Remember the Wilderness

“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” (Deut. 8:2).

Think back on a time in your life when you wandered in the wilderness. Perhaps you were without a job and as the months went by without a single job offer, you wondered if you’d ever find one. Or maybe you journeyed through the wilderness of physical pain. Your doctors ran test after test and you thought you’d never find an answer or relief. Maybe you journeyed through the wilds of grief, a journey that seemed unending. Whatever the journey, would you want to remember it? I don’t know about you, but such journeys I want to keep in the past. I want to forget they ever happened. But in Deuteronomy 8, Moses calls the people of Israel to remember their desert wanderings.

God’s people had wandered in the desert for forty years and they are about the enter the Promised Land. Moses describes their years of wandering as a time of testing and of discipline (vv. 2-3,5). During all those years, God provided for their needs. He fed them manna. He kept their clothes from wearing out. Their feet didn’t swell. They were never on their own; he led them by fire and a cloud. He brought them through the wilderness and to a land flowing with milk and honey.

Deuteronomy 8 is a warning for Israel as they exit the wilderness. It is a warning for them to remember who God is and what he has done. Because what happens when they forget? Pride and idolatry. “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ 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” (v. 17-18). When they forget who God is—the God who rescued them from slavery, who provided for them all their needs, the One upon whom they are dependent for all things—they exalt themselves. Such forgetfulness leads to arrogance, thinking they are the reason for their success.

Idolatry is second thing that happens when they forget the wilderness. “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” (v.19). Once they forget the God who delivered and sustained them, they then yield their hearts to false gods. It had already happened during their time in the wilderness. When Moses was on the mountain talking with God, the people had Aaron make them a golden calf to worship. As we know, they did not heed this warning for the Old Testament is filled with accounts of God’s people worshipping false gods. And as God promised in Deuteronomy 8, they experienced the punishment for it when they were taken into captivity.

On this side of redemption history, we too need to remember the wilderness. We need to remember how the Lord has carried us through past trials and temptations, through sufferings and hardships. We need to remember his provisions of grace. Not to wallow in it. Not to get stuck in the past. But so that our hearts won’t grow prideful. So that we won’t depend upon ourselves. So that we won’t turn to counterfeit gods and look to them for help and hope, deliverance and rescue. We need to remember the faithful love of our Father, who brings us through such wanderings in order that we would know him and depend upon him (see Heb. 12). He uses the wilderness to discipline and shape us—to transform us into the image of Christ. “Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him” (vv.5-6).

Moses wants the people to remember God’s grace for them. In the next chapter, Moses points out that it is entirely because of his grace and his covenantal love for them—not Israel’s righteousness—that he brought them through the wilderness and into the land he promised: “Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people. Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deut. 9:6-7). So too, God brings us through the wilderness and into the land of his goodness, not because of anything we’ve done, but because of his grace for us in Christ. We too are stubborn. We too rebel against him. We too turn from God to do our own thing. Praise him for his steadfast love and faithful grace!

In Deuteronomy 9, Moses recounts to the people how he interceded for them when they sinned and worshipped the golden calf (vv.18-29). His intercession is a foreshadowing of Jesus Christ, the One who would come as our perfect mediator. He too wandered in the wilderness, but in his wandering he never sinned. He didn’t give in to the devil’s temptation to pride or idolatry (see Matt. 4). In fact, Jesus responded to the devil with a quote from Deuteronomy 8: “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’” (Matt. 4:4). When we are forgetful—when we forget the wilderness and what God has done for us there—Jesus remembers for us. He stands before the Father on our behalf, interceding for us. And his righteousness covers us.

Let us remember our wilderness wanderings. Let us remember how God carries and provides and sustains by his grace. But above all, let us remember our Savior, whose own wilderness wanderings is credited to us.

A Responsibility to Remember

As a Gen-Xer, I grew up hearing stories about the Great Depression and WWII. I learned of the hardships and sufferings my great-grandparents and grandparents endured. I listened to accounts of life in poverty—of empty bellies and too tight shoes, of leaving school in the eighth grade to support the family, of relational brokenness, neglect, and abandonment. I heard the stories of war and saw its decades long impact, especially the emotional scars that lingered far after all the the physical ones healed.

In all these stories, I heard whispers of grace. I saw how the Lord was faithful. I could trace his grace throughout the generations of my family, bringing hope and redemption in the midst of brokenness.

In Deuteronomy 11, Moses prepares God’s people for entering the Promised Land. He calls them to obey God and his commands. And he calls them to remember all God has done. But he doesn’t call on just anyone. He calls on specific people: those who remember what God had done for them in delivering them out of Egypt and bringing them through the desert. He calls on those who experienced the Lord’s discipline firsthand. He calls on those who witnessed God’s faithfulness to tell the younger generations of God’s great work among them.

“And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the LORD your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the LORD has destroyed them to this day, and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place…For your eyes have seen all the great work of the LORD that he did” (Deut. 11:2-5, 7).

We also have a responsibility to remember who God is and what he has done. Further, we have a responsibility to pass on that testimony to those behind us, to share the stories of God’s grace at work in our lives.

