Do Not Forget The Lord

One of Dan's most precious possessions is a handwritten letter from his Dad, which he wrote him when Dan was leaving for college.  I also have the blessing of treasured letters my parents wrote to me when I left home to come here to attend the university.  The relentless passing of time has reversed the roles, and now it is Dan and I who are preparing to be the parents that are sending a kid out into the world...a world to which we don't belong anymore...a land where we cannot go.  As I assume this new role in my life, I've been thinking about writing Grant a letter of my own too...

It's interesting how, as I think about this, I read Deuteronomy chapter 8, and it reminds me of that type of letter: the letter a loving Parent might write to his child who is going away to a place, where he/she cannot go with him.

When the Israelites were getting ready to finally cross the Jordan and take possession of the promised land, Moses gave them this admonition:  Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Deuteronomy 8: 1

Moses didn't want the people of Israel to forget Their Lord and Deliverer, so he went on and reminded them, once again, of all that The Most High God had done for them ever since taking them out of Egypt.  He urges them to remember their Lord.  And he warns them not to get too comfortable in the future wealth they will find in the Land they are about to enter...not to take for granted the gift God is giving them...not to forget to be thankful and not to forget it all comes from the Lord's great provision.

He instructs them to remember to praise the Lord when they feel satisfied, and to remember to remain obedient, so they do not become proud...for pride will lead to forgetting all they owe to God.  He basically is asking them to be humble, otherwise their pride may make them believe that they are self-made and that they do not need God, which may cause them to say and act in ways that will separate them from the Most High, as he points out:  You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. Deuteronomy 8: 17-18

Do not forget this truth, Israel, Moses says, otherwise... If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God. Deuteronomy 8: 19-20

Strong words, indeed.  However, only someone who truly cares and is led by the great love they feel in their heart is willing to utter such warning.  Among the few who would ever dare, we can count our parents. 

I will probably not be so strong in my letter to Grant.  But I pray the message he receives reminds him not to forget the Lord as he moves on.  As the world around us seems to crumble, I pray our kids remember they belong to Christ...and even if our society has forgotten, I pray this new generation remembers who is the One that Delivers us and Frees us from slavery.  I pray the young adults who are getting ready to fly this fall remember Him, even if everyone around them seems to have forgotten.  And I pray that as these kids remember...others will too...so our society may retrace its steps back to humility and stop following other gods, thus avoiding the destruction that may be upon us.  In the Precious Name of Jesus.  Amen!