Remember the Lord

From my morning reading.

Deuteronomy 4:9 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.

In the history of the wars that the United States has fought, certain phrases have served as a rallying cry during the periods of battle. "Remember the Alamo!" was the cry during the fight for Texas' independence. "Remember the Maine!" led the U.S. into battle during the Spanish-American conflict. "Remember Pearl Harbor!" thrust America into World War II. In each war, the concept of remembrance served as a stirring inspiration to men and women called into battle. Remembrance is also vital in our walk with God. It keeps us on the trail of life.

Deuteronomy 4:9 charts two trails that we can follow. The first trail is possible if you "give heed to yourself, and keep your soul diligently." This trail makes an impact upon "our sons and grandsons" for good. This is a worthy goal with long-lasting results. The second trail leads to tragedy, especially as the things of God "depart from your heart all the days of your life." It is a backward glance upon a lost direction, a lost time, and a lost cause. What makes the difference? It is the presence of forgetfulness.

God's Word instructs us to remember holy days, His mighty deeds, and, as this verse says, "the things which your eyes have seen." Why is remembrance so important? Because it keeps us steady on the path of righteousness. Since God has proven His love to us in past days, we can depend on His continuing presence and grace for uncertain confusing times.

As you begin each week, why not adopt as your motto, "Remember the Lord." As you do, your life will benefit from the refreshing power of His Spirit.

Lord, right now I commit myself to building upon the foundation of Your past work of grace in my life. Amen.

From God's Man
A Daily Devotional Guide to Christlike Character
Edited by: Don M. Aycock

I think one of the things that keep us on the right track is thankfulness. To be thankful, we need to remember what God and others have done for us in the past. When we don’t remember those things we tend to focus on how things are not going our way in the present or we feel that people are not doing certain things for us.

I had a funny thing happen to me yesterday. I took one of my sons and two of his friends to the park to fly our stunt kite. The wind was nice and strong so we had a lot of fun. A stunt kite has two cords and you guide the kite by pulling on those cords. We just got the kite last week and until yesterday, the winds have not been optimal. Anyway, I spent most of the time launching the kite, putting it back together after spectacular crashes and instructing the friends on how to do it.

Last night my son was recalling the kite flying and said that the other boy’s father must not do things like that with them. He then said that one of the boys said how cool I was for helping them with the kite.

I almost laughed. To my kids I am anything but cool but someone else has a different perspective. I have a friend who my kids think is cool but his kids probably don’t. I do things with and for my kids that many times they either forget or don’t appreciate. I bet there are things that my son’s friends dad does with his kids that my kids would envy and think is cool.

The same thing can happen with our spouse, friends, job, family, church, etc. A little too much focus on the present problems and forgetfulness of past blessings is a recipe for trouble. The grass is always greener somewhere else.

The whole thing is perspective, remembering and being thankful. Each of us has an abundance of things to be thankful for if we would just remember them.

Philip