Remember we talked about remembering? Good! Do you remember what they were to remember?
Here’s a pop quiz. What was it that Israel was supposed to remember? Perhaps we can get a checklist for ourselves from this. A checklist is a helpful memory jogger if we want to make sure we don’t forget! And let’s get real here. How many of us have made a to-do list—and then lost the list? So let’s not complain when God repeats things so we can write it down again. We’ll use alliteration to help us—the preacher’s famous “p patch.” First, “You shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way” (v 2). Remember the pilgrim pathway. He doesn’t lead us part way and then abandon us. How good to recall His faithful care in the past. Then remember the prescribed plan: “that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord” (v 3). Christians ask, “How can I know God’s will for my life?” It’s all revealed in His Word! As I commune with the Lord daily, expressing my willingness for His will, He shows me His plan. Oh, and be sure to remember His plentiful provision: “Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years” (v 4). He would bring them “into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey” (vv 7-8). Finally, they must remember His protecting power. Out of Egypt (v 14), through the desert (vv 15-16), and into the land of promise, “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you power…” (v 18). Such memories should result in appreciation for past blessings, appropriation for present needs, and anticipation of God’s future care!