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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them. Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when He said to me, ‘Assemble the people before Me to hear My words so that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.’ You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. He declared to you His covenant, the Ten Commandments, which He commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Deuteronomy 4:9-14
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
In the opening verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 4, we found Moses encouraging his brother and sister Israelites as they were preparing to cross the Jordan River and finally enter Canaan, the land God had promised them. In his message, we saw him highlighting the rewards that would come with obedience to the Lord’s commands and those same rewards still come to us today as we serve God ourselves. Essentially, the initial point was that the Israelites should continue to obey their Lord because that obedience would keep them in His favor.
As we continue studying in this chapter, we see Moses continuing to speak with the Israelites but this time with a different theme: a call to remember. Here’s what he had to say:
“Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.”
Friends, we need to know as believers that we can’t possibly move forward to become the people the Lord wants us to be unless we first remember the things we have learned from the past, especially when it comes to times we have sinned against God. This is what Moses is telling his brothers and sisters in this passage and the combination of these learning processes, keeping in mind all that the Lord commanded while keeping their past mistakes in mind so not to repeat them, were going to be critical for the Israelites as they now were about to enter Canaan.
But note that it wasn’t only important for them but for the future generations they were creating as well. For we find Moses instructing the people of Israel to teach their children what they know so that they might in turn teach their children who would teach their children and so on and so forth. The hope here was that there would be a continuous passing down of God’s demands and expectations through the years with each new generation being a little better than the one prior in regard to living in obedience and finding the Lord’s favor.
And just in case God’s people weren’t sure what they were supposed to remember, we find Moses reminding them, saying:
Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Horeb, when He said to me, ‘Assemble the people before Me to hear My words so that they may learn to revere Me as long as they live in the land and may teach them to their children.’ You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain while it blazed with fire to the very heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice. He declared to you His covenant, the Ten Commandments, which He commanded you to follow and then wrote them on two stone tablets. And the Lord directed me at that time to teach you the decrees and laws you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
Moses’ reminder of what God expected from the Israelites was really a rehashing of the Lord’s own words, words that specifically tasked His people to carry out His expectations. These expectations carry over to us today as believers and they include the following:
1. Remember and never forget the word of God which He has given to instruct us in every facet of our Christian walk.
2. Teach our children about His word so they will be obedient to Him as they grow older and can pass His word, will, and way onto their children, the next generation.
Friends, there is no gray area here. For if we choose to live in sin, then we are essentially saying that we don’t have regard for Word and will of the Father. Our desires are more important than His and this is nothing short of the kind of blatant disobedience and disrespect that caused God to send judgment on the Israelites.
And if that isn’t bad enough, when we decide to live in disobedience then our children will see it and model it in their own lives. These are the very children who belong to God first, Him having entrusted them to the care of earthly parents. Further, those disobedient children will grow up and be the next generation of disobedient parents who pass it onto their children as the vicious, sinful cycle continues.
Can we see how much is at stake here?
If you wonder why our world seems to be in a decline, particularly in regard to the way people behave, then you don’t have to go too far to find the reason why. Godlessness has replaced godliness today and Satan has found the perfect place to breed this attitude. All he had to do was invade and set up shop in the home. That’s where he has done the most damage and if we’re ever going to hope for a reversal of things, getting back to a world where people love and care for one another, loving their neighbors as they do themselves, it’s going to have to start with a return to the Bible and the very Word of God. For this study with an associated commitment of one’s heart, mind, soul, and strength is the only thing that will lead us back to the righteousness this world desperately needs, a righteousness that will turn the tide of destruction we’re all way too familiar with.
It’s time to bring Jesus back into our homes and place Him at the center so we don’t lose one more generation to the devil. We need to openly share and discuss the Gospel with our children, regularly praying with them and reading the Bible together. Sunday needs to be a day set aside for worship at church and then quality family time, like it used to be once before that special day was turned into looking like any other.
Ultimately, it’s time to reclaim the world for Christ, the Savior who has already defeated the enemy, and we don’t have any time to lose in getting started. It’s time for a radical recommitment to put the Lord first in everything in life, especially in our families, and ensure our children know Him better than they know anyone else. For a world where righteousness and holiness are first, as people center their lives on Jesus, will create a far better place for them to live than what we see today, a better place that they then can turn over to their children one day.
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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