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. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, theLord your God disciplines you.
– Deuteronomy 8:2-5
Happy New Year!
The more I read the Old Testament, the more it seems to me that a major theme of the scripture can be summed up in one word: “Remember”. The Lord constantly reminds us to remember. Remember. Remember what I’ve done for you. Remember my might and my power.
Remember I have humbled you.
If I have cast you down, I will lift you up.
Remember how I made you hungry, and remember how I fed you.
Remember you are not live only on what your appetites dictate. Remember real life is in Me, in My words.
Remember I have preserved you and have provided for you.
Remember I have disciplined you. because I love you.
Remember. I love you.
2013 is past. 2014 is just beginning. May I remember. In many ways 2013 has been a very challenging year. But He has above and beyond provided for us. He has humbled me. and Lord, did I need it. He has made me hungry for Him. He has me now, like never before, feasting on His word. He has disciplined me, and is not done disciplining me.
He has taught me how real idolatry is, and that if I read the history of Israel dismissive of them as they fall to idols again and again, it’s only because I’ve forgotten how to look in the mirror. My heart, as has been said elsewhere, is an idol factory. Idols lead to death. It hurts to see people I care about willingly carried away into idolatry.
The Bible makes it plain that one main reason we get carried away by our idols is that we have failed to remember.
He has shown me people who have nothing, in two different countries, to help me understand how much I have, and to learn to hold it loosely.
He has put people in my path who I didn’t know before, and has blessed me with their friendship, their encouragement, and has even blessed me with burdens for some of them. He has helped me to remember that thinking of others helps loosen pride’s iron-tight fixation on self.
He has taught me that prayer matters, and has helped me grieve, in a good way, upon my prayerlessness. He is bringing me along in prayer, with such a long way to go.
He has reminded me that he loves me. My pride would deny his love, because it appears undignified, because it appears illogical, and because pride would rather sit alone, starving, feeding itself on rocks than fall into the healing hands of the King who alone has the true food our souls crave. Thanks be to God, His love is also fierce and stubborn and relentless and it laughs for joy as it crushes Pride as fine as the dust.
He has helped me remember that service is not a burden, but a joy. I battle this because another idol in my life is sloth. Yes, that needs to be crushed too.
Hoping for more Jesus in 2014. And to always remember.
