## Forgetfulness

## Deuteronomy 8:1-20

How soon they forget! That is more than just a clever saying, it is the truth. Sports fans forget that their team won last year when they begin to lose this year. Children forget the sacrifices their parents make for them. Students forget the teachers that taught them. We forget faces, dates, places, and even the names of old friends. But fortunately, most of what we forget is not all that serious.

Forgetfulness in the spiritual realm is more serious. In our text this morning, Moses warned God's people of forgetting what God has done for them in the past. There is a message for us this morning in the passage as well.

I. Beware of Forgetting God When Life Gets Good. cf v1-11

A. What we are not talking about:

1. We are not talking about absentmindedness.

2. Facts about God can be remembered while we forget God.

3. It isn't that there is a danger of our totally wiping God out of our memories.

B. The danger is forgetting the reality of God in our lives.

1. We are talking about forgetting how much we need to depend upon Him.

2. Forgetting the importance of being obedient to His Word.

3. Forgetting that He is a living God and not a dead religion!

C. The danger becomes most prevalent when we are enjoying prosperity.

1. It is ironic that we may find ourselves forgetting Him because of the many blessings that He has given us.

2. When our hands are full we forget the lessons we learned when our hands were empty.

3. For forty years the nation of Israel wandered in the wilderness with little or no possessions.

4. Each step of the way they had to depend totally on God to provide and meet their needs.

5. Now they were making ready to enter into the land of milk and honey, the promised land where they would settle down and enjoy the blessings of God.

6. When we have little we live in dependence on God.

7. People sometimes ask why America has forgotten God...it is because of our prosperity!

8. Missionaries in Eastern Europe tell us how that the hunger for God is beginning to wane because of the increase of material possessions!

II. The Result of Forgetting God. v12-17

A. "Then thine heart be lifted up" v14

1. Pride is lodged in the seat of our personality...the heart.

2. Pride begins to grow when we forget our absolute dependence upon God.

3. Most of us have had an early wilderness experience.

4. Or perhaps you are experiencing a trip through the wilderness right now.

5. Resources are short, living from day to day, and the future in insecure.

6. The danger is when we forget that it was the Lord who brought us through.

B. "And thou say in thine heart..." v17

1. Notice that this is in our hearts.

2. We may still go through the motions of worshiping Him and publicly giving thanks, but in our hearts we take the credit.

3. That is the deceptiveness of our enemy...we forget God and think that it was by our own abilities and wisdom.

4. Instead of 'How Great Thou Art' we sing 'I Did It My Way'!

C. "Ye shall surely perish" v19-20

1. We cannot expect God to bless disobedience.

2. The Lord loves us too much to allow us to live that way.

3. "For whom the Lord loveth, He chasteneth..." cf Heb. 12:6

4. God may simply withdraw His hand of blessing from our lives.

III. How To Recover From Spiritual Amnesia. v18

A. It takes a deliberate effort on our part to remember.

1. We must sit down and evaluate where we are and how we got here.

2. It is God who has sustained us and brought us through the tough times.

3. Jesus made it very clear when He said, "Without me ye can do nothing". cf Jn. 15:5b

B. We must be honest with ourselves.

1. Remember that God sustains us because of His promise, not our performance.

2. He took care of the nation of Israel because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

3. God is true to His Word and His name.

4. None of us deserve His blessings it is totally because of His sovereign will and grace that He bestows them upon us.

5. All that we are and all that we have is the result of His faithfulness!

This morning let's remember God. Don't be misled into thinking that what we have is because of who we are. It is rather because of Whose we are! Do you know the Lord this morning? Have you been born again? If not, know that God loves you and wants to see you saved and serving Him. Will you come?

Christians, have we forgotten God? When we look around us and see all that we have do we give Him the glory? Or has pride found its way into our hearts and lives? Pride will cause us to forget our need for dependence on the Lord.