"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, 'My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.' But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today.

"If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God." -Deuteronomy 8:10-20 

The more we read in this chapter, we discover that we, as sinful humans, have more than just the habit of forgetting things, especially the history of our nation and our family, as older generations give way to new generations. We also have the propensity of buying into the delusion that everything we have is through our own work, that the blessings that we reap in our lives is because of who we are, not because of who God is.

If we forget about God, whether through our failure of sharing God's Word or through our own willful disobedience, we will also fail to follow His laws, commands and decrees. Forgetting about God means forgetting His Word. For instance, we might just look at a law and think it unreasonable because we forgot why it was put there to begin with.  

If we forget about God and His laws, we will very easily slip into the false perception of how everything we have is by our own hand and there is no one else to thank but ourselves. This, God says, is a dangerous place to be in. In the closing verse of this chapter, God tells the Israelites that if they ever abandoned God because of forgetfulness and pride, their nation would be destroyed.

History tells us that this is just what happened. Israel enjoyed several hundred years of reign before being eventually destroyed by the Babylonians. Before this, however, Israel had a rough go falling into cycles of forgetfulness, punishment, regret, forgiveness, and remembrance.

I cannot help but draw some lessons from this chapter and wonder how it can be applied to some countries today, especially ours. There has never been a country like ours that rose so quickly in the world's stage to a superpower in less than two hundred years. Even Rome, the crown jewel of the world, took several hundred of years to develop into the empire it was.

America, despite the what the historian revisionists would like you to believe, was, indeed, founded on sound Christian footing. A strong belief in God, freedom to worship, church and morality permeated the founding of this country. I have no doubt that God blessed this country abundantly because of this. We have to remember that Deuteronomy 8 reminds us that all good things come from God, and thus, all the good things that America experienced in her rapid rise on the world stage came from God's blessing. We did not do this all on our own. 

Now, in the past twenty years or so, I have witnessed a radical change in how our country responds to God and to morality. I have seen a general sense of forgetfulness of God and His good works. I can't help but wonder if what has been going on lately - increased natural disasters, droughts, financial collapse - is a very real manifestation of God's words spoken in Deuteronomy 8:19-20.

Is it too late? Of course not. We serve a patient and long-suffering God. However, the responsibility for changing the course of our nation lies, in a very real way, with us. We need to start stepping up as parents and teach the next generation about God's Word and admonishing them not to forget so THEY get to teach THEIR children. We need to start stepping up as true believers and helping others remember who God is and what His laws are for. We need to start stepping up as a church of God and help remind people that we are God's hands and feet in this world. 

Remember, my friends, of the God who took us under His wing and gave us all the blessings we have, including those painful, hidden blessings that caused us to grow in ways we could not have on our own. Remember, my fellow countrymen, of the God who gives us the ability to work and create our own destiny. Remember, my brothers and sisters, of our Lord so that we may remain humble and true.  

Remember. 

- Matt