History. For most people, it’s a topic that’s akin to watching paint dry: tedious, boring, and ultimately pointless. “Why should I learn about George Washington crossing the Delaware or about a Macedonian named Alexander the Great who lived close to 2,400 years ago?” For most of us, we feel anonymous, insulated and not part of the history-making process. We’re not a Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln. For that matter, we’re not even close to or work in places where “history” is made, like the White House. Our names will most likely never enter the history books. Additionally, how does something that happened so many hundred years ago affect us? It doesn’t surprise me that many people feel disconnected from events that transpired ages ago and could care less about learning about these events.
God knows that we have a habit of forgetting things easily, forgetting who we are in His story, even going as far to forget Him and what He’s done for us. This is why time and time again we see in the Bible that He mandates people to take note and REMEMBER events. Just one example of many: the Passover. We all know what happened on the day before Israel fled Egypt. It was the final plague that God sent to the Egyptians in order to free Israel. Israel was instructed to paint their front door frame with the blood of a lamb. When the Angel of Death saw the blood, he passed over the house and no firstborn was slain there. In His instructions to the Israelites on how to prepare their households for the Angel of Death, God commanded them to remember this event, giving them specific ways to celebrate this new holiday. (See Exodus 12, especially verses 14-20.)
This isn’t the first or the last time in the Bible God commands people to remember things and create a holiday or a monument to help those generations to come identify what God did for His people. The Bible details numerous feasts and holidays outside of the Passover. In the book of Joshua, memorial stones are erected to commemorate the nation of Israel passing through the Jordan River (see chapter 4).
Why all this? Because of our children and all those who aren’t born yet, because of the future. Deuteronomy 4:9 reads, “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” It is an ironic juxtaposition that by taking care of our past and taking great pains to record things correctly, we are remembering the role of the future generations, helping them “remember” all the crucial events that transpired to bring them where they are, including God’s important role, just like countless future generations of Israelites who weren’t present during the Passover are able to celebrate an event they weren’t around for. If we write God out of the past, He will be written out in the future because no one will remember Him.
History’s most important lesson? If God was exceedingly faithful in the past, so will He be in the future. That’s something well worth remembering.
-Matt
DeuteronomyExodusforgetfutureGodhistoryJoshuamemorial stonesPassoverremember
Remember the Future
March 4, 2010
Calvary
Comments Off on Remember the Future
Matt
History. For most people, it’s a topic that’s akin to watching paint dry: tedious, boring, and ultimately pointless. “Why should I learn about George Washington crossing the Delaware or about a Macedonian named Alexander the Great who lived close to 2,400 years ago?” For most of us, we feel anonymous, insulated and not part of the history-making process. We’re not a Washington, Jefferson, or Lincoln. For that matter, we’re not even close to or work in places where “history” is made, like the White House. Our names will most likely never enter the history books. Additionally, how does something that happened so many hundred years ago affect us? It doesn’t surprise me that many people feel disconnected from events that transpired ages ago and could care less about learning about these events.
God knows that we have a habit of forgetting things easily, forgetting who we are in His story, even going as far to forget Him and what He’s done for us. This is why time and time again we see in the Bible that He mandates people to take note and REMEMBER events. Just one example of many: the Passover. We all know what happened on the day before Israel fled Egypt. It was the final plague that God sent to the Egyptians in order to free Israel. Israel was instructed to paint their front door frame with the blood of a lamb. When the Angel of Death saw the blood, he passed over the house and no firstborn was slain there. In His instructions to the Israelites on how to prepare their households for the Angel of Death, God commanded them to remember this event, giving them specific ways to celebrate this new holiday. (See Exodus 12, especially verses 14-20.)
This isn’t the first or the last time in the Bible God commands people to remember things and create a holiday or a monument to help those generations to come identify what God did for His people. The Bible details numerous feasts and holidays outside of the Passover. In the book of Joshua, memorial stones are erected to commemorate the nation of Israel passing through the Jordan River (see chapter 4).
Why all this? Because of our children and all those who aren’t born yet, because of the future. Deuteronomy 4:9 reads, “Only be careful, and watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.” It is an ironic juxtaposition that by taking care of our past and taking great pains to record things correctly, we are remembering the role of the future generations, helping them “remember” all the crucial events that transpired to bring them where they are, including God’s important role, just like countless future generations of Israelites who weren’t present during the Passover are able to celebrate an event they weren’t around for. If we write God out of the past, He will be written out in the future because no one will remember Him.
History’s most important lesson? If God was exceedingly faithful in the past, so will He be in the future. That’s something well worth remembering.
-Matt
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DeuteronomyExodusforgetfutureGodhistoryJoshuamemorial stonesPassoverremember