4:9   Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.

Psalm 78:5-7 He established a testimony in Jacob and appointed a law in Israel, which he commanded our fathers to teach to their children,  6 that the next generation might know them, the children yet unborn, and arise and tell them to their children,  7 so that they should set their hope in God and not forget the works of God, but keep his commandments.

Wealth and Ease Especially Lead Us to Forget God:

Deuteronomy 8:11-14, 17-18  Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,  12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,  13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,  14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. . . . 17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’  18 You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

Hosea 13:4-6   But I am the LORD your God from the land of Egypt; you know no God but me, and besides me there is no savior.  5 It was I who knew you in the wilderness, in the land of drought;  6 but when they had grazed, they became full, they were filled, and their heart was lifted up; therefore they forgot me.

Forgetting God Leads Necessarily To Some Sort of Idolatry:

Judges 3:7  And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the LORD. They forgot the LORD their God and served the Baals and the Asheroth.

(In the Deuteronomy 8 passage above, the people’s own power and might become their idols, the source of their welfare.)

Thus, Forgetting God Leads to Our Deserving Punishment:

Jeremiah 13:24-25  I will scatter you like chaff driven by the wind from the desert.  25 This is your lot, the portion I have measured out to you, declares the LORD, because you have forgotten me and trusted in lies.

Ezekiel 23:35  Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have forgotten me and cast me behind your back, you yourself must bear the consequences of your lewdness and whoring.

Yet In His Mercy We Are Ransomed for Him, Redeemed by Him – And We Must Not Forget!

Isaiah 51:11-16   And the ransomed of the LORD shall return and come to Zion with singing; everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain gladness and joy, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away.  12 “I, I am he who comforts you; who are you that you are afraid of man who dies, of the son of man who is made like grass,  13 and have forgotten the LORD, your Maker, who stretched out the heavens and laid the foundations of the earth, and you fear continually all the day because of the wrath of the oppressor, when he sets himself to destroy? And where is the wrath of the oppressor?  14 He who is bowed down shall speedily be released; he shall not die and go down to the pit, neither shall his bread be lacking.  15 I am the LORD your God, who stirs up the sea so that its waves roar– the LORD of hosts is his name.  16 And I have put my words in your mouth and covered you in the shadow of my hand, establishing the heavens and laying the foundations of the earth, and saying to Zion, ‘You are my people.'”

So the Lord Jesus Gives Us the Lord’s Supper to Help Us Remember:

1 Corinthians 11:23-25 For I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,  24 and when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said, “This is my body which is for you. Do this in remembrance of me.”  25 In the same way also he took the cup, after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me.”

So May We Say With the Psalmist:

Psalm 119:93  I will never forget your precepts, for by them you have given me life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Old and the New

(For a version of this devotion that is easier to print, follow this link.)

“So much of the Christian life is not learning new things but learning fundamental things in new ways.”

So wrote Tom Ascol, Executive Director of Founders Ministries, in a recent blog post. Several weeks ago he was struck by lightening – yes, literally – and is still recovering.

In this country, we have a passion for the new: New electronic gadgets, new books, new ideas, new leaders. We expect progress; we anticipate that all will improve.

The anticipation of progress is less common around the world and, from a historical viewpoint, is rather recent. Now, in many ways, believing that change is possible is helpful and necessary; indeed, a belief in change is fundamental to salvation.

But our fascination with the new has a downside also: We quite easily slip into an attitude of disdain for the old. C.S. Lewis labeled this “chronological snobbery,” which he defined as “the uncritical acceptance of the intellectual climate of our own age and the assumption that whatever has gone out of date is on that count discredited” (from Surprised by Joy chapter 13.)

Tom’s statement is an excellent summary of the right attitude towards biblical truth. We must remind ourselves and one another again and again of the great truths of the Gospel, of the great acts of God in history, of the great aspects of His character, of the great promise of Christ’s return. This is how we run the race of faith with endurance.

But reminding ourselves of these fundamental truths requires more than simply reciting a known fact. We must learn them in new ways, as Tom says. We must apply these eternal truths to the changing and challenging circumstances that overwhelm us in this life. (more…)