“Do not forget the Lord”: what are the implications of this command (Deuteronomy 8:11)?

Response

As the Israelites prepared to settle in the Promised Land, Moses warned them about specific dangers they needed to avoid. In Deuteronomy 8, he cautioned them regarding the risks of prosperity and self-satisfaction they would encounter in their new home: “Be cautious not to forget the LORD your God, neglecting to follow his commands, laws, and decrees that I am giving you today. Otherwise, as you eat and are satisfied, as you construct beautiful homes and settle down, as your herds and flocks multiply, and your silver and gold increase, and all your possessions grow, your heart will become arrogant, and you will neglect the LORD your God who rescued you from Egypt, from slavery” (Deuteronomy 8:11-14).

The term “forget” in this passage is derived from a Hebrew verb meaning “to cease remembering, disregard, dismiss from the mind, forsake, neglect, or stop caring about.” This type of forgetting involves excluding the Lord from one’s thoughts.

Moses understood that if the people were not vigilant, they would overlook the forty years of God’s provision in the wilderness, where He provided them with food, clothing, and shelter. In their comfortable, complacent, and prosperous state in the “land flowing with milk and honey” «and I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites. », (Exodus 3:8), they would be enticed to disregard God’s miraculous acts such as the parting of the Red Sea and their deliverance from slavery in Egypt.Egypt, His supply of manna in the desert when there was no food, His drawing water from the rock when they were thirsty, His guiding presence, His protection, and even His chastening hand when they had transgressed. As time went by, it would be all too easy for them to let the memory of God’s past goodness fade. They would become self-satisfied and think they had achieved success all on their own.

Moses explained, “He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my strength and energy.’ Remember the LORD your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath. But I assure you of this: If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed” (Deuteronomy 8:17-19;NLT).

Forgetting the Lord would get the Israelites into trouble, leading them into the sin of idolatry and eventual destruction. Moses cautioned that, if Israel neglected the lessons learned in the wilderness, failed to depend entirely on God, abandoned their worship of Him, and neglected His Word, disaster would obliterate the abundant blessings that remembering God brings.

Do not forget the Lord means consciously and consistently thinking about what God has shown us in the past, including His miracles of deliverance and provision, His abiding presence, His tender care, and His loving discipline. It also means obeying the “commands, laws, and decrees” in God’s Word. When Moses said, “Do not forget the Lord,” he meant for God’s people to keep the truth of Scripture and the real-life experiences of the living God ever at the forefront of their minds.

Are we not just like the ancient Israelites? When things are going well, don’t we quickly dismiss the truths we have learned in the past? Don’t we forget how we clung to God in the trials and heartache?

Are we, then, utterly dependent on Him for every breath?

The warning for Israel is the same for us today: Do not forget the Lord. Let these words challenge us to always give God’s dealings in our past a significant place in our present. May we honor and obey His Word and not take His blessings for granted. May we thank God for His goodness, mindful that He is the Giver of every good and perfect gift we enjoy “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.”, (James 1:17). Similarly, let us constantly remember that our success depends solely on the Lord’s power and grace in our lives.