"Memories, like the corners of my mind, misty, water-colored memories of the way we were..."God has chosen to speak to the Israelites through Moses one last time before they enter the Promised Land. And it's a doozy of a sermon -- or as Peterson says, "a series of sermons" God thinks it's important to remember the past and bring it to the present to help live now, "...no human experience is dead history merely to be regretted or admired."
Moses speaks the words of God, summarizing what has happened over the past 40 years. The good, the bad, and the ugly. It's interesting how the exercise of looking back gives perspective, the big picture.
"God, your God, is leading the way; he's fighting for you. You saw with your own eyes what he did for you in Egypt; you saw what he did in the wilderness, how God, your God, carried you as a father carries his child, carried you the whole way until you arrived here." (Deut. 1:29-30)It's hard to recognize when God is carrying us when we're in the midst of trudging through something. But, it's during those difficult times that remembering who God is and how He has acted in the past becomes so important.
"In memory, the shape of God's yesterday-heart emerges and assures of God's now-heart and reassures of His sure beat tomorrow. And for the first time I see why the Israelites are covenanted with God to be a people who remember with thanks. It is thanksgiving that shapes a theology of trust and the Israelites bear witness and I see.
"Isn't this what ultimately Christ asks of us in the Last Supper? One of the very last directives He offers to His disciples, the one of supreme import but I too often neglect: to remember. Do this in remembrance of Me. Remember and give thanks.
"This is the crux of Christianity: to remember and give thanks, eucharisteo. [Greek]
"Why? Why is remembering and giving thanks the core of the Christ-faith? Because remembering with thanks is what causes us to trust -- to really believe." (Anne Voskamp)So, as we enter Deuteronomy, this book of remembering, I want to see it not just as a narrative, a retelling of the story. I hope to remember my own journey -- the good and the bad, the pleasant and the painful -- to see how God has carried me in the past, and to give thanks that causes me to trust that He is carrying me today.
2 comments:
So true! Remembering and giving thanks makes everything more meaningful. It's almost like reading a reflection of what just happened and it does also make me think about what God has just taken me through to bring me to where I am now. Last year, in my senior year of college I felt I was so ready to just fall deeper in love with Jesus but then it seemed like there was problem after problem, challenges, obstacles, sadness, in family health, big surgeries, losing a loved one, all on top of our busy stressful lives. I wanted peace, I wanted God but I didn't believe truly maybe, that He could bring me close to Him in all of those circumstances. It felt like a struggle just to cling on. But when I came to Christ in college my sophomore year, I had seen how in the midst of hard times, God carried me. Deut 1:31. But then I think my heart closed up and my view of God became smaller- so no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't trust God to continue to carry me as well. Deut 1:32. It was a hard season and I think in the end, it drew me closer to God but throughout it, I wonder if I had remembered more in thanks of what I have seen Him do and where I have seen Him carry me, if that would have made a difference. Like more obedience, more time with Him, more joy. But then again, God is sovereign over everything. So, today-I will reflect and give thanks for this!!
Yay, Christina!! So glad you're back with us!
I love that quote - "no human experience is dead history merely to be regretted or admired." No resting on laurels or living in shame. God wants us to bring it all to Him and allow Him to put it in perspective for us.
A quote from Eugene Peterson: "It wasn't their enemies, and it wasn't the forbidding terrain that stretched eleven days into almost forty years. It was because they complained in their tents. (1:27)...Though we can't choose our circumstances, we can choose how we will respond to those circumstances. We can talk in our tents and find something to gripe about - the way the wilderness generation did - or we can find something to be grateful for, giving thanks in all things, the way Paul did."
We just got back home from a long weekend in Louisiana. Harry and I are praising God for a good visit with his mom. I can tell that God is changing both of us on the inside, and I'm very grateful for His perspective on my MIL and the strained relationship. Thanks to those of you who prayed! I am continuing to pray that I will stop complaining in my tent and start diligently remembering and giving thanks in all things.
Post a Comment