The Israelites are standing with their feet on the edge of the land promised to them by God, the land in which Abraham sojourned and Jacob raised his family, the land in which Joseph asked to buried, the land God had set apart for them for hundreds of years. This generation, the generation to take possession and inhabit the land promised to Abraham, are tasked to remember well the stubbornness and infidelity of their parents and grandparents. Remember the grumbling in the desert. Remember the fear and unbelief followed by the rash presumption. Remember the foolish wishes to return to Egypt in the face of wilderness adversity. Remember and be wise.
When you are settled and the land produces its fruit for you, when your children are growing strong and your households are secure: remember. Remember well the anger of God toward persistent unbelief and wicked, stubborn hearts. Remember his terrifying works, works of deliverance and judgment. When the memory of the smoking mountain and the forty days of thunder have faded, when the vision of the pillar of cloud and the pillar of fire are a centuries old story, when the sin of Achan seems but a fanciful tale, remember well.
Remember and be warned. Remember and be heartened. The God who parted the Red Sea and dashed the walls of Jericho, who routed Gog and Magog and melted the hearts of Canaanites with fear, this God chose you. His choice is not a result of your faithfulness for you were not faithful. His choice was not based on your size or strength, for you were small and weak. His choice is his choice based on his unchanging heart. Your children, your numerous children, are the stars which Abraham could not hope to count. Your homes are built on the land Abraham could never call his own and over which Jacob quarreled and fled.
Remember the covenant of grace has always preceded the Law. Remember well, rejoice, and obey.
Scripture inspiration:
Deuteronomy 9:4-6 Do not say in your heart, after the Lord your God has thrust them out before you, “It is because of my righteousness that the Lord has brought me in to possess this land…” but because of the wickedness of these nations. Remember you were stubborn and provoked the Lord to wrath in the wilderness.
Deuteronomy 10:15 Yet the Lord set his heart in love on your fathers… 18 He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourners, giving him food and clothing.
10:20-21 You shall fear the Lord your God… 21 He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.
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