Today I am reading Deuteronomy 26. Moses is instructing the Israelites on "How to do life" after they had entered into the promised land.
Do you remember the story? God used Moses to free His chosen people from slavery and oppression in Egypt. And though it took 40 years of wandering in the desert places, God finally delivered them into their promised land.
Gods instruction was clear and had a purpose. He said, "When you have entered the land the Lord your God is giving you and you take it and possess it -- take some of the first fruits and put them in a basket. Go to Gods dwelling place and say the following to the priest:
"I declare today to the Lord your God that I've come to the land the Lord swore to our forefathers to give us".
When the priest sets your offering before the Lord you shall declare:
"My father was a wandering Aramean and he went down into Egypt with a few people and lived there and became a great nation, powerful and numerous. But the Egyptians mistreated us and made us suffer enslaving us. Then we cried to the Lord, the God of our fathers and the Lord heard our voice and saw our misery, toil and oppression. So the Lord brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm with great terror and with miraculous signs and wonders. He brought us to this place and gave us this land - a land flowing with milk and honey. So now I bring the first fruits of the soil that you O Lord have given me. Rejoice in all the Lord has given you."
Was this a message only for this people in this time? I say no.
You see, we are all Israel. We are all prior slaves - enslaved to sin - for we have all known the crush and oppression and bondage of sin. Some of us are still enslaved privately. And just as the slaves of long ago Israel, God has set some of us free and we have been free indeed.
Do you remember that moment you realized you were walking in freedom again? Do you remember the joy of freedom? You see we are no different from our first ancestors who walked to freedom between two great walls of water through the Red Sea.
Why was it important for Israel, Gods Jewish people - to make those particular declarations before the Lord? It was an admonition to REMEMBER...
Remember how hopeless your existence was when once enslaved...
Remember the pain, the abuse, the torment and devastation.
Remember how you cried out for release and for healing.
Remember the abject misery you lived in.
Then...
Remember how the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand.
Remember how He appeared with miraculous signs and wonders.
Remember His faithfulness and every movement He made.
The reason for this is necessary for it serves a mighty purpose. It is in the remembering that we remain tethered, anchored and grounded to how we need to live -- which is CHRIST centered and not self centered. We need to be CHRIST dependent and not I - dependent which is "in"dependent. It is good for us to remember our salvation, our freedom - does not depend upon us, but rests solely upon the power of God. All we have to do is realize our need for him.
Remember it is a sign of strength and not weakness to understand the need for God and our dependence upon Him.
Entrust yourself therefore to God Almighty and Remember what you know!. Be quick to glorify Him with all you are and all you have.
