Sometimes we imagine that the moments when we are most likely to drift from God are the difficult ones.
When life hurts, when money is tight, when a relationship is strained, or when we do not know what comes next, surely that is when faith is most at risk.
But Moses gives Israel a surprising warning.
In Deuteronomy 8, the people are about to leave the wilderness behind. They have known hunger, uncertainty, and daily dependence on God. Now they are heading towards settled homes, full stomachs, growing herds, and greater security.
And Moses says, “Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God.”
The danger was not that God would stop being faithful.
The danger was that life would become comfortable enough for them to forget how faithful he had been.
That can happen to us too.
There are prayers we once prayed desperately that we hardly think about now because the answer has become ordinary. There are seasons we once wondered whether we would survive that have become part of our story. There are people, opportunities, changes, and quiet acts of grace that once felt extraordinary but now simply feel like life.
And what becomes normal can become invisible.
An old song captures the importance of remembering beautifully. Johnson Oatman wrote “Count Your Blessings” in 1897, and it later appeared in The Salvation Army Song Book. Its refrain urges us, “Count your blessings, see what God hath done.”
That is more than cheerful advice.
It is a spiritual practice.
Oatman’s song does not ask us to manufacture a brighter mood. It asks us to pay attention. Name them one by one. Bring moments of grace back into view. That is close to what Moses is doing for Israel. He names rescue, guidance and provision so that prosperity does not erase the memory of the Giver.
To count a blessing is to stop long enough to notice that something we now take for granted once came to us as grace.
Perhaps there was a time when you prayed for the home you now hurry around cleaning. Perhaps you once longed for the work that now sometimes tires you. Perhaps you asked God for strength through something painful, and only afterwards realised that strength came one day at a time.
Moses wants Israel to remember like that.
He reminds them that the God they might forget in plenty is the same God who rescued them from slavery. Their comfortable present had a story behind it. God had carried them before they ever arrived there.
Your life has a story behind it too.
That does not mean everything has worked out as you hoped. Remembering God is not pretending every prayer received the answer you wanted or every wound disappeared.
It means noticing where grace has met you along the way.
So tonight, try something very simple.
Name three ways God has helped, guided, provided for, or changed you. Do not rush. Let each memory come back into focus. Then thank him for each one.
Not because God needs reminding.
But because we do.
Gratitude grows when grace is remembered. And remembering helps keep today’s comfort from convincing us that we reached this place alone.
My question for you is this: What is one thing God has done in your life that you never want to forget? Share it in the comments if you would like to. Your memory of grace may help someone else notice grace in their own story.
Let’s pray.
God, thank you for all the ways you have carried me, including the ones I now take for granted. Keep me from forgetting you when life feels settled. Help me remember your faithfulness, recognise your grace, and receive today with a thankful heart. Amen.
And tomorrow, we’ll think about what happens when grace received begins to turn our attention towards someone else who needs our prayers.