“Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— Deuteronomy 4:9 (ESV)

The sadness of forgetting was discussed in the previous article, but we have yet to examine more carefully just what it is that Christians today should be remembering and why. Moses tells the people here that there is a danger of them forgetting what they have seen, resulting in what they have seen departing from their heart all the days of their life. This implies a few things that are important to consider. 

Forgetting Is Easy 

First, it means that forgetting is easy, but remembering is hard. Unless care is taken, forgetting will be our default position. Even amazing, incredible, miraculous things like the Israelites had seen God do could be forgotten. We often hold onto a strong emotional experience, especially as younger people, thinking that we can be confident that the feeling will never go away, that it is so strong that it is not possible that another feeling could ever outweigh it. The trouble is that feelings come and go, including the very strong ones. Feelings are fickle by nature. 

It is fascinating to think that the things that the Israelites saw were things that Moses expected them to keep in their hearts. But there was a danger that the things might leave their hearts. It is the same that is true for us today. Moses is going to tell them that they must make these things known to their children and to their grandchildren. What are we telling our children. If we consider the things that we often tell to our children about our past, is it not former glories, former and successes, former achievements? Do we not enjoy talking about important people that we met, impressive things that we did, special places that we went? Of course we do, and there is nothing wrong inherently with these things. But we make a mistake if we do not consider The fact that these things influence our children so that they understand these things to be the culture that we are passing onto them. What are the traditions, what are the expectations, what are the norms? What is important, what do we value, what matters to us as a family? 

Sharing Requires Remembering

Do we share with our children what the Lord has done for us? Certainly, we might say that it was easier in some sense for the Israelites because they could point to a C and talk about how it was divided into. They could talk about bread that appeared miraculously every morning. They could talk about Water that flowed in the desert. But do we have less to say? Do parents have less of a God to speak of to our children? What kinds of things would we remember so as not to allow them to depart from our hearts? And if we remember the other things better, so that they are what come out when we are asked about our lives, are those not the things that of necessity we must be storing and treasuring up in our hearts? 

Can we tell of times when the Lord answered prayer? Can we talk about the things that God has taught us, the way he has provided for us, the great things he has done for us? Surely we can. Can we describe the sins that God saved us from, the weaknesses he revealed to us, the grace he has given us, the strength he has provided? If we do not talk about them, I just like it because we do not think about them. And if we do not think about them, then it is most likely that they are not really in our hearts. And if they are not in our hearts, then that means they have departed. And if they have departed, that means we have forgotten. And if we have forgotten, then we have not taken care. And if we have not taken care, then we must examine, we absolutely must examine, what it is that animates our hearts, what it is that we are remembering, what it is we are thinking about, what it is we are saying to our children. What kinds of glories are we making known to our children and our grandchildren? Are they God‘s glories, or are they our own? 

This is the point of what I am writing: if we cannot speak of great things God has done for us, we are not communicating God’s greatness to our children.

The Lord has Done Great Things for You, Too 

Some people may read this passage and think that the Lord has not done that many great things for them because their life has been relatively uneventful. There was no crime, no drugs, no gross immorality. Perhaps you have been saved since you were a child, and all your life you have known the peace of God that fills a life devoted to Him. Speak about that! Consider what might have happened to you. Consider the sins you never committed, and credit your escape to God. Consider how filled with blessing your life has been, and credit that to God. Consider the way you have learned to live, the choices you have learned to make, the desires you have learned to cultivate, the truths you have learned to accept, and credit all that to God. 

Consider what the Lord has done in your life. But perhaps you have grown lackadaisical. Perhaps you have grown complacent. Perhaps your passion and desire for God has cooled because you have invested your time and resources in things which cannot satisfy. Repent of that, turn afresh and anew to God, and resume a life that is walked by the Spirit and not according to the desires of the flesh. 

If your children lived like you and followed the trajectory of your heart toward God, would they increase in love, obedience, and devotion to God, or would they drift aimlessly or in another direction altogether? 

Dear Christian parent, remember what the Lord has done for you. Remember the Father who chose you, the Christ who died, rose, ascended, was exalted, and is coming for you, and the Spirit who was sent to you. Remember what the Lord has done for you, let it fill your heart, and guard it, so that you will have stories worth passing on to your children and grandchildren.