Deuteronomy 4:9 “But watch out. Be careful never to forget what you yourself have seen. Don not let these memories escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren.”
Moses is recapping to Israel all of the ways that God has been involved in their lives (choosing them; delivering them; protecting them; fighting for them) and to remind them to remember. Moses doesn’t want them to forget the story; and wants to stress the importance of retelling the story to future generations that it may become their story; that they may hear and accept God’s invitation into the story. The fact that Moses has to tell the Israelites to remember implies that they are not good at remembering and prone to forget. Which is why there is this constant focus on retelling the story over and over again to make sure they don’t forget and perhaps the reason Israel ultimately forgets who and whose they are is because they quit telling the story to themselves and their children and their grandchildren.
I’m thinking about the story and the fact that we are always retelling a story; we are always remembering a story; we are always communicating a story to our children and grandchildren. The question for me this morning is: “What story am I telling? What story was I told? Was the story I learned a faithful story? Does it measure up with scripture? Does it communicate and invite me into the eternal conversation with God?” If I get real honest, I’m not really sure which story I was told. I think they were trying to tell me the story of Jesus but far too often it seemed like the story of the world. I can’t help but look at my own life today and ask myself which story I am communicating to my children. What story am I telling them about marriage? What story am I telling them about parenting? What story am I telling them about the Church? What story am I telling them about Jesus? What story am I telling them about work? I hear this call from God today to enter into the story of scripture and allow that to be my story and that every story I’m telling my children must flow in and through this story of scripture. I am reminded that I have a bad memory and that I need to constantly tell the story of God’s love in Jesus Christ so I am not tempted to communicate a different story.
Lord, I long to be an instrument of your story, and to live a life that constantly remembers your story; thank you for inviting me into this story; this eternal conversation with you that will last forever. May you equip me to be the kind of person that seeks to know the story and allow the story to work in my life that you can use me to invite others into this story. I thank you today for being the kind of God that came to me and sought me out in Jesus Christ; I thank you for being the kind of God that invited me into the story even when I deserved to be left out. Help Crossroads be the kind of Church that enters into your story and begins to write the next chapter. Allow your story to interpret and guide us into the tomorrows. Empower us to be the kind of place that continues to tell the story and remember the story so our children and grandchildren will come behind us and continue the story of your pursuit to love the world to heaven. Amen!
God invites me into a story that will outlive my life and continue through my children and grandchildren.
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