Soul Keeper

Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children.

I’m standing on the playground pushing my four-year-old on a swing when my friend and I start talking about our chronological Bible reading. “I get so frustrated with the Israelites!” she says. “One minute they’re praising God, and the next they’re complaining!”

Every time I read the Old Testament, I feel the same frustration—not only with the Israelites, but also with myself. Another friend of mine, Hilary, describes the forgetfulness of our souls as “Israelitis,” a recurring condition I suffer from. My guess is that you’ve suffered from a bout of Israelitis at some point too.

After the Israelites’ miraculous deliverance from slavery in Egypt, God appeared to Moses on Mount Sinai. The morning after one of Moses’ hikes up the mountain, the Israelites witnessed bolts of lightning radiating from the cloud that covered the mountain (see Exodus 19:16-19). The mountain literally trembled at the presence of God.

In his holiness and kindness, the Lord warned the people not to come near the mountain or they would die (verses 21-22). You’d think this majestic sight, coupled with God’s gracious protection, would be seared into their minds! Yet once again, the Israelites forgot the holiness of God and their promise of obedience to him.

During another of Moses’ treks up the mountain, the Israelites got antsy waiting for Moses to come back down. Racked with impatience and afraid that something had happened to their leader, the Israelites approached Moses’ brother, Aaron, and demanded that he make them a god to worship. Without delay or argument, Aaron gathered the people’s gold, melted it in a fire, and formed a golden calf. To make matters worse, the Israelites credited their deliverance from Egyptian slavery to this human-made golden calf (see Exodus 32:4)!

Their audacity makes my jaw drop and my anger boil. How could the Israelites turn their backs on God after all he’d done for them? They had witnessed with their own eyes the Red Sea split in two! They had walked on dry ground between walls of water. They had watched Mount Sinai tremble before them, smoking with fire. But then they forgot—poof!—as if all this evidence of God’s power had vanished from their minds.

In Deuteronomy, Moses recounts the many years and countless ways God led the Israelites out of slavery and through the wilderness to the Promised Land, providing for them every step of the way. He reminds them to remember, recite, and rehearse God’s Word in their hearts so they can keep their souls grounded in truth (see Deuteronomy 4:9).

Thousands of years later, we still struggle with forgetfulness, just as the Israelites did. The only cure for “Israelitis” is to be soul keepers, kept by God as we diligently obey his commands. As Solomon reminds us, each of us must faithfully keep our heart “with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life” (Proverbs 4:23).

There will inevitably be times we forget what God has said and who he is. But when we return to God in repentance and faith, we will find grace and forgiveness—again and again.

Word before World We can fight soul forgetfulness by reminding ourselves of the gospel of Jesus Christ over and over again.

Grow in Grace If you’re suffering from a case of “Israelitis,” confess your forgetfulness to God and turn away from any idols you’ve erected. God will keep your soul as you keep your eyes on him (see 1 Peter 1:5).