History Matters
“However, take care and be earnestly on your guard
not to forget the things which your own eyes have seen,
nor let them slip from your memory as long as you live,
but teach them to your children and to your children’s children.”Deuteronomy 4:9
Recently I have heard of more and more people working on “family history” projects or ancestry/family tree projects where people use programs and services to learn more about their family tree and ancestors and compile them into a neat collection so the current and future generations might come to know their history.
Moses reminded the Israelites to remember where they came from and who they were: the Chosen People of God. They were the remember how while they were enslaved by the Egyptians God heard their cry and saw their affliction and sent Moses to lead them out of slavery through the Red Sea and into wilderness where eventually they will reach the Promised Land. They were to remember their father Abraham and God’s covenant with him as well as the covenant God made with them. How God provided for them every step of the way. These things the people ought to remember and to pass on to their children so that all may come to know their heritage, that they were a people chosen by God.
Do we remember our heritage? The history of the Israelites is also our history. We, as Christians, are the descendants of Abraham. We are part of God’s family. Do we often think about that? Do we tell our children and grandchildren, brothers and sisters, aunts and uncles, cousins and friends about our history — the story of God’s love for us? How God created the world and breathed into us the His very breath, the breath of life and when man sinned He continued to provide for them, making a covenant with Abraham with whom He made an unconditional covenant that was later further defined in David from whose line will come the Savior and Messiah. And when the fullness of time came, He sent His only begotten Son into the world to save us from the deadly effects of the world so that we might have eternal life and be in communion with Him, restoring the Paradise we once lost because of sin? This is our story brothers and sisters. Let us never forget and let us never be ashamed to share it!
