Once, reading in Deuteronomy, I encountered this verse:
“Beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (Deuteronomy 6:12)
And then this one:
“Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today.” (Deuteronomy 8:11)
In fact, forgetting God is mentioned three times in chapter eight alone. I realized this was a big deal. We can forget God! And by the kind of warnings written here, I gather that we might not even realize we are. I mean, it’s a pretty good bet the issue God was concerned about was not that his people would simply not remember they had ever heard of a being they used to know as “God.” So what really was the danger?
This sent me on a search through Deuteronomy to see how God describes forgetting God. What makes God know he has been, by his standards, forgotten. I want to watch for these things in my life. Here’s what I found, along with the exhortations I wrote for myself in response:
How to Forget God, as described in Deuteronomy:
- Stop paying attention to yourself Spiritually. (4:5-9)
What has God done in your life? What has he shown you? Where are you now with all that? - Don’t teach the things God has said to your children. (4:9-10)
Just don’t care about the next generation and if they know God or not. - Make and idol. (4:15-20,23)
Forget how God has shown us who He is by deciding God is the way you want Him to be. - When you succeed, give the credit to other things instead of God (that is, other gods). (6:10-12)
Forget that we ourselves are were slaves He set free, and we’d be nothing still but slaves if He hadn’t intervened. (John 8:34) - Get scared by obstacles or opposition or a fight, and refuse to step into it. (7:17-21)
Forget what God has done in the past, so you can refuse to trust Him in the present. - Ignore God’s daily instruction in the everyday things of life. (8:2)
- Don’t keep His commandments. (8:11)
- When you succeed, think it’s because of your abilities. (8:12-19)
See God’s blessings as something you earned all by yourself, and not gifts. (See 1 Cor 4:7 – “Who made you to differ from another, and what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it?”) - When you succeed, think that it’s because you’re righteous. (9:4-7)
Forget your own sin and how everything you have is because of God’s grace. - Don’t extend mercy or generosity. (24:17-22)
Forget your own neediness.
Sobering, and helpful…