Moses continues, telling God’s people that they are to teach their children about God, about his character, his works, and his ways. They are to teach them all God has taught them, at all times and in all places. They are to instruct their children in the ways of the Lord.

For Israel, that meant passing on the redemption story of the Exodus. It meant teaching their children about God’s law and his commands. It meant cautioning them with the consequences of what happened during their desert wanderings, of the discipline they received, and of the punishment several families faced in Numbers 16. They were to learn of the covenant God made with his people, and of its accompanying blessings and curses. They were to hear and understand their story and legacy, the special call that made them a people, a family of God.

On this side of the cross, we as parents— we as spiritual guardians of the testimony, we as those who have witnessed the mighty acts of God—have a responsibility to remember. I grew up wondering why my grandparents always talked about the past. They were always remembering. Now that I am older, I understand a bit more about remembrance. If we fail to remember God’s past deliverance, we won’t trust him in the present. This happened all too often in Israel’s history. They quickly forgot God’s faithfulness and turned instead to false gods and counterfeit saviors. Remembrance keeps our gaze fixed on who God is and what he has done. It gives us a holy perspective.

But we don’t remember these stories to keep them to ourselves. We have an important call to share what we have seen and experienced with those behind us. To urge on our children, grandchildren, younger men and women, and those we teach and mentor, in the faith. To encourage them with the ways God has answered prayer. To equip them with gospel-filled stories of how God met people in their suffering with his strength and deliverance. To exhort them with truth in the face of falsehood. To help shape their identity, meaning, and purpose around the grand story of redemption: of a people beloved before time began and bought at a very great price.

No matter what age and stage we are in, we need to be around those who take their responsibility to remember seriously. The older I get, the more I need to hear from those ahead of me how the Lord has carried them all these years. We all have a responsibility to remember. Who are you sharing your stories with?

For Those Prone to Forget

I recently got up and proceeded to get ready for the day, preparing to take my son to school. As I gathered my purse and keys, I called for him, “Are you ready to go?”

He came into the kitchen, still dressed in pj’s. “Mom, it’s Good Friday. I don’t have school today.”

Sigh. Oh, yeah.

I am increasingly forgetful. So much so, I have monthly, weekly, and daily lists to remind me of where I need to go and what I need to do. Apparently, even those aren’t sufficient for me to remember my son has a day off from school.

I don’t know about you, but I am also spiritually forgetful. I go about my day as though my life depends on me. I labor in my own strength. I put my trust in methods, plans, and to-do lists. I fret and worry and fear in the face of challenges and unexpected circumstances. I often feel overwhelmed and ill-equipped. In all these ways and more, I forget the power at work in me. I forget the gospel and its significance, not only for salvation, but for daily life and growth in grace.

The Apostle Peter wrote a letter to a group of believers, reminding them of the gospel and its power to transform them. He reminded them they’ve been given everything they need to live a godly life, “His divine power has granted to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who called us to his own glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that is in the world because of sinful desire” (2 Peter 1:3-4). Friends, this is huge! Did you catch that? God has given us all things that pertain to life and godliness. All things!

He did this through the work of Christ on our behalf, who through his perfect life, sacrificial death, and triumphant resurrection, secured for us all the promises of God. Through faith in Christ, we are united to him. We have the very Spirit of Christ living within us, making us partakers of the divine nature. That word, partakers, in the Greek is koinónos. It means mutual fellowship, sharer, partner. We share in God’s nature as we become increasingly more like Christ, through the power of his Spirit at work in us.

Peter then goes on to describe what it looks like to grow more and more like Christ (vv.5-7). These are qualities that characterize sharing in the divine nature. They are the natural outworking of the Spirit’s power in and through us. These qualities help us bear fruit for the Kingdom (v.8). These are not characteristics that save us; rather, they are produced in us by the Spirit as we live out the realities of our salvation in Christ.

• virtue

• knowledge

• self-control

• steadfastness

• godliness

• brotherly affection

• love

He then cautions, “For whoever lacks these qualities is so nearsighted that he is blind, having forgotten that he was cleansed from his former sins” (v.9). Peter could refer here to those who verbally expressed faith in Christ but did not have a transformed heart. Or he could refer to true Christians who have wandered from the truth. Either way, such forgetfulness is serious. Friends, it is crucial that we remember our salvation. The good news of the gospel is that not only are we saved by grace, but we are also transformed by grace. God calls us to grow in the likeness of Christ and then he provides us all we need to do so. Amazing grace!

When we find ourselves living life apart from the gospel; when we find ourselves living as though everything is up to us and our own strength, wisdom, and power; when we find ourselves stagnant in our growth in godliness; we need to remember the gospel which saved us. We need to remember the promises of God for us in Christ: We are his children (Jn. 1:12); He will make us like the Son (1 Jn 3:2); He will persevere us to the end (Phil. 1:6); We have an inheritance in heaven (1 Pet. 1:4), among many others.

Forgetting what day it is (an all too often problem for me!) is a challenge. Forgetting an appointment is problematic. Forgetting the one thing you went to the grocery store to pick up is annoying. But forgetting what Christ has done for us in the gospel is far worse. May we go to great lengths to remember and rehearse the truths of the gospel each day, relishing in the truth that God has given us everything we need to live for him.