Don’t Forget

Deuteronomy 4:9 (ESV) says, “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

Imagine this: You know you are going to die. You know the exact moment, the exact place, everything. You have one more thing to say to your children, grandchildren, etc. What do you say? I am asking you this because this is where Moses was at in this passage of scripture. He knew that he was going to die soon and he had to give his people one final address to say everything that he knew they would need. It is important to understand that when we read the book of Deuteronomy. It is Moses’ last will and testament to the people of Israel. Every pen stroke was super important to Moses, and it should be equally important to us today.

So you have to wonder. If this was Moses’ last statements to Israel why would he use space to tell them not to forget what God had done for them?

Here’s the deal. It has to be important. It is my hope that after tonight you will walk away with a greater understanding of why this is important in our lives. I want to start out with the bad and then end on a high note.

What happens when we forget?

Our attitude shifts negatively

Look at Israel right after they were delivered from the hand of Egypt. They wandered and instantly started groaning and complaining against God.

Their attitude shifted because they did not choose to remember what God just did for them.

He literally just defeated all of Egypts Gods, parted the Red Sea, and then made the Red Sea Collapse on Pharoah and his army so that they all died. AND THEY WERE WHINING?

They shifted from a mindset of gratitude to a mindset that didn’t trust God at all. They forgot the power that God demonstrated to them whenever He sent ten plagues against Egypt. They forgot how the Lord spared their children at Passover and instead they were looking at the problem in front of them and said, “God must have brought us out here to die!”

That sounds like some of us don’t it? Be honest now. God has done some great things for us in the past, but because we choose not to remember those things; we look at the obstacles in front of us and we start whining and complaining.

You know what else they did? They started attacking the leadership. They turned on Moses and Aaron like it was their fault. All they were doing was trying to follow God. They were human, they weren’t God. All they could do was say, “yes sir” and trust Him. It wasn’t their fault and they weren’t worried because they trusted God. The people however, decided that they were going to forget what God did at Egypt and start attacking their leaders.

This is exactly what happens to us. When we forget what God has done for us and life’s obstacles come against us; we whine, complain, and start attacking each other.

When you can do nothing but find reasons to whine and complain, when you can’t trust God to get you through the obstacles in front of you, and when you start attacking those around you, you need to check your heart and ask yourself one question. Do I remember all of the goodness God has done for me in the past? I promise you if we did; then we wouldn’t ever act like that.

We turn towards Idols

I know what you’re thinking right now.... I don’t have any idols. Let’s look

Judges 2:10-11 (ESV), “And all that generation also were gathered to their fathers. And there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the word that he had done for Israel. And the people of Israel did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and served the Baals.”

Here is something that I want to tell you today. There is a direct correlation between forgetting what God has done, forgetting God, and then serving an idol.

Before you serve an idol there is something that takes place in your life. You first turn away from God. What does this look like? This is characterized by two things. Ignoring personal devotional time with the Lord, and not walking through your day with Him. If He is your God. You carry Him with you everywhere, and you spend your time with Him.

There was this saying someone told me one time, and it has always stuck with me. “Show me your time and I’ll show you your God.”

That which you give the most of your time is the thing that you have made master and Lord over you.

Let me ask you something. If someone were to take a look at how you spend your time, would there be enough evidence for someone to be able to prove you are a Christian? Think about that seriously.

Here is one more symptom of idolatry in your life. Has God or an authority recently told you to do something that you refused to do? That is stubbornness and rebellion. The scripture says, “Stubbornness is as the sin of Idolatry and rebellion is as the sin of Witchcraft. So when we live like this, We are not only idolatrous, but now we are idolatrous witches. That is in 1 Samuel 15:23 in case somebody has a hard time believing that.

Here is the deal though guys. If we make a conscious effort to remember all of the things God has done for us, then we won’t have an issue at all. We will gladly obey our Father, and our authorities, and we will gladly sit down and spend time with Him.

Forgetting God’s goodness has catastrophic results on our spiritual lives. This is why it is something that we should avoid at all costs. More importantly though; I want us to look at what happens when we remember all the goodness of God on our lives.

What happens when we remember God?

We can’t help but praise Him

Look at Psalm 18 for example. This is David speaking to the Lord.

Psalm 18:1-3(ESV), “I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the Lord, who is worthy to be praised, and I am saved from my enemies.”

If you look at this Psalm close enough you will notice something. David started by declaring his love for God, but then he tells us why. It was because David remembered how God had delivered him. This is a key to the Christian walk.

When we look back on what God has done for us; we are reminded of all of the times He has come to our rescue so to speak. This creates an instant reaction of thanksgiving just like we see with David in this Psalm.

