The Purpose of Remembering—November 4 Bible Reading Plan - Denise Pass

The Purpose of Remembering

It’s been said that those who cannot remember the past are condemned or destined to repeat it. It has also been said that remembering is easy—it’s forgetting that’s hard. It is in remembering the horrors of the past that history might not be repeated. And it is also in remembering what God has done for us that we stay on track and keep our hearts right with God. The purpose of remembering is to keep us from being myopic and to help us be focused on living a righteous life informed by the past but not held back by it.

Bible Reading of the Day: Deuteronomy 16-18

This life is so full and busy that frankly, we can be a forgetful people. We can forget what God has done for us and we can also forget (conveniently) our mistakes. In today’s reading, Moses is calling on God’s people to remember what God has done for them.

The Purpose of Remembering—Memory Triggers

God is in the details. There were several different ways that Moses told them to trigger their memory.

• Special Observance. They would celebrate Passover to remember God’s deliverance from Egypt. (Deuteronomy 16:1-3).
• Special Observance #2. Festival of Weeks – to remember how much God had blessed them. And to remember that they were slaves.
• And Special Observance #3: Festival of Shelters – thanking God for God’s blessing on the work of their hands.
• Special Elements. They would eat certain food that was symbolic of their experience, employing the use of their senses to experience what they experienced during that deliverance.
• Special Time. A set day and time that exactly matched when God delivered them.

The Purpose of Remembering—A Safeguard for Us

God’s people had tangible ways to remember what God had done on their behalf. But God also placed safeguards to help them to remember what mattered most.

Deuteronomy 17:14-20

“4 “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’ 15 you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses. Appoint a king from your brothers. You are not to set a foreigner over you, or one who is not of your people. 16 However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ 17 He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself.

The Purpose of Remembering—Reading God’s Word Daily

18 When he is seated on his royal throne, he is to write a copy of this instruction for himself on a scroll in the presence of the Levitical priests. 19 It is to remain with him, and he is to read from it all the days of his life, so that he may learn to fear the Lord his God, to observe all the words of this instruction, and to do these statutes. 20 Then his heart will not be exalted above his countrymen, he will not turn from this command to the right or the left, and he and his sons will continue reigning many years in Israel.”

Application

• Don’t let materialism cause you to forget what matters most.
• Obey God’s commands so we walk in a manner worthy.
• Be steadfast in God’s word so we daily remember Him in our comings and goings.
• Don’t go back to the past. God already redeemed that.
• As we seek to place things and best practices in our lives to help us remember, Our remembrances can become rote and religious when we don’t engage the mind to remember the point of it all.
• We were made for God’s glory, not ours.
• Let’s remember daily what Christ did on our behalf so we walk faithfully.

Scripture of the Day: Deuteronomy 18: 9, 13

Deuteronomy 18:9, 13

“When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, do not imitate the detestable customs of those nations.  13 You must be blameless before the Lord your God.”

𝗝𝗼𝗶𝗻 𝗺𝗲 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗶𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗥𝗲𝗮𝗱𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗻 𝗮𝘁 12 𝗽𝗺 𝗘𝗧.

Day #308: Deuteronomy 16-18—The Purpose of Remembering

𝒱𝑒𝓇𝓈𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝓉𝒽𝑒 𝒟𝒶𝓎: Deuteronomy 18:9, 13

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