Here is a summary of what God commanded the Israelites in this passage:
- Listen to the commands. But he also told them, “Be careful to do.” Listening means more than just hearing, but also heeding.
- Love the Lord. “These words I’m commanding you shall be on your heart.” This command implies that they are the ones to do the keeping on their hearts. What does that mean? How does one do that? The commands aren’t supposed to just be items on a checklist that represent the bare minimum one has to do to please God. On their hearts implies care, value, love, deep feeling. The commands represent relationship. Isn’t it amazing that keeping commands can affect our feelings?
- Beyond doing them, they were given other ways to remember them and keep them. Teach them. Keep them ready at hand and right in front of your eyes as constant reminders. Write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, so that you will be reminded of them coming and going.
- Watch yourself lest you forget the Lord.
- Fear only Him, worship Him and only Him. Don’t test Him.
- Diligently keep His commandments. Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord. “It will be righteousness for us if we are careful to observe all this commandment, just as He commanded us.” His commandments equaled good and right.
- Do what is right and good in the sight of the Lord,…that you may possess. There were conditions to their possession. “When God delivers the people into your hand … you shall utterly destroy them.” “If you keep the commands to do them, the Lord your God will keep with you His covenant and His lovingkindness.” And He will love you and bless you and multiply you. You shall be blessed above all peoples. Does God set conditions on His New Testament people’s possession of His promises?
Fear might keep the Israelites from “consuming” (ref. verse 7:16) the people inhabiting the land before them. The antidote he offered for the fear was remembering what God had done in the past. The reason they didn’t need to dread them was that the Lord their God was “in their midst, a great and awesome God.” We need to remember as much as God’s Old Testament people did, and keep our eyes on Him as much as His Old Testament people needed to.
Moses warned them against forgetting God. What could possibly make them forget God?
- Satisfaction. Isn’t that sobering, that enjoyment of God’s blessings could be their downfall? This reminds us that we need to be careful ourselves, that we love the Giver more than we love His gifts. No wonder we are told to be on our guard!
- Not keeping His commands. Keeping His commands was connected with loving Him; failure to keep His commands would make them forget God. They couldn’t just fail to keep and still remember God so that one day they could turn back to Him when it would be convenient; their not keeping would result in forgetting. This is also sobering. We can’t choose the consequences of our sin, and often we can’t imagine what the consequences will be, cannot understand how horrible they will be.
- Pride. Are we guilty of thinking that we are the ones who have built what we have, because we possess the ability, we have done the work? Did you catch what God has to say about that? Whose conception of the truth is accurate; ours or God’s?
If these things would make them forget God, how can we learn from them not to forget Him ourselves? How can we use that information to be careful to remember God?
A key element to remembering is teaching the next generations. He charged them with teaching their sons and grandsons. Note how that was to take place: in every learning opportunity life afforded. That these words were on their hearts and precious to them would be evident in their speaking of them over the breakfast table and supper table, while they were working, while they were walking, and while they were resting. How precious are they to you, as evidenced by your speech? What are you teaching your children and grandchildren thus?