Do you remember where you came from?

3/8/2018

We can go back to the Bible and see how on many occasions that the Hebrew Children forgot. Just plain and simple, forgot and then complained. If you read in Deuteronomy 8 you will see just one example of this. It starts out that Moses is telling them to remember all that God has done for them; led them out of slavery, through the wilderness for forty years, fed them and kept their clothes from wearing out. In verse 5-6 it states “⁵ Thou shalt also consider in thine heart, that, as a man chasteneth his son, so the LORD thy God chasteneth thee. ⁶ Therefore thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him..” God so loves us that when we pray He will answer. Remember he answered the Hebrew Children’s prayer while they were in slavery. However, we also need to remember that just as you correct your children when they do wrong, so God will correct us.

He has taken us through hard times and led us through times of plenty just as easily. In fact God would rather lead us through the good times and times of plenty then through the hard times. 3 John 1:2 states: “Beloved, I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospereth.” However, God knows we learn during the hard times.

We have a tendency that when thigs are going good we forget where we have been and where we could be today if it wasn’t for the hand of God. The church of God has grown rapidly only when there have been persecutions against it. Remember how after Jesus died that the Disciples faced much persecution and during this time, the church grew. The people that accepted Christ as their Lord and Saviour went through some tough times.

Because they went through these times, people around them could see Christ in their lives and it made a big impression on them. Down through history every time their peers, the sinners, accepted the Christians the church had a falling away. Our mighty men were made by the times they lived and how they lived, which was not easy. When people have it easy they have a tendency to forget how much they need God. This is partly why there is a saying that a rich man will not make it into Heaven, which is true with most rich men. Only the man whose soul prospers in the Lord and is rich will make it to Heaven.

It is aptly put in Deuteronomy 8:18-20 “¹⁸ But thou shalt remember the LORD thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And it shall be, if thou do at all forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. ²⁰ As the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of the LORD your God.”

We are to remember we are where we are because of how obedient we are unto God’s voice. The closer we are to God, the more we follow his leading, the more we diligently pray for God’s will; the more we will accomplish God’s will in all areas of our lives and the more blessings we will remember.

C.I. Wilson