I have written and taught about this many many times over the years but l see it come up time and time again in the scriptures so feel I need to mention it again. Normally when I talk about this I phrase it in the positive by talking about remembrance, but where I saw it talked about in my readings today it was mentioned in a different way

DO NOT FORGET! Here’s the whole passage

Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them Deuteronomy 4:9-10

I love the importance of not forgetting and the responsibility that was given to the Israelites in this regard. This was dependence on the Lord yes, but it was imperative that they did something with it. What their eyes had seen was the Lords to reveal but once they had seen it was their responsibility not to forget or let it fade. Deuteronomy 29:29 talks about this again

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law Deuteronomy 29:29

So how can we be intentional about this? How can remembering or not forgetting become an active pursuit rather than being left to chance? Here are 3 small steps we can take, inspired by Deuteronomy;

• Record – I know that I have a terrible memory. I’m the kind of person who forgets someone’s name before they have even told me. When it comes to remembering what God does in my life or my community I am exactly the same. So, I have to be dedicated to recording those moments so that a permanent record exists. The medium doesn’t matter but the intention does.
• Relive – having a record of something is great, but it doesn’t mean loads unless we return to that record and relive that moment. What was it like? How did we feel? What changed in us? I don’t mean that we live in the good old days, but that we allow those moments to spur us onto greater moments.
• Retell – the passage makes it clear that teaching your children and encouraging them to teach their children is one way to help the remembering. But this is bigger than telling our kids, its about telling those around us, our friends, colleagues, community. Doing this ingrains it in us, allows questions from others which will help us to form deeper understanding.

I am passionate that we become a people who do not forget. Lets ensure that we don’t allow what we have seen to fade from our hearts