…be careful that you do not forget the LORD. (Deuteronomy 6:12, NIV)
It’s true. I don’t remember everything I should on the golf course. Chief among my forgotten items are critical swing thoughts.
Here’s a common example: I will spend the day working on my simple trigger move, the one thing that gets my swing started and sets up the flow of motion that comes thereafter (at least that’s the way it’s supposed to work!). But shot after shot, things go awry. I miss it a bit this way, then a bit that way. I can’t figure out why. Then, when I hop in the car and start making the quiet trip home, I realize that not once during the round did I consider my alignment. Without correct positioning toward the target, my mind will register the nuances of difference and produce compensations—oh, what a mess, and all because of my forgetfulness!
When God marched the Israelites out of Egypt and moved them toward the Promised Land, he began to instruct them in the particulars that would identify and preserve them as his people. And then he instructed them about the instructions: Learn these things. Teach these things. Write these things down. And one more: remember the one who brought you to this wonderful place.
But it did not take long for the forgetfulness to kick in. In fact, it already had in one monumental way—when the people cried for an idol they could worship in the meantime while God was “busy” meeting with Moses up there on that mountain (Exodus 32).
This, we might say, was what God was talking about. No idol had rescued them from their slavery. No idol deserved to be remembered.
And yet, we can each attest to the times in our lives when we have remembered idols—lesser things given undeserved attention—ahead of God. Let’s commit to undoing that today. Let’s remember:
- God’s faithful attention to our deepest needs.
- God’s provision in our desperate hours.
- God’s salvation through his crucified and resurrected Son.
- God’s mercy and forgiveness in spite of our sin.
- God’s blessings—those times when he gives us far more than we ask.
- God’s peace when the circumstances around us are swirling.
- God’s hope for wondrous, everlasting life in his presence.
Let’s remember and thank him for all that he gives us, today and every day.
—
Jeff Hopper
March 13, 2012
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The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday through Friday at www.linksplayers.com.