Forget Me Not

Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me, bless His holy name!  Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all His benefits, who forgives all your iniquity, who heals all your diseases, who redeems your life from the pit, who crowns you with steadfast love and mercy.  --Psalm 103:1-4

The flower in the image above is called a "Forget-Me-Not".  Traditionally, this flower represents remembrance.  It also carries several other meanings, including true love, devotion, and royalty.  All of these themes are brought out in our study today.

In the fourth chapter of Deuteronomy, Moses preaches a sermon to the people.  He calls them to be faithful; when they fall away, he calls them to seek forgiveness; and at all times he urges them not to forget.

Be Faithful

Moses begins by reminding the people of the faithfulness of God.  He urges them, in turn, to remain faithful to God.  Let's pick up his discourse in verse 5:

See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commended me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.  Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear of all these statutes, will say, "Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people."  For what great nation is there that has a God so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon Him?  And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? (Deuteronomy 4:5-8).

When Moses spoke these words, the people had been wandering in the wilderness for 40 years.  All of the people who had escaped Egypt had died, except for Moses, Joshua, and Caleb.  They did not see first-hand how God had split the Red Sea.  They had heard their fathers speak of it.  Yet this generation had experienced God leading them in a cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.  They did have a first-hand experience of God going before them and striking fear in their enemies across the Jordan, because of military victories they had won in the trans-Jordan areas. 

Many years later, in 2 Samuel 7:23, David says, "And who is like Your people Israel, the on nation on earth whom God went to redeem to be His people, making Himself a name and doing for them great and awesome things by driving out before Your people, whom You redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, a nation and it's gods?"  David remained faithful generations after God led Moses to deliver Israel out of Egypt.  He still believed.

Jesus alludes to this kind of faithfulness when He appeared to Thomas in John 20.  Thomas saw Jesus' resurrected body, and he believed.  Jesus said in verse 29, "Have you believed because you have seen Me? Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."

Sometimes people cannot see beyond their own circumstances.  Even then, even in times of trouble, we are to remain faithful.  Psalm 34:18 says, "The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit."  Psalm 46:1 says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."  Psalm 145:18 says, "The Lord is near to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him in truth."

James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.  Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded."  To those who would fall away because of trouble, 2 Peter 2:21 says, "For it would have been better for them never to have known the way of righteousness than after knowing it to turn back from the holy commandment delivered to them."  Be faithful, my friend.  God is with you, even in the dark times.

Ask Forgiveness

Moses knew that the people would not always remain faithful.  He recognized that human nature often leads men astray.  He continues his sermon emphasizing the dangers of idolatry.  However, knowing the hearts of men, he prophetically predicted Israel's predicament when they would turn from the one true God and begin to worship idols from other countries and cultures.

Even so, Moses knew the nature of God:  He is faithful, and He is forgiving.  So when the people did eventually find themselves estranged from God and wrapped up in idolatry, Moses advised them to seek God's forgiveness.

But from there you will seek the Lord your God and you will find Him, if you search after Him with all your heart and with all your soul.  When you are in tribulation, and all these things come upon you in the latter days, you will return to the Lord your God and obey His voice.  For the Lord your God is a merciful God.  He will not leave you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them.

Generations later, after God sent the people of Israel into exile for their idolatry, He raised up Nehemiah.  In the book that bears his name, chapter 1, verses 8 and 9 ,Nehemiah prayed, "Remember the word that You commanded Moses, saying 'If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples, but if you return to Me and keep my commandments and do them, though your outcasts are in the uttermost parts of heaven, from there I will gather them and bring them to the place that I have chosen, to make My Name dwell there'."

Isaiah 55:6-7 says, "Seek the Lord while He may be found; call upon Him while He is near; let the wicked forsake his way and the unrighteous man his thoughts; let him return to the Lord, that He may have compassion on him, and to our God, for He will abundantly pardon."  Jeremiah 29:13-14 says, "You will seek Me and find Me, when you seek Me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore you fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the  places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile."

2 Chronicles 30:9 says, "For if you return to the Lord, your brothers and your children will find compassion with their captors and return to this land.  For the Lord your God is gracious and merciful and will not turn away His face from you if you return to Him." Nehemiah 9:31 says, "Nevertheless, in Your great mercies You did not make an end of them or forsake them, for You are a great and merciful God."

God even shows mercy to people other than the nation of Israel.  Jonah 4:2 "And he prayed to the Lord and said, 'O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that You are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster."  I think that the story of Jonah is a type and shadow of the message of the Messiah being open to the Gentiles.  Paul said in Philippians 1:6, "And I am sure of this, that He who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ."  The work of Christ was to bring all men to the Father.  We are tasked with continuing the work of Christ in the world.  We may be discouraged, but we remember that 1 Chronicles 28:20  says, "Then David said to Solomon his son, 'Be strong and courageous and do it.  Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, is with you.  He will not leave you or forsake you, until all the work for the service of the house of the Lord is finished'."

Do Not Forget

Got is faithful, and He calls us to faithfulness, even if we have fallen.  We have a great legacy in Scripture, evidence of God working in days past.  If we remember His works, we will not be discouraged or fall into despair. Moses continues his sermon in Deuteronomy 4:33-39

Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live?  Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes?  To you it was shown, that you might know that the Lord is God; there is no other besides Him.  Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might discipline you. And on earth He let you see His great fire and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.  And because He loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with His own presence, by His great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, 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.

Jeremiah 32:21 says, "You brought Your  people Israel out of the land of Egypt with signs and wonders, with a strong hand and outstretched arm, and with great terror."  Isaiah 45:5, 18, and 22 says, "I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God; I equip  you, though you do no know me...For thus says the Lord, who created the heavens (he is God!), who formed the earth and made it (He established it; He did not create it empty, He formed it to be inhabited!); 'I am the Lord, and there is no other'....'Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the earth!  For I am God, and there is no other'."

Isaiah 46:9 says, "Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me."  Jesus preached the same message.  Mark 12:32 says, "And the scribe said to Him, "You are right, Teacher.  You have truly said that He is one, and there is no other besides Him."

This Spring, as you plant your flower gardens, remember the significance of the Forget-Me-Not flower.  It is a remembrance, yes.  But it also denotes our true love of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, as well as our devotion, and His royalty.