READING: Deuteronomy 5-7
Are you a forgetful person? Have you ever forgotten something important? I had a pastor friend who once forgot to attend a wedding where he was scheduled to be the officiant. I once forgot what I bought my wife for her birthday the previous year, and I bought her the same dress two years in a row (and, I can't believe I just admitted that publicly)!
Sometimes we really do forget important things . . . but nothing is so troublesome as when we forget God. It may sound crazy to think that we could forget God, but Moses warned His own people of that possibility:
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you—a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build, houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant—then when you eat and are satisfied, be careful that you do not forget the Lord, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery” (Deut 6:10-12).
Do you see how God’s people sometimes forget Him? We become so accustomed to His blessings that we forget we would not have them apart from Him. We somehow assume that we have “stuff” only because we’ve worked hard, we’ve made money, we’ve paid the bills — forgetting that we have a job, money, and opportunities only because of Him. We forget God when we eat well and are satisfied; when we have no needs, we fail to remember the One who met all those needs.
Like the Hebrews forgetting Egypt, we, too, forget in our prosperity that we were once in bondage to our enemy, the devil (2 Cor 4:3-4, 2 Tim 2:26). Worse yet, we accept the gift of salvation from God and then forget the One who purchased it for us.
ACTION STEPS: Consider these steps:
- Remember your lostness prior to God’s saving you. Consider all that God did to redeem you.
- If your prosperity has influenced you to forget that every blessing you have is from God, confess your sin to Him.
- Throughout today, thank God for everything, beginning with your salvation.
PRAYER: “God, I want to give thanks for all things today. Make me grateful. Remind me that I all I have is from You.”
TOMORROW’S READING: Deuteronomy 8-10
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