A family that overcomes the spiritual dementia

“you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.  …  You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  …  Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today;  …  But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.  ‘It shall come about if you ever forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you will surely perish.  …  Remember, do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness; from the day that you left the land of Egypt until you arrived at this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD” (Deuteronomy 7:18- 19, 8:2, 11, 18-19, 9:7).

Dementia is a major problem in many developed countries that now become an aging society.  At present, 9% of 65-year-olds in Korea are at a high rate of dementia (Internet).  The most common form of dementia is Alzheimer's disease.  It is a disease that cannot be cured in modern medicine.  And as time goes by, the symptoms worsen and it can result in death (Internet).  Likewise, one of the big problems in our modern day Christians is the spiritual dementia.  Now we, Christians, are forgetting the grace God that was given to us in the past.  Not only have we forgotten the grace of God's salvation, the joy of salvation, the love of salvation, but now we forget that God leads, supplies, and protects us.  And now we are forgetting the God’s abundant grace that was given to us and live however we want.  We must overcome this spiritual dementia.

When we look at Deuteronomy 7:18-19, 8:2, 11, 18-19, 9:7, there is a repeated word.  If I sum up that repeated word, I think it is ‘Don’t forget and remember.’  God told the Israelites in the wilderness as they were heading toward the land of Canaan, the Promised Land.  As I was meditating these words of God of Deuteronomy, I divided them into three parts and tried to apply them to my family.  I hope and pray that we can learn these three lessons and will be able to overcome the spiritual dementia as the Lord-centered family.

First, God told the Israelites in the wilderness to remember what God had done to Pharaoh and to all Egypt in the past.

Look at Deuteronomy 7:18-19: “you shall not be afraid of them; you shall well remember what the LORD your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw and the signs and the wonders and the mighty hand and the outstretched arm by which the LORD your God brought you out. So shall the LORD your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid.”  God told the Israelites to remember well.  What did God say to remember well?  This is what God has done to Pharaoh and to all Egypt, the great trials, the signs and the wonders, and the mighty hand and the outstretched arms when God rescued the Israelites from Egypt.  Why did God tell the Israelites to remember all of these?  The reason was because the Israelites might be afraid of the people in the Promised Land of Canaan, saying in their hearts, “These nations are greater than I; how can I dispossess them?’ (v. 17)  But the Israelites actually were afraid of the Canaanites (v. 19).  Therefore, God told the Israelites not to be afraid of the Canaanites but to remember the power of salvation that God has revealed in the past in Egypt.  The God who manifested the power of salvation was the God of Israel, and also "a great and awesome God" (v.21), so the Israelites shouldn’t be afraid but relied on the Almighty God of salvation.

I heard that my great grandfather and great grandmother were from, Pyongyang, North Koreans.  I heard that my great grandfather was a pastor, and that he also participated in independence movement during the Japanese occupation.  And I heard that my grandfather and grandmother brought their children, my father and his siblings, to South Korea during the Korean War.  Although I don’t know all the details but one thing I know and I believe is that God has rescued them during that Japanese occupation and the Korean War.  We cannot but give thanks to God for the God's gracious gift of eternal life (salvation) by believing in Jesus Christ.  But God also rescued them from all those crisis during the unforgettable historical moments in Korea, the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.  In my big uncle’s case, while his father was bringing him and his older brother on the way to South Korea from North Korea, they stood at a crossroads.  What my big uncle told me few times was if God didn’t lead them to the right and safe path, then they wouldn’t be able to make it to South Korea.  When he was physically getting weak and was in nursing home, he was still remembering at that moment during the Korean War.  And he told me that he couldn’t forget what his father did for him, carrying him on his back.  How could he forget?  God has led all of my father's family from North Korea to South Korea and from South Korea to the United States.  I don’t want to forget what God did to my great grandparents, grandparents, my parents and also their siblings.  Although I don’t fully know what God has done in their lives, I would like to remember what I know, the wonderful things God has done for them, giving them salvation and delivering them in the midst of crisis of their lives.

We must remember well God’s grace and what He had done for us in the past.  Especially if we are currently facing difficulties and adversity in our lives, we must remember His gracious gift of salvation that rescued us and our family from the crisis and adversity in our lives in the past.  In doing so, we will be able to overcome the spiritual dementia.

Second, God told the Israelites in the wilderness to remember all the way which the Lord God had led them in the wilderness for forty years.

Look at Deuteronomy 8:2-4: “You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.  He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.  Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.”  God told the Israelites to remember again.  What did God tell him to remember again?  He told them to remember all the way which the Lord God had led them in the wilderness for 40 years.  God wanted the Israelites to know the God's purpose, why God allowed them to walk in the wilderness for 40 years.  What was the purpose?  The first purpose was that God tested the Israelites, to know what was in their hearts, whether they would keep His commandments or not (v. 2).  God led them to the wilderness for 40 years because He wanted to know whether the Israelites would keep His commandments or not.  The second purpose was that God has fed them with manna for 40 years, so that the Israelites may know that they live by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord (v. 3).  The third purpose was that God wanted to do good for them in the end (v. 16).  God wanted the Israelites to remember these three purposes.