When we are thankful or when we get into a place of thankfulness we understand something. That no matter what is going on around us or with us, we can’t help but experience joy.

You can’t be thankful and be a grump at the same time. The two attitudes do not go together and they can not exist inside of the same headspace at the same time. So as we decide to look back and remember the things that God has done for us; we will experience thankfulness and joy. Who doesn’t want a little bit more of that in their lives?

I remember one time my wife had locked her keys in her car when we were in Augusta. We had to drive all the way to Beebe and then when we got back to Augusta we discovered that the dealership had given us the spare key to the wrong car. Needless to say I was mad. So here we were 45 minutes away from home, keys locked in the car, the owner told us he would have to tow the car in the morning, and I’m about to bust out a window. Anyway, I am about to freak out because I am just upset. This is the new car and now we have to bust out a window. Then I got some advice from someone. They said, “Just start thanking God for all of the good that He has done in your life.” At first I wanted to throw my phone. Like How dare you tell me that!

But I did it anyway, and when I did this joy and peace came over me all of a sudden. My wife looked at me and she was still upset, but I could tell her that it will be okay. I was able to joke and laugh because remembering what God has brought me through caused me to be thankful. And when I was thankful, I was instantly 100 times more joyful.

We desire to draw closer to Him

Romans 2:4 (ESV), “ Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance?”

This shows me something about God’s goodness. He pours His goodness onto us so that we would desire to draw closer to Him. Both before we are saved and after we are saved.

When we look back on the goodness of God in our live not only does it make us want to shout and praise Him, but it also makes us want to draw closer to Him. This is the reason for displays of affection right?

Think about relationships. This doesn’t just apply to husbands and wives, but to all relationships. When someone comes up and gives you a gift; you don’t just shrug it off and say, “Thanks.” Instead you say, “Hey, they brought me something. They must value our relationship.” When this happens you only want to develop the relationship more and more.

This is what the goodness of God shows us. When He does things for us and gives us gifts it is God showing that yes He loves you, but also that He values your relationship. Our natural response when we recognize His goodness is to want to draw closer to Him.

This is why it is important that we meditate and choose to remember His goodness in our lives. If we don’t we will eventually find ourselves in a place where we will find it hard to press in and draw closer to Him whenever it gets hard. If I have remembered His goodness towards me though; I don’t have to strive to press in. It is just something that happens naturally.

We have faith for the next miracle

Listen, whenever God comes through for you and you don’t forget about it; you will NOT question if He will do the next miracle for you.

In everyone’s life there are times of struggle. There is always going to be a moment whenever we are wondering how are we going to get through this. I want to tell you a little secret. You don’t have to wonder anymore. When you go through life, and God has already taken you through a few storms you aren’t worried about the next one.

Think about David. God helped him take down Goliath, but do you think he would have wondered if God was gonna help him take down other giants. No! He had already seen God come through in the past.

I remember whenever someone first tried to tell me I could pray for the sick and see them healed. I laughed. I don’t mean that I chuckled, I mean that I laughed. I didn’t believe them. Then I saw someone get healed, and that is when I knew it was true. So, now I want to be a part of it you know. I walk up to someone and I want to pray for her wrist. I prayed for her wrist and the whole time I was thinking, “God isn’t going to heal her right now.” Thats sad, but it is true. Then she was healed.

Guess what came out of that experience? Now I don’t have an issue praying for anyone to get healed at all. I even have a vial of anointing oil that is attached to my keychain so that wherever I go; I can anoint the sick with oil and pray for them. I have faith for the miracle that God wants to do through me.

Another example in my life is trusting God with the next step. One day, I was told to step down from my position at Whitney Lane. I did, and God told me not to go get a full time job. I had people all around me trying to hook me up with really good jobs, but God told me not to. It was probably one of the hardest things I have had to do. I didn’t really trust God to do anything at that moment. Then one day Pastor Dewayne calls me and tells me that he has a job for me. Now, when God tells me to do something and it sounds completely crazy; I don’t have an issue obeying. Why?

Because I have remembered what God has done for me in the past. I have chosen not to forget the goodness of God in my life. That is exactly what Moses told Israel. He told them that they needed to make sure that they didn’t forget what God had done for them, and that they needed it pass it on to their children.

This is what happens whenever you choose to remember what God has done for you! You live in an attitude of thankfulness, you have a deeper desire to draw closer to God, and you will find you have faith for the next miracle in your life.

I believe that a key to living the Christian life effectively and faithfully is found in remembering all that God has done for us.

Do you see the importance of remembering what God has done?