Deuteronomy 8:1-2

8 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers. ² And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. 

I used to think that remembering was something I didn’t have much control over, so I wasn’t to blame when I unintentionally forgot something. But when reading the Bible where God spoke about remembering, I realize now that this is more my responsibility than I think. There are many places in the Bible where God tells his people to be careful and not forget. It speaks of us intentionally making that effort not to forget. It is not something we cannot control, but we must intentionally make that effort not to forget.

The Hebrew word used in Deuteronomy 8:1 and 8:11 for “be careful” is samar which means to hedge about, guard, protect, attend to, beware. These are all actions that we have control over and can take. They are intentional actions, careful actions that we can take. These words imply urgency with these actions. Even when reading the passage, you get the urgency of the warning. And if that’s not clear enough, Deuteronomy 8:19 tells us the consequence for God’s people when they do not remember what He has done for them. They will perish. The Hebrew word for perish here is abad which means to wander away, lose oneself, be destroyed, and not escape. These are all words that describe how serious the consequence of not remembering is.

Deuteronomy 8:11-20

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ¹² lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, ¹⁵ who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. ¹⁹ And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. ²⁰ Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.

So, I urge myself and you today to take heed and listen to the words of God here. We are to intentionally take every measure we can to ensure that we do not forget who God is, what he has done for us, and what he is calling us to do. And one of the sure methods of remembering is spending time in the word, reading it day and night and meditating on it, so it will begin to surround us, and we will remember always. Like God told Joshua that this word is not to depart from your mouth, the warning is the same to us (Joshua 1:8).