Watch yourselves closely and do not forget
Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9 NRSV
So now, Israel, give heed to the statutes and ordinances that I am teaching you to observe, so that you may live to enter and occupy the land that the Lord, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. You must neither add anything to what I command you nor take away anything from it but keep the commandments of the Lord your God with which I am charging you.
You must observe them diligently, for this will show your wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!” For what other great nation has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is whenever we call to him?  And what other great nation has statutes and ordinances as just as this entire law that I am setting before you today?
But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children.
Forever, O Lord, “your Word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89 NKJV); it is eternal and “stands firm in the heavens” (NIV); it is “firmly fixed” (CSB).
You gave the statutes and ordinances through Moses to ancient Israel so that by living obediently they would enjoy “prosperity and good success” (Joshua 1:8). The gift of your precepts and commandments was evidence to all the nations around Israel of the nearness of their God to them and of the great wisdom you had imparted to them. You gave clear instructions to remember all your works, to remember all your Word, and to pass these truths on to the next generations.
But they failed.
They deliberately turned away from your instructions. They failed to pass the faith on to their children. They chose to go their own way so that “everyone did what was right in his own eyes” (Judges 21:25 NKJV).
And we do the same things today. We twist your Word to make it say what we want it to say. Our efforts at obedience are half-hearted and inconsistent. Our hearts are hardened so that we do not realize the precious gift of wisdom and life that your Word is to us. We pay scant attention to your merciful and gracious actions for us, and we ignore the gift of your immanent nearness.
Forgive us, O Lord. Have mercy on us. Change our hearts, O God! Convict us of our sin and give us the gift of repentance. Fill us with your Spirit so that we might live the life that our Lord Jesus Christ died and rose again to give us.
Amen.
Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds
Isaac Watts
Let children hear the mighty deeds which God performed of old, which in our younger years we saw and which our fathers told. He bids us make his glories known, the works of pow’r and grace, that we convey his wonders down through ev’ry rising race.
Our lips shall tell them to our sons, and they again to theirs, and generations yet unborn must teach them to their heirs. Thus shall they learn, in God alone their hope securely stands, that they may ne’er forget his works, but practice his commands
Let Children Hear the Mighty Deeds
https://youtu.be/5If8n-pmjIw?si=3rJ2_jfSRFEFocnK
If you have found this meditation helpful, take a moment and give thanks to God. Then share what you learned with a friend. This is how the grace of God spreads (2 Corinthians 4.15).
