Remember, Don't Forget
In times like the one we’re in now, where our plans and systems are being upended as we know them, we have a good opportunity to see something we may normally be blinded to. Which is that we are a people in desperate need of a redeemer. It’s true all the time, but often the times we see it best is when the situation is dire. Whether it’s a personal affliction or a global one - it’s when the rug is pulled out from under us that the jig is finally up. Often, we’re left with a feeling of misplaced hope. We scramble to find solid ground, but there is only one sure place to stand.
The Bible has the answers we so desperately long for and need. And though the New Testament is full of gospel hope for us, today I want to talk about the importance of the Old. One of the most key reasons we need the Old Testament is to remind us that we are a people that forget. In Deuteronomy, the Israelites are told “to remember/to not forget/to be vigilant” 103 times in 34 chapters. The theme of the book is - “Remember, don’t forget.” Why? Because they are about to enter the promised land and do some serious forgetting. Deuteronomy 6:6-9 says, “These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.” Moses is trying to communicate that humans are dumb, and they will forget, and so the lengths they must go to in order to change that will have to be extreme.
In Joshua 24, Moses’s second-in-command, Joshua (who is now the leader of the Israelites after Moses’s death), tells the people to choose who they will serve: the Lord or their idols. They respond with a very satisfying answer: “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our fathers up out of Egypt....We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God,” (Joshua 24:16-18). Joshua responds with, “Okay, but if you don’t…” to which the people say, “No, we will!” and Joshua retorts, “You said it, not me.”
That’s the last chapter of that book. It’s followed with the first chapter of Judges, which lays out how Israel does exactly what they were so sure they would not. Then, in the very next chapter, we’re told that once the generation of Israelites under Joshua had passed, a new generation was brought up who “knew neither the Lord nor what he had done for Israel. (And so) the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the Lord” (Joshua 2:10-11).
Apparently the generation before them did not follow Moses’s commands. They didn’t impress the words of God on their children, or talk about them at home. An entire generation grew up without knowing what God had done, and worse, not knowing Him at all. But this isn’t just an old covenant problem. There are many differences between how the Israelites lived then and how we live now, but this isn’t one of them.
We are a people who forget. No matter how many times we remember, this side of eternity, we will still forget. We will blame God for our problems, wonder why he is silent, or forget about him altogether. That’s why we have to know God’s word. It is the only grounding for us to stand on when we feel like our truths are more compelling than his. God has laid out what we need to know about him so that we can first rightly understand him, and in so doing, ourselves and the world around us.
The world feels unstable now, and it is. But it always has been! When something is news to us, our feelings tell us it’s news to God. As if he didn’t know before we did and as if our knowing changes his control. Jesus says to his disciples in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” The victory is decided - the Bible makes that clear, we just need to know it. It doesn’t make our problems irrelevant, not at all. But it does give us a place to put our hope. A hope that can weather any storm, that perseveres, and that sanctifies your soul so that at the end of the day, the month, the year, or your life, say, “Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord God Almighty, who was, and is, and is to come.” (Revelation 4:8)
If you’re looking for a Boston church to call him, we’d love for you to visit King’s Hill.