Deuteronomy 8:1-2 All the commandments which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply… I. THE CALL TO REMEMBRANCE. If knowledge is important, memory is important in precisely the same degree; for knowledge is nothing unless it be applied, and it cannot be applied unless it be remembered. But there are many who resemble the workmen in the days of Haggai, who received wages to put them into a bag of holes. And therefore says the apostle to the Hebrews, "Give the more earnest heed to the things you have heard, lest at any time you should let them slip"; for we are now considering memory not in reference to the scholar, or the man of business, but with regard to religion; and it is remarkable that the whole of religion is expressed by the word, "Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth." One thing, however, is worthy of consideration — that in all these instances the remembrance is to be considered, not as a speculation, but as experimental and practical. The sacred winters never regard remembrance as an end, but as an instrument; to call forth such feelings, and to produce such actions as will correspond to the things we are required to remember. As they consider knowledge without practice to be no better than ignorance, so they consider remembrance without influence and efficiency as no better than forgetfulness. II. THE SUBJECT TO BE REVIEWED. 1. The place — "the wilderness." 2. Their conductor — "the Lord thy God." God guides the people with His eye, He leads them by His word and His Spirit and His providence. He is a very present help to them in every time of trouble, and He will never leave them nor forsake them till they have entered the promised land. 3. The passages — "all the way." Not that everything in their journey was equally important and interesting; this could not be; but all had been under the appointment and discipline of God, and all would be rendered profitable. 4. The period — "these forty years." (W. Jay.) Parallel Verses KJV: All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. |
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