Remember

There is an oft-rehearsed quote from Spanish-American philosopher, essayist, poet, and novelist George Santayana. You have heard at least a part of it, and may have quoted that segment to others. You’ll recognize it in this larger context.

The Quote

Progress, far from consisting in change, depends on retentiveness. When change is absolute there remains no being to improve and no direction is set for possible improvement: and when experience is not retained, as among savages, infancy is perpetual. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. In the first stage of life the mind is frivolous and easily distracted; it misses progress by failing in consecutiveness and persistence. This is the condition of children and barbarians, in whom instinct has learned nothing from experience.

Do not miss the importance and the impact of that opening line. Progress depends not on constant change, but on retaining and building atop history. When change is perpetual and absolute, we remain in our infancy. It seems counterintuitive, but Santayana is hitting a bullseye with this truth.

For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of.
– Deuteronomy 4:32, ESV

The people of Israel were gathered on the east side of the Jordan River, preparing to cross over and take the promised land. Before doing so, Moses offered a lengthy charge to them, and the quote above is found early in that charge. Israel needed to operate with a sense of historical perspective. They needed to study and know their history from the beginning, “since the day God created man on the earth.” God called on them to remember some very specific things.

What to Remember

When God puts a great calling on your life, some river to cross and a land to conquer, something that involves risk and courage and faith…remember! Has there ever been a god like our God?

• Did the masses ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the fire and yet live?
• Has God ever attempted to go and take for himself a nation from the midst of another nation?
  • …by trials?
  • …by signs?
  • …by wonders?
  • …by war?
  • …by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm?
  • …by great deeds of terror?

All of this was done for Israel and before their very eyes as their God and our God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob led them out of the horrors of captivity, doing so by his presence and his great power, driving out nations mightier than them, to bring them into the land of their inheritance.

And why? Why does God do such things?

What to Learn

…that you might know that the LORD is God;
– Deuteronomy 4:35b, ESV

Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.
– Deuteronomy 4:39-40, ESV

Make no mistake … your God IS God, and there is no other. He is God. He is King. He reigns, and it is upon us to obey the King’s commands and statutes. Because when we, as a nation or a people, do not do so, it does not go well for us, or for our children after us. Notice that God is commanding them, practically begging them, to obey his statutes, not because he’s a control freak. No, this is not for God’s benefit, it is for their benefit, that it may go well for them and their children.

We are the same with our own children. We guide them. We instruct them. We nurture them so that they avoid injury or trauma. We discipline our children so they grow into responsible, happy, productive adults. This is what God is doing. He places parameters around us and if we will but live within those parameters, our lives will be glorious and blessed!

And God incarnate, Jesus, our Lord, our King, has said the same to us.

If you love me, you will keep my commandments.
– John 14:15, ESV

And what will be the outcome of that obedience?

If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him.
– John 14:23, ESV

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.
– John 14:16-17, ESV

God is mighty, and he works on our behalf for our good. He is God. He is King. We follow and obey him. And brothers and sisters, it’s a piece of cake!

For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.
– 1 John 5:3, ESV

Blessings upon you, my friends.

Victoriously in Christ!

– damon

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1. Santayana, G. (1905). The Life of Reason: Volume 1 (p. 284). New York, NY: Scribner