Daily Devotion – August 24, 2021 – Dr. Pat Taylor Ellison
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-10
4:1 So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you.
4:2 You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it, but keep the commandments of the LORD your God with which I am charging you.
4:6 You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!”
4:7 For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the LORD our God is whenever we call to him?
4:8 And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
4:9 But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children–
4:10 Pay attention to the laws and the ordinances I have given you. Live by them so that people will see you and say, “This is an amazing nation who lives by the law their god has given them as he lives near them always.†And do not let these things slip from your mind, but instead teach them to your children.
God gave the children of Israel a set of laws that allowed their health and their culture and their community to flourish, and their very flourishing was a sign to their neighbors that this was a nation who enjoyed a special relationship to God. Periodically they forgot to teach their laws and culture and practices to their children, or the children rejected those things, but even until the time Jesus was born, the Hebrews were an amazing people set apart from others by their laws, their culture, and their connection to their God.
How wonderful it would be if we too could prevent ourselves from letting what we know is truth slip from our mind. We sometimes forget what is true in the heat of the moment. We sometimes forget how faithful God is to us when we are afraid. But “don’t forget those things your eyes have seen nor let them slip from your mind all the days of your life.†Witness, even, to your children how your faith speaks to you and brings you through the hard times to a new day. This will be a gift to your children and a testament to God.
Gracious God, thank you for loving us. Thank you for helping to remember you, to not let your deeds for us slip from our mind. You are our great benefactor, and we will remember you to our children and their children. Amen.
