Remembering All The Way
Devotions for Growing Christians
Remembering All The Way
Deuteronomy 8:2 - And you shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.
Thanksgiving is a time for remembering. Thanksgiving tradition has always involved taking time out to remember God's care and provision for us, and to thank Him.
The Pilgrims celebrated the first Thanksgiving in Plymouth, Massachusetts in 1621. They remembered - and gave thanks. They remembered the Mayflower voyage which brought them to a new home. They remembered the hard winter of 1620 that took the lives of half their group. They remembered the good spring and good harvest of 1621. They remembered the peace they had attained with the Native Americans. They remembered the trials as well as the good things, and they gave thanks to the Lord. The Pilgrims followed the scriptural pattern of thanksgiving. They looked forward to a promising future, and they looked backward with thanksgiving. They remembered all the way that God had led them.
The scriptural pattern of thanksgiving was given to Israel long ago, and is recorded in Deuteronomy 8. The setting was the eastern shore of the Jordan River, with the people of Israel preparing cross the river and enter the Promised Land. God had forged Israel into a nation in the furnace of slavery in Egypt. He then led His people out of that land of bondage and through the wilderness toward the Promised Land. Israel was delayed from entering the Land because of their unbelief and rebellion, and they wandered in the wilderness for forty long years. But now, in Deuteronomy 8, they were on the threshold of their new home.
Amid all the excitement and preparation for crossing the Jordan River, the people were given a few solemn sermons. These sermons are what the book of Deuteronomy is all about! The words were spoken by Moses, but they came directly from the Lord. Israel was commanded never to forget the past when they looked toward the future. When they entered and experienced the blessings of the new land (vs7-9), they were always to remember all the way the Lord had led them - and give thanks (vs10-18).
The scriptural pattern of thanksgiving should be followed today by the growing Christian. Ww are to remember all the way the Lord has led us. We’re not only to experience what the Lord is doing for us in the present and look forward to what He will do for us in the future, but we’re to remember His care for us in the past. The implication of Deuteronomy 8 (and the rest of Scripture) is that we are always to remember with thanksgiving. (See Ephesians 5:20; 1 Thessalonians 5:18 and Philippians 4:6.)
Is it possible to give thanks without remembering? Is it right to remember without giving thanks? Christians should often take time out to remember all the way God has led them - with thanks!
Remember Our Roots
We are to remember our beginnings. Israel was to remember their miraculous beginnings. They were not to forget their deliverance from slavery in the land of Egypt (v14). Without the gracious and sovereign intervention of the Lord they were a doomed people. Israel was to remember the plagues that God brought upon their slave-masters. In the annual Passover celebration they were to remember their exodus, under the providential leadership of Moses, after more than 400 years in bondage. They were to remember the crossing of the Red Sea and the drowning of Pharaoh's army. The people of Israel were always to remember the God of their beginnings - and give thanks.
Like Israel, growing Christians must not forget their roots. Let us never forget how God brought us out of darkness and death and into light and life. (See 1 Peter 2:9 and Ephesians 2:1-5.) Think of the intricate web of circumstances and experiences (perhaps even unpleasant ones) that God wove together to bring us to salvation in Jesus Christ! Let’s remember to thank the Lord specifically for Christian parents, or faithful Sunday School teachers, or Christian friends that God used in our beginnings. When was the last time you thanked God specifically for a person He used in your beginnings as a Christian? We should not just pray for present problems or future plans. Each one of us is commanded to remember - and thank the God of our beginnings.
Remember Our Blessings
We are also to remember our blessings. Israel was not only to think of all the blessings to come in the Promised Land (vs7-9) - they were to remember the blessings of the past in the wilderness (vs3-4). For 40 years the Lord supernaturally provided for His people. He literally sent bread from heaven and water from rocks. He kept their clothes and sandals from wearing out for 40 years! What a miracles! (See Deuteronomy 29:5.) The Lord used these blessings to humble and test His people, but they were blessings none-the-less. (See Nehemiah 9:20-21 in this connection.) Israel was to remember all these blessings of the past - and give thanks.
Do we remember to thank the Lord for all His past blessings? Or are we too busy to remember? "Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits" (Psalm 103:2). We have a responsibility to take time out to reflect on how the Lord has blessed us, and then to thank Him specifically for all these blessings. This should not be a 30-second ritualistic "thanks for good health and good weather" type of prayer. Have we ever thanked the Lord for the blessing of living in a country where we can openly buy a Bible and read it? Have we ever given thanks for the fact that we are probably more blessed with food and clothing and housing and leisure time than over 3 billion other people? A little reflection on this will not only result in thanks to the Lord - it may change our whole outlook and lifestyle before the Lord.
Have we ever told the Lord how thankful we are that He has preserved and protected us from the crime and corruption in this world? And what about our spiritual blessings? Read Ephesians 1:3-14. Have we thanked the Lord for our spiritual blessings recently? As the old hymn says: "Count your blessings, name them one by one; and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”
Remember our Discipline
Finally, we are to remember the way the Lord has disciplined us. God doesn’t vent His wrath about sin on us, but He does discipline us as His children (Deuteronomy 8:5). Our heavenly Father disciplines us out of love, and sometimes that discipline must come by way of a spanking! (See Hebrews 12:5-11 and particularly verse 6.)
Israel certainly received more than a few slaps on the wrist in the wilderness! Even the way God provided for His people in the wilderness was a form of discipline (v5). The way in which God led Israel in the wilderness was purposely designed to humble them - and test them - and expose their hearts (v2). He let them get hungry and thirsty. Why? To cause them to look to Him, and learn that physical food alone is not sufficient for life. There must be a constant diet of spiritual food - the Word of God (v3).
Although the Lord purposely let His people get hungry and thirsty, He didn’t let them die of starvation or dehydration. He fed them with manna from heaven and water from solid rock (vs 3, 15-16). Notice - it wasn’t home-baked bread (the kind "the fathers knew") or water from wells which they had dug. No! It was bread from heaven and water from a most unlikely source - solid rock! Why? To force them to realize that God was caring for them and He was providing for them, even though He was humbling them and testing them. He was thinking of what would be best for them in the end (v16). But even when they had inherited all the wealth of the promised land, they could never say that they had pulled off the Exodus - and the wilderness journey - and the Conquest - by their own power and strength (vs17-18). Yes, Israel was to remember all the way the Lord had led them - including the discipline.
Like the "children" of Israel, the “children” in God’s family need constant discipline so we will shape up and look up! The Lord purposely permits us to go through hard wilderness times to humble us, and to test us, and to reveal what is in our hearts (not just what is in our heads!) God can use hard financial times or hard family times or hard failure times to humble us, to "force" us to look to Him, and to depend on Him
The Lord cares and He does provide for all that we need - but not necessarily all that we want! He fed Israel with manna - not steak. He gave them long-lasting clothes - not the latest styles. He took them through the “great and terrible wilderness” with its snakes and scorpions (v15) - not along the Mediterranean beaches! So the Lord deals with us in discipline. Many times His discipline is unpleasant. It’s not easy to take (Hebrews 12:11). We often misunderstand. But God always has our best interests are always in view (v16 and Hebrews 12:10). Because of this we are to remember His discipline - with thanksgiving.
This Thanksgiving, let’s remember all the way the Lord has led us.
- Dave Reid