Lest We Forget . . .
These are the words of the Lord through Moses, taken from Deuteronomy 8:11 before the children of Israel were to go in to possess the Promised Land. They are particularly meaningful and appropriate for today.
“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, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 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, 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, 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. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’
You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
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. . . . because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
As America has increasingly forgotten God in our personal lives, our families, our churches, schools, entertainment, and government, our hearts have been lifted up with pride, thinking that God’s blessings were actually our own doing. In our arrogance and foolishness, we have forgotten that it is God who gives us the power to get wealth, and create things, and make great inventions, and send men to the moon. But take note of verse 18, that it is God who gives power to get wealth that He may confirm His covenant that He swore to your fathers . . .
The covenant that God confirmed with our forefathers was one of obedience, of walking in His ways with Him, of furthering the Christian faith (See The Mayflower Compact and other original source documents) and on his part, He would send the blessings and give the power to get wealth to accomplish what we are called to do. The wealth was not for our personal aggrandizement, power, and ease. It was to accomplish His purpose. And if we forget that . . . we perish!!
So the words, “Lest we forget . . .” serve as a constant reminder to remember God in all we do, to repent for forgetting Him, to bring forth fruit appropriate for that repentance, to restore the knowledge of His hand in this land’s formation and history, and to render unto God what is God’s. Then we are able to render unto Caesar what is Caesar’s.
Lest we forget our God . . . and perish.
Patricia Smith (c) 11/07/2020
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