Text: Deuteronomy 8:1-20
“You shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart.” —Deuteronomy 8:2
Have you ever walked into a room and suddenly forgot what it was you were looking for in that room? I heard about a man who told his doctor: “Recently I have become a bit forgetful.” The doctor asked him: “How long have you had this problem?” To which the patient replied: “What problem?”
There are some things that God wants us to never forget. For example, though He wants us to forget the shame and regret of our past, I believe He doesn’t want us to forget what it was like to be lost in this world without Him. By remembering the barrenness that comes with being spiritually destitute, we are better equipped with empathy to be His witnesses in a world where millions of people are stranded without hope. Hurting people—lost, empty, and alone.
God didn’t want ancient Israel to forget that He never brings us out without bringing us in (Deuteronomy 6:23). He doesn’t deliver us from something adverse without course-correcting us for something greater. He reassured His chosen people this as they wandered for many years in the wilderness. They were promised something that had not yet become a reality to them—“a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing” (Deuteronomy 8:9).
“Remember” is a key word in this eighth chapter of Deuteronomy (v. 18) along with its antonym “forget” (vv. 11, 14, 19). In His manifold wisdom, God knows that in times of prosperity we tend to forget His hand that has brought us through time and time again. In the land of plenty, pride comes from forgetting the wilderness (8:14–17) and failing to apply its lessons in the good land. This ill-fated path of forgetfulness leads not only to pride but also to idolatry (8:19–20). This necessitated a warning that when Israel commits idolatry, it acts like a pagan nation and so its destiny at God’s hands will be like that of the other nations. Did you get that? When we forget that God has brought us through we end up acting like pagans!
Beloved, God wants you to remember that He “who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know” is also your Provider in that good land flowing with milk and honey.
And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. (Deuteronomy 8:2)
Remembrance is demonstrated in obedience. If we can’t remember Him in the wilderness we will in no manner be fit to remember Him in the Promised Land. As Matthew Henry noted: “Let none of God’s children distrust their Father, nor take any sinful course for the supply of their necessities. Some way or other, God will provide for them in the way of duty and honest diligence, and verily they shall be fed.” This we should never forget!
David said, “I have been young, and now am old, yet I have not seen the righteous forsaken or his children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25). He “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” (Deuteronomy 8:16), will never fail His promises. Never forget that.
So go ahead and take a stroll down memory lane this week and praise God for His goodness in bringing you through—bringing you OUT that He might bring you IN.
PRAYER
God, you have been good to us. Your arm has never failed us. Even when you discipline us it is in love that we might be humbled and tested, to the aim that you would do us good in the end. Thank you for your love, correction, and provision. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Questions for Reflection, Small Group or Family Discussion:
- What is something you tend to be forgetful about?
- How were God’s people told to remember His commands? (Deuteronomy 8:1-2)
- How does God discipline us? (Deuteronomy 8:5)
- How do you think God wants us to reconcile forgetting the shame of our past while also remembering the desert of adversity that God has brought us through?
- What memories might God be calling on you to hold closely this week in terms of where He has brought you through in the past?
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