Read Deuteronomy 6:10-19
There are many reasons why we forget things. Sometimes, there are medical reasons for our forgetfulness. At other times we simply don’t think that thing we had to remember was worth while so we let it slip from our minds. Still at other times we are distracted.
In our super comfy, super cosy western world the greatest issue that causes us to forget the Lord is distraction. Work, family, education, leisure and money, though they are not sinful or negative in themselves, they quickly form distractions that move us away from the Lord. When we are working long and tedious hours or when we are under a dead line, it becomes very easy to forget the Lord. When our family life makes demands upon us and keeps us frantically busy running children to different events, keeping appointments and seeing every member regularly we are prone to forget the Lord. Study and learning have the same effect. In the few small hours each week that we have left, we are often keen to fill those hours with leisure time or me time. Such time again distracts us from the Lord because we want to wind down, relax, turn off and so on. And money keeps us distracted as well. We pour our energy into getting more of it, we try to balance it and keep it safe. We spend hours looking for the most economical way to use it. And pretty soon, God is all but a distant memory. It’s no wonder that Jesus said that it is near impossible for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of God. Apart from anything else, there are so many more distractions!
As Israel sat poised on the edge of the Promised Land, God warned them about the distractions they would encounter. The ways of the nations, the false gods, the ceremonies and rituals would all be distractions that lead them away from God. Like the distractions in our own world, these foreign things would grab the heart and mind and attention of the Israelites. They would steal their allegiance away from God.
Israel, like us too, would need to be proactive and attentive to her relationship to God. She could not afford, as we cannot afford, to drift off into slumber. She could not afford to put God on the back burner, even for one iota. Israel was to work hard at building her relationship with God.
Sadly, over the centuries, nothing has changed. Let us work hard at building our relationship with God so that we do not forget Him. Let us keep our work, our money, our family, our education and all these other potential distractions in proper perspective so that we will not forget the Lord our God.
Prayer:
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