“YOU SHALL REMEMBER!”

 Deuteronomy 8:11-20                                             (ESV)

“11 "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,

15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock,

16 WHO fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that HE might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.

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.

19 And IF YOU FORGET THE LORD your GOD and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I SOLEMNLY WARN YOU TODAY that you shall surely perish.

20 Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your GOD.”

My heart rejoices that September 11, 2001 was not forgotten by many.  The social media references were numerous and the sense of humility was once again evident.  It saddens me that the WE THE PEOPLE seem to be so hurried by “this world” and what we see are “essential” tasks, that we forget that in the days following the attacks everything basically came to a halt.  There were no airplanes in the sky, no traffic jams on the interstates, stock trading was suspended, everything was interrupted by a group of 19 militants armed with simple box cutters willing to die for their cause!

REMEMBERING things that are “uncomfortable” to us can neglected, especially when we count our losses in human lives. The Children of Israel experienced over 400 years of captivity that to the Egyptians, and it was brutal in some instances.  GOD instructed them in the passages above “YOU SHALL REMEMBER” the LORD your GOD, not if you have time, but “YOU SHALL REMEMBER”!  

As humans, we have a tendency to allow “the enemy” to dictate that which we allow our minds to focus.  Whether it is on the stock market, on our business schedule, on our families, on anything except for GOD and HIS BLESSINGS!  When YOU FORGET THE LORD your GOD, and the valleys HE has brought you through, it can be hard to SEE where you might be without HIS guidance.  The Israelites were COMMANDED “YOU SHALL REMEMBER” to keep the Blessings of deliverance fresh on their minds.  

Likewise, “YOU SHALL REMEMBER” should be something that we SLOW DOWN and take time to count our Blessings!  Using myself as a prime example, on August 28, 2007 I was released from the Rehab Hospital following the Brain Hemorrhage.  A photograph shows me walking cautiously with the assistance of a walker, something that I now do without thinking about.  “YOU SHALL REMEMBER” these days is not something that brings joy and laughter to my mind, but SEEING what GOD has brought me through is very humbling and amazed!  There are NO LIMITATIONS on what GOD is able to accomplish!  “YOU SHALL REMEMBER” that!!!