Deuteronomy 8-15: Did You Forget Something?

Deuteronomy 8:11-17   Beware that thou forget not the LORD thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day:  12 Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;  13 And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied;  14 Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;  15 Who led thee through that great and terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought, where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of flint;  16 Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end;  17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.

     The human memory is a very unstable and often unreliable thing.  Amazingly, we are prone to remember the things we should and forget the things we should remember.  God warns of our potential to forget God.  Here we find both the cause of our forgetfulness and the catalysts that will help us to remember God.

    How do we know when we have forgotten God?  In verse eleven God points out three evidences that we have forgotten God.  First we stop keeping His commandments.  When the commands of God become optional, we have definitely forgotten the God of the Bible.  Secondly, we second guess God's judgments.  God has presented us with His final word on which actions and attitudes are sin and which are righteous.  When we start to make judgments contrary to God's we have forgotten God.  Finally, we set our standards above God's standards or statutes.  We write off biblical standards of holiness as subjective, cultural, or legalistic when we forget God.  So how do we avoid forgetting God?

     In order for us to remember God we take measures to keep God before us lest the view of ourselves begins to eclipse our view of God.  We can start with gratitude.  Verses twelve and thirteen show that taking for granted the blessings of God leads to forgetfulness.  Making it a daily practice to thank God for His goodness will keep us from forgetting.  Verse fourteen reminds us that being thankful for the Gospel that saved us will keep us from forgetting the God who gave Himself to make the Gospel a reality.  Verses fifteen and sixteen challenge us to be thankful for God's grace in the difficult times.  God's grace in the difficult times is a staunch reminder of our weakness and the fallacy of thinking that we are where we are today as a result of our own might and efforts.  You see, a heart filled with gratitude towards God for His goodness, Gospel, and grace just can't forget Him.

Deuteronomy 8:18   But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.

Daily Devotional:  Romans 1:18-32   God's Wrath Explained