RESOURCES — SHORT ARTICLES

 

SHORT ARTICLES BY TOM ELSEROAD
	2021-06-18	Implications of 'Do Not Forget the Lord' (Du.8:11)
		Deu 8:11 "Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, Deu 8:12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; Deu 8:13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; Deu 8:14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage As the people of Israel prepared to settle down in the Promised Land, Moses gave them important warnings to avoid. The word “forget” is a Hebrew verb meaning, “to stop remembering, ignore, neglect, or cease to care about.” This kind of forgetting involves putting the Lord out of one's conscious mind. Moses knew that, if the people were not careful, they would forget the forty years of God's care for them in the wilderness. God had given them food to eat, clothes to wear, and water to drink. In their new comfortable state in the “land flowing with milk and honey” (Ex.3:8), they would be tempted to dismiss God's miracles of parting the sea and deliverance from Egypt as slaves. As time went by, it would be all too easy for them to let the memory of God's past goodness fade. They would become self-satisfied and think they had achieved success all on their own. Forgetting the Lord would get the Israelites into trouble. This trouble includes going into idolatry, and eventually destruction. Israel neglected the lessons learned in the wilderness. She failed to depend entirely on God for her everyday needs. Israel abandoned her worship of God, and turned to idols in spite of what they knew happened at Mount Sinai (Ex.32). Clearly, they had neglected God's word. Do not forget the Lord means to consciously think about what God has shown us in the past. It also means to obey the commands in God's word. Do not forget the Lord means for God's people to keep the truth of Scripture, plus the real life experiences of the living God ever at the forefront of their minds. We today are much like the ancient Israelites. When things are going well, we quickly dismiss the truths we have learned in the past. We forget how we clung to God in the trials and heartaches, depending on Him for every breath. The warning to Israel is the same for us today. Do not forget the Lord. Let these words challenge us to always give God's dealings in our past a significant place in our present. May we not take His blessings for granted. May we thank God for His goodness. May we remember that our success depends solely on the Lord's power and grace in our lives. May we be reminded that God is the Giver of every good and perfect gift we enjoy (Ja.1:17). Pastor Tom Elseroad

 

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