Never Forget

I just wanna share a devotional with you all.

It's from 24.7.365 ONE YEAR IN THE LORD

By Dawin Esmond

In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the Lord had commanded concerning them.

Deuteronomy 1:3

December 26, 2004 saw one of the most tragic events on earth's history. A huge earthquake deep in the Indian ocean sent massive 100-foot waves toward Sumatra, Indonesia, devastating much of the coasts of southern and southeast Asia. the earthquake measured 9.1 on the Richter scale, and lasted between 8-10 minutes. in that brief period an avalanche of water was unleashed that claimed more than 230,000 lives. That it happened on the day after Christmas seems an extra-cruel twist of fate.

While the earthquake destroyed countless lives, one group of poor villagers survived, in fact, everyone in their villages survived! The Moken, known as sea gypsies by some, live on the surin islands off the coast of Thailand. they have no written language, so knowledge is passed on from generation to generation through the retelling of their history. they have awesome memories.

No earthquake had hit their region for more than 500 years. Yet through storytelling the moken had passed down an important warning: When the waters of the ocean recede rapidly, [as in a tsunami], flee immediately to higher ground. Generation after generation, for 500 years, this message was passed on. And when the tsunami of 2004 began, the moken remembered the teaching of their elders, and immediately fled to the highest point they could, 113 feet above sea level. Their villages were destroyed, but all of them lived.

The book of Deuteronomy is God's oral warning to the ancient Israelites and to us today. In this book Moses recounts the leading of God in Israel's past, and he warns the Israelites to always obey God in the future. (Today, in Deuteronomy 1-3, you began reading Moses oral history of Israel's journey.) God did not want the Israelites to repeat their past mistakes, and He doesn't want you or me to do so either. Never forget the past and how God has lead you. The lessons of the past can save us in the present and future if we learn them well.