How easy it is to forget, to lay aside, to leave undone that which we need to do. How easy it is to forget the gift giver after we have received and settled in the gift. The book of Deuteronomy continually reminds Israel that the covenant Lord is the gracious gift giver. It is He who has given the cattle, the sheep, the rain and the harvest, and “great and good cities that you did not build, and houses full of all good things that you did not fill, and cisterns that you did not dig, and vineyards and olive trees that you did not plant—and when you eat and are full” (Deut. 6:10-11).
These last ten days, since my total knee replacement, I have been given the time to reflect and marvel at the gifts in my life. The gift of a new knee. The gift of family and friends. And most importantly of all, the gift of new life and relationship with Messiah Yeshua/Jesus. These days have been a time to remember, and not forget all the gracious gifts of the Lord. How, then, do we actively remember His grace in our busy lives? We give.
In this week’s Torah portion called כִּי־תָבוֹא/Ki Tavo, “When you come in…” the Lord reminds us to remember Him in the midst of our blessedness. The reasons for this are many, and the end results of forgetting the Lord are obvious. When we remember, and not forget, the gifts are more meaningful, and the impact on the lives of others, much more profound. We read:
“When you have finished paying all the tithe of your produce in the third year, which is the year of tithing, giving it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, so that they may eat within your towns and be filled, then you shall say before the Lord your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion out of my house, and moreover, I have given it to the Levite, the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, according to all your commandment that you have commanded me. I have not transgressed any of your commandments, nor have I forgotten them” (Deut. 26:12-13).
I have not forgotten. I have not forgotten to “blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven; you shall not forget” (Deut. 25:19). In my time of fruitfulness, I will not forget to blot out the memory of the wicked Amalek who attacked the weak and vulnerable. I will not allow my blessing to produce blinders. I will remember and not forget (Deut. 26:13).
It is an unusual pronouncement in Deuteronomy 26:13-15. Standing with a basket of first-fruits, as evidence of the bountiful blessing, to proclaim that you have acted kindly in blessing and not poorly. You have alleviated the pain of the weak, and not contributed to it by negligent affluence. The message is clear. The message is simple. The gift of blessing can become a snare when not handled faithfully. When we forget the gracious Benefactor, the thankful heart of the beneficiary can be hardened to His grace, ultimately leading us astray, and leaving open a door for Amalek.
Why is this important? Sharing the blessing from the covenant Lord, even when statutory, reminds us of our own need. It reminds us of our own fragility. It turns our attention to legacy. The legacy we are joined to, as well as the legacy we join in. We join in His legacy when we give beyond ourselves. When we can say: וְלֹא שָׁכָחְתִּי, “nor have I forgotten.” What are we saying? I have not “lost, left, laid aside or left undone Your instruction to reach out my hand, as You have reached out Yours,” as you say O Lord, “And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you and to your house, you, and the Levite, and the sojourner who is among you” (Deut. 26:11).
The apostle Peter exhorts us, “Beloved, I urge you as sojourners and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against your soul” (1 Pet. 2:11). We are but strangers and sojourners upon this earth, and the blessings of the Lord, glorious as they are, are temporary. What is eternal is what is given unto Him, especially when deposited into the life of the weak.
Paul reminds the disciple of Messiah, “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver” (2 Cor. 9:7). Paul speaks of a willingness or eagerness to give and to be part of the Kingdom of God, echoing “And you shall rejoice in all the good that the Lord your God has given to you…”
The Lord is making a radical point that we all continue to learn. Vertical gratitude unto the Lord always leads to horizontal sharing of life and blessing with others. Why? We first recognize from whom the good flows. As the apostle James writes, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change” (Jas. 1:17), inspiring the doxology: “Praise God from Whom all blessings flow.”
When we assume our blessing is self-derived, single-handedly earned, we will forget both the Lord and the community. When I consider my recovery from surgery, the success is not from my strength, but joined with the hands of the medical team and my recovery team: my mother, aunt, and wife. I did not knit this body together; it was knit in my mother’s womb by the Lord and nurtured by the precious souls who have invested their blessing into my life. This should not produce arrogance, but a humble appearance before the Father in heaven, bearing a single basket of fruit, and a heart that says, “I have not forgotten.”
Paul memorialized the words of Yeshua that were not recorded in the Gospels, as he said, “In all things I have shown you that by working hard in this way we must help the weak and remember the words of the Lord Jesus, how he himself said, ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive’” (Acts 20:35).
Maranatha. Shalom.
the mountain mensch 