Take care, lest you forget the LORD...

4 “Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

10 “And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give you—with great and good cities that you did not build, 11 and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full, 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 6)

Loving God. Plan and simple, that was what God asks for. But why should we? That is what fathers are responsible to share. The fathers of Israel had been sharing it for generations; this generation which was witnessing the Exodus was to do the same. So are we in this present generation. This first half of the chapter explains more the "how" we are to do it: in daily life - in what we say, what we show to be important, and what we surround ourselves with in our home and lives. The second half of this chapter goes on to tell why: if we do not, then we forget and get distracted by the false "gods" of this world, and will end up forfeiting the blessings God gives His people. Don't be the dad who neglects his responsibility of sharing God's faithfulness with the next generation. When we do, we fail our families and the God Who has given them to us.  

Remember Who You're Talking with...

2 God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the Lord. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. 6 Say therefore to the people of Israel, ‘I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. 7 I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8 I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the Lord.’” 9 Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery. (Exodus 6)
Round one with Pharoah had not gone well.  Not only did he laugh in Moses' face, he also increased the burden on the people, which led to the Hebrews stewards being punished, which made them all angry with Moses and Aaron, which in turn made them upset with God. God's response throughout this paragraph is this: remember who I AM. Remember what I have done before. You will know me better when I do these things for you.  At that time, the people were not ready to listen. They were wallowing in emotional and physical pain. But it was all still true. No matter what your struggle today, remember Who it is you are talking to, what He has already done, and that through the struggle He will show you more of Who He is. 

It's Your Fault!

15 Then the foremen of the people of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, “Why do you treat your servants like this? 16 No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ And behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people.” 17 But he said, “You are idle, you are idle; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.’ 18 Go now and work. No straw will be given you, but you must still deliver the same number of bricks.” 19 The foremen of the people of Israel saw that they were in trouble when they said, “You shall by no means reduce your number of bricks, your daily task each day.” 20 They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came out from Pharaoh; 21 and they said to them, “The Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us stink in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.” 22 Then Moses turned to the Lord and said, “O Lord, why have you done evil to this people? Why did you ever send me? 23 For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.”

(Exodus 5)

Sometimes, when heading toward where God wants us to go, things seem to be going from bad to worse. Such was the situation here. Moses was minding his own business in Midian, when God called him to go back to his people in Egypt. Moses did all he was told to do and say, which got Pharoah in an indignant uproar against all the people of Israel.  The foreman began by blaming Pharoah, who in turn blamed the nation, who blamed Moses, who then blames God. "It's your fault things are so bad! This is not the plan!" Or maybe it is. Maybe God knows that He needs to work all self-sufficiency out of our hearts and minds, so we will closely follow Him and consistently call out to Him step by step of our journey to where He wants us to be.  Go ahead and blame God. He can take it. And if it is not His "Fault", He will make it clear, step by step. 

Help is on the Way

27 The Lord said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him. 28 And Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him to speak, and all the signs that he had commanded him to do. 29 Then Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the people of Israel. 30 Aaron spoke all the words that the Lord had spoken to Moses and did the signs in the sight of the people. 31 And the people believed; and when they heard that the Lord had visited the people of Israel and that he had seen their affliction, they bowed their heads and worshiped. (Exodus 4)
After making excuses why he could not carry out God's call, Moses was told by God that Aaron would be his assistant. Just as He had spoken to Moses, God spoke to Aaron as well. God does that: He sends people to help do whatever it is He has called on us to do.  We have no excuses or claims to insufficiency; God is the One Who calls and enables, and He often sends others to fill in the gaps in our abilities (or willingness). Just think of what Moses would have missed if he refused to leave Midian!  As for the people, they too were being shown and told that help was on the way. Even more important to them that they had a leader who was empowered to act, they had the assurance that God has seen, heard, and was answering their prayers. That is something we all can understand. 

Be Curious, yet Cautious

Now Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law, Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led his flock to the west side of the wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 And the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed. 3 And Moses said, “I will turn aside to see this great sight, why the bush is not burned.” 4 When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God." (Exodus 3)
If we are ever to experience all that God has for us, we need to utilize one of the senses He has instilled in us: curiousity.  It gets us to explore. It moves us to ask: "What is that? What if...?" Moses demonstrated a healthy curiousity. He asked the what and why. He also responded when spoken to. But He did not move forward carelessly or disrepectfully. He was brave, yet humble. Most of us never get that far. God flashes something before us we ignore; He whispers (or even shouts) something we brush off. We never explore what He may have in store.  Go through your day today a little curious, asking those questions, looking and listening to what God may be putting in your path that you either walk around or over and ignore. Don't miss out on the opportunities. 

God knows... so cry out to Him...

23 During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. 24 And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. 25 God saw the people of Israel—and God knew (Exodus 2)
As conditions worstened in Egypt for the people of Israel, they cried out to God.  God heard; He remembered; He saw, and He knew.  God hears it all, that we know.  Did God forget? Remembering does not necessarily imply forgetting, but indicates that it was time to do something about a promise. He saw. That too does not indicate He could not see before, but that He looked at the situation and decided the time was right. God knew. Knew what? Where is the direct object of the verb here? There is too much to list: God knew the situation; He knew the hearts of His people; He knew what He wanted to do, so He did. It all begins to unfold when God's people call out to Him. We cannot complain that God does not see, hear, or know; our responsibility is to call out to Him in prayer. Then things will begin to happen. 

Convictions that will land you in the Promised Land

15 Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, 16 “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” 17 But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. 18 So the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?” 19 The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” 20 So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong. 21 And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families. 22 Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.” (Exodus 1)
Life is Sacred.  These women knew that. It was core to their being as people of God.  It affected their actions, personally and professionally. The put their lives and their careers on the line to do what is right.  They did it to please God.  God, in return, blessed their lives, but that is not why they did it; they did it out of conviction and obedience to the One Who gives life.  It was not popular then, and it is not popular now.  The flow of government and even public opinion is against life. Let us stick to our basic conviction: Life is sacred, and show it by our actions.  Let us respectfully refuse to "go with the flow" and pray for those who just don't get it. They are blinded and hard-hearted, but worthy of our prayers.