I don’t know how much my ancestors suffered in North Korea during the Japanese occupation and the Korean War.  I think it would be more appropriate to say I don’t know.  But what I do know and believe is that in the midst of it, God has given all of them daily meals, supplies them with necessary things, comforted them, and protected them until today.  I still remember that my grandmother cried in tears when I and my wife visited her in the hospital.  So I asked her why she was crying.  And she told me that she was crying because she was grateful.  She was grateful to God because God raised several pastors in our families.  What a great gracious blessing this is from God.  I still remember vividly my grandmother shed tears of gratitude and thanksgiving, thinking about God’s grace given to our families.

We must remember the grace God has given to us in the past.  We must remember that from the past day until today God has provided us with what we need, and how He has tested us and molded us in the furnace of affliction.  In particular, we must not forget a great lesson that God has given us, that is we must live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.  And we must remember that God is leading us to walk the path of this desert like world in order to bless us.  In doing so, we will be able to overcome the spiritual dementia.

Third, God told the Israelites in the wilderness not to forget the Lord their God when they would enter into the land of Canaan in the future.

Look at Deuteronomy 8:11-14: “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”  God wanted the Israelites to remember God when they would go into the land of Canaan.  But the servant of God Moses became concerned.  What was his concern?  His concern was that the Israelites would forget the Lord their God (v. 14) when they would enter into the land of Canaan and when they had eaten and were satisfied, had built good houses and lived in them, their herds, flocks, silver, gold and all that they had multiplied (vv. 12-13).  In other words, what Moses was concerned about was that the Israelites’ hearts would become proud and world forget God (v. 14).  Moses knew that when the Israelites entered the land of Canaan, became wealthy (v. 13) and became proud, they would say in their hearts, “My power and the strength of my hand made me this wealth” (v. 17).  So he said to them, “you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth” (v. 18).  Furthermore, Moses was concerned when the Israelites would enter the land of Canaan and when they would be prospered, multiplied, and be abundant (v. 19), they would forget their God and would go after other gods and serve them and worship them (v. 19).  So Moses told them if they would do so, then they would surely perish (v. 19).  Moses knew that the Israelites were a stubborn people (9:6).  So they had acted corruptly and they had quickly turned aside from the way which God commanded them and they had made a molten image for themselves (v. 12).  Moses knew that the Israelites had been rebellious against the Lord from the day he knew them (v. 24).  So he told them, "Remember, do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness" (v. 7).  When the Israelites went into the land of Canaan and became prosperous, multiplied, and enriched, they should have guarded their arrogance (8:14) and their righteousness (9:4, 5, 6).  The reason is that arrogance and self-righteousness are fatal to causing spiritual dementia.  In order to overcome this spiritual dementia, the Israelites had to walk in the wilderness for 40 years (8:2).  They had to be humbled in the wilderness (vv. 2-3).  Humility is essential to overcome the spiritual dementia.

God has led my whole family from North Korea to South Korea and then from South Korea to the United States.  When I immigrated to US with my parents in February 1980, my great grandmother also lived here in the United States.  Although I saw my great grandfather only through a photo, I remember my great grandmother lived here in US until 1981 before she passed away.  And I still remember my grandmother crying at her mother’s funeral service.  My grandparents have seven children.  Now, my grandparents and one of his children passed away.  My father is the oldest, and now there are five other siblings live in US.  My whole family gathers on January 1st every year to have New Year worship to God, to have bowing ceremony, to eat lunch together and play soccer.  According to what my father said, there are little more than 70 people in our whole family.  What a wonderful grace of God.  God has led our whole family to US and has multiplied us in this land.  God’s grace that has been poured in our family is so abundant and great.  But now we want to look back on ourselves if we forget the abundant grace of God now and that our hearts are proud and forget God and disobey God's commands.  When I personally look back my family, we have no merit.  What we did is nothing but sin.  Only by God’s grace and by the merit of the cross of Jesus we are doing the work of the Lord.  The Spirit of God who lives in us is doing the work of the Lord, and there is no merit of us.

Our family should abandon the consciousness of our meritorious deed and be filled with the consciousness of grace.  Our family should abandon arrogance and be humble.  In this desert like world, we must humble ourselves.  And we must know that “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD” (Deut. 8:3).  We “shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him” (v. 6).  We must “fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and love Him, and to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the LORD'S commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today for your good” (10:12-13).  In doing so, we will be able to overcome the spiritual dementia.  Our family should never forget God.  Our family should never forget the grace God has given us.  We must never forget the grace of God's salvation.  We must remember.  We must remember the grace God has given us in the past.  Not only that, but we must also remember God's good, pleasing, and perfect will for us to walk the way of the desert like world in the presence.  God is leading us to walk this path because He wants know our hearts, to humble us and to know that we live by all the words that come out of the mouth of God.  God will lead us and will enable us to enter into Heaven in the future.  Until that moment, we must be careful not to forget God.  We must remember the twofold commandment of Jesus and live in obedience to His command.  Therefore, not only do we have to overcome spiritual dementia, but we also must fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2) and “the same yesterday and today and forever” (13:8).