“Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years,
to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart,
whether or not you would keep his commands” - Deuteronomy 8:2
Deuteronomy is strewn with sentences that start with these words ‘remember that’. Remembering is surely one of the ways the Lord helps his people grasp how much he does in their behalf – how he has brought them safely and securely to this very day. That is why we want to mark the first full year that Riverside has been in existance. By remembering the year gone by, we can recall the unbelievable tenderness of our God and how he has prospered us.
When we say that he has proposered us, we do not mean that he has made everything plain sailing – no he has not. We mean that, like for the Israelites of old, the way has felt long and wilderness-like at times, but it is our testimony that in every single trial he has given us the strength to overcome; to walk in the light of his word and to do it with heart-felt desire.
Like in the desert, he has caused us to hunger and thirst, only then to supply us with manna and water from our Rock, Christ Jesus. Why did he do that in the desert? Verse 3 of the chapter says, it was to teach them that man does not live on bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. So it is in our case also. We can honestly say, that we have achieved nothing in our own stength, but that every word that has proceeded from the mouth of the Lord has sustained our souls. He has guarded our hearts against pride so that we would not forget him who got us started. We want to remember and rejoice in that.
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