We Remember God

Throughout this series, we have been remembering God by typing in the hashtag #werememberGod on our social media posts.  It was a way of remembering God and reminding one another throughout our days and weeks.  That’s because we know that our days are not filled with God.  Many, many things try to distract us from God throughout the day.  So, we do things to help us remember God.

Now what I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you or beyond your reach. It is not up in heaven, so that you have to ask, "Who will ascend into heaven to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" Nor is it beyond the sea, so that you have to ask, "Who will cross the sea to get it and proclaim it to us so we may obey it?" No, the word is very near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart so you may obey it. (Deuteronomy 30:11-14 NIV84)

The same choice that was given to the Israelites 3500 years ago is the same choice that is given to us today.  Will we choose God, along with all the benefits and blessings that go along with walking in His ways?  Will we not choose God and fight the battles that go along with asking God to stay out of the way?  The choice is ours just like the choice was theirs.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live and that you may love the LORD your God, listen to his voice, and hold fast to him. For the LORD is your life, and he will give you many years in the land he swore to give to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. (Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NIV84)

When we choose, we need to remember that we are not just affecting ourselves.  We affect our children and our children’s children.  The ways that we follow become the ways of our children.  We pass down our faith, whatever faith that may be, from generation to generation.

When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. They are not just idle words for you--they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess. (Deuteronomy 32:45-47 NIV84)

So, how about you?  Will you remember God?

Remember The Garden

When Moses spoke to the Israelites right before they entered the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, he encouraged them t remember what God had done in their lives.  He reminded them of the covenant agreement, relationship, and commitment they had with God.  Then he reminded them of the promises God had made.

If you pay attention to these laws and are careful to follow them, then the LORD your God will keep his covenant of love with you, as he swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you and increase your numbers… (Deuteronomy 7:12-15 NIV84)

When the Israelites went against God, they lost the fight.  God still provided air to breath, water to drink, and food to eat.  It wasn’t the most enjoyable of circumstances, though.  They had what they needed to survive.  They also had a constant reminder that their very lives are always sustained by God.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. (Deuteronomy 8:3-5 NIV84)

What God offered them, was much more beautiful.  Some of God’s gifts are given just because God is good (air, water, food).  They are given to the righteous and the unrighteous alike.  Other gifts, however, are only offered to those who get on the same page with God.  In this case, they were offered to the Israelites as long as they were obedient to the covenant they had with God.  This was a promise for their own version of the Garden of Eden.

Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land--a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. (Deuteronomy 8:6-9 NIV84)

The same is true for us today.  Some gifts from God (air, food, water) are given just because of God’s goodness.  They are given to us whether we walk with God or not.  Others, though, are gifts that are only given to us when we join God and walk in His ways.  Those benefits and blessings create our own Garden of Eden experience.  That’s why I refer to it as A Garden Walk.

How about you?  Do you see the goodness of God in your life?  Do you join God and walk in His ways?  Do you enjoy A Garden Walk?

Remember God

Moses began his speech to the Israelites by encouraging them to remember what God had done in their lifetime.  Then, he moves on to the covenant agreement they have with God.

"And now, Israel, listen carefully to these decrees and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you. Just obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you. (Deuteronomy 4:1-2 NLT)

What were these decrees and regulations Moses was about to teach them?  They were the terms of the covenant with God.  A covenant is an agreement.  A covenant forms a relationship.  A covenant takes commitment.  The terms of their covenant were the 10 Commandments.  The application of these terms made up the Law.  Moses taught them the terms of the covenant one last time and then encouraged them to pass them down from generation to generation.

Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates. And if we are careful to obey all this law before the LORD our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness. (Deuteronomy 6:4-9; 25 NIV84)

Notice what Moses is saying here.  Loving the LORD our God is not about warm feelings or other positive emotions.  Love for God is about obedience.  When they obey the terms of the covenant (10 Commandments) and the application of these terms (the Law), they are showing love to God.  They get on the same page with God.  They don’t just get on the same page with God in their words and actions.  They also do this with their hearts, their minds, and their souls.  At the deepest recesses of their hidden selves, they fight the good fight to get on the same page with God.  When they do, it is called righteousness.

Righteousness is a term that is being lost today.  It goes against what we are taught in society as we are growing up.  “That’s right for you, but that isn’t right for me” is a sentence we are taught to say and believe, but it is not what God teaches us.  Throughout Scripture we are reminded that God defines right and wrong.  We don’t get to choose what is right and what is wrong.  We only get to choose whether we do right or wrong.  In other words, we don’t define the covenant agreement/relationship/commitment with God.  We only decide whether we will abide by its terms or not.

How about you?  Do you love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your mind, all your soul, and all your strength?  Would God agree?

Remember This Life

These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. (Deuteronomy 1:1 NLT)

The Israelites who had rebelled against God had now all passed away in the wilderness.  The only ones left who were 20 years old or older at the rebellion are Moses, Joshua, and Caleb.  Moses will not go into the Promised Land.  Joshua will lead in Moses’ place.  Caleb will go in, even at an advanced age, as a mighty warrior.  Before they go in, Moses has some things to share.  His words make us most of the book of Deuteronomy. (And you thought my sermons were long!)

"When we were at Mount Sinai, the LORD our God said to us, 'You have stayed at this mountain long enough… Time to Break Camp, Moses Appointed Leaders, Travelled, 40 Days of Spies, Rebellion Against The LORD, 40 Years  in the Desert, Heshbon, Bashan, Division of the Land, Moses Forbidden to Cross the Jordan. (Deuteronomy 1:6-3:29 NLT)

Moses begins his recap of the past 40 years by appealing to those who were alive during the Exodus from Egypt.  They would have been 19 years old or younger at the time, but they still would have remembered living in slavery, watching the ten plagues, leaving at night, and walking through the Red Sea with water like walls on either side of them.  They firstborn boys may have remembered that the tenth plague would have taken their lives, had it not been for the blood of the lamb on their doorposts.  They would have remembered encountering God at Mt. Sinai, drinking water from the rock, the beginning of manna on the desert floor, and the last 40 years in the wilderness.  Moses reminded them of The LORD’s faithfulness over the past 40 years because they lived during this time and experienced the faithfulness of God.

How about you?  Have you experienced the faithfulness of God?  Can you look back over the past 40 years (or however long you’ve been alive) and see places where God sustained you, supported you, provided for you, or protected you?  When you remember this life of yours, do you remember God?