"How In The World Could I Forget Such. . .?"
Today's Opening Scripture:
Joshua 4:21-24 21 And he spake unto the children of Israel, saying, When your children shall ask their fathers in time to come, saying, What mean these stones? 22 Then ye shall let your children know, saying, Israel came over this Jordan on dry land. 23 For the LORD your God dried up the waters of Jordan from before you, until ye were passed over, as the LORD your God did to the Red sea, which he dried up from before us, until we were gone over:
24 That all the people of the earth might know the hand of the LORD, that it is mighty: that ye might fear the LORD your God for ever.
Today's Thought:
Joshua was reminding the people, and man did he ever remind them, and let me say we find in the Scripture so often is that we too are reminded of what we know to do and in remembering we can sort of just say wow, that reminds me of ...
“Remember.”
It is the most often repeated command in the Old Testament. Maybe that’s because the #1 mistake parents made in the Old Testament was not passing along their faith to their kids. When the children weren’t told of His miraculous works, they lost their wonder for God.
Among the worst of these ‘silent’ parents were the ones rescued out of Egypt.
These people had seen a lot:
* The ten plagues. The release of two million slaves.
* The parting of the Red Sea.
* The fire by night and the cloud by day as their guide.
* Manna from heaven.
* Wouldn’t you think the family dinner times would be filled with stories that began “remember the time when God…”?
Why did the miracles slide like tephlon from their memories? Psalm 78 recounts their lack of faith in one long frustrating list. How often they rebelled against Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! They tested God again and again and provoked the Holy One of Israel. They did not remember His power or the day when He redeemed them from the foe. Verse 32 sums it up, For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works. There’s the problem, right there. They didn’t remember God’s faithfulness because they didn’t trust Him.
Yet someone turned the trend. After that entire, forgetful, unbelieving generation had dropped dead in the wilderness, a new generation stood on the riverbank that bordered the promised land. Once again, God parted the waters and provided a miraculous crossing, yet this time, the new generation made a plan to remember. They believed God. Re-read Joshua 4:21-24 to get the story.
Think about it this:
Now, God hasn’t led us by fire or fed us with mystery bread, but He’s done some amazing things for you and me, beginning with our great salvation. Don’t forget these miracles. More importantly, tell your stories to the next generation so they’ll know how faithful God is and that He can be trusted. Remember God’s faithfulness so your faithfulness will endure.
