Lest I Forget

We need reminders, lest we forget some important things. There’s the old time reminder of tying a string around our finger.  There’s the newer method of having the computer remind us of things. Or the alarm on the phone. As we get older, it seems harder to remember. I prefer to write things down on little notes to myself, but the trouble is that I sometimes lose track of the notes. “Where did I put that? I don’t remember.” Have you ever said that?

In Deuteronomy there are four “forget-me-nots.” Remember those cute little blue flowers with that name? Well, these are not “cute” reminders. They are solemn warnings.

Deuteronomy 4:9 (ESV) – “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you

     forget the things that your eyes have seen…”

Deuteronomy 4:23 – “Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the Lord your 

     God, which he made with you…”

Deuteronomy 6:12 – “Then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you

      out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

Deuteronomy 8:11 – “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping

      his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you

      today…”

It doesn’t seem possible that the people of Israel could forget those holy, amazing acts of God. But they did. How? By becoming saturated by the world around them. By becoming complacent in their worship. By being centered on selfish ambition. Hmm… Sound like anything you’ve noticed?

There’s an old song that says: “Lest I forget Gethsemane, lest I forget Thine agony; lest I forget Thy love for me, lead me to Calvary” (Lead Me to Calvary, lyrics by Jennie Hussey, 1921). That’s what communion (or the Lord’s Supper) does for us. It’s a reminder of what Christ accomplished on the cross.

The apostle Paul said, “God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ” (Galatians 6:14, KJV). How can we glory (or boast, as other translations put it) in something so horrible? Because God has made it a wondrous thing. What the world considered a defeat for Jesus became the victorious triumph over sin and the devil for those who embrace the cross.

Well, back to forgetting – or not forgetting. Let’s build some reminders into our lives of all that Christ has done for us – lest we forget. Lots of people wear a cross as a decoration, but do they recognize the significance of the symbol? We should surround ourselves with Bible verses and music that remind us of Calvary. And we can pray that the Spirit brings to our remembrance the truth of the cross and resurrection. They are crucial to our faith. How could we ever forget?