Deuteronomy 31:19

19 “Now write down this song and teach it to the Israelites and have them sing it, so that it may be a witness for me against them.”

In this selection from one of the end chapters of Deuteronomy, Moses knows he is dying, and the Lord speaks to him one last time, advising him to write a song that will remind the nation of Israel of its God when they become faithless to Him. (The actual song can be read in Deuteronomy 32.)

God asks this of Moses because He already knows what’s going to happen later on–as soon as Joshua, Moses’ successor, and the rest of the Israelites get into the Promised Land, the Israelites will start turning to other gods, namely Ba’al and Asherah, and completely forget about God. (See the book of Judges for most of this.) Knowing this already, God knows that they’ll need a memorable piece of literature to remind them of Him, a song they can carry with them as far as they’ll go.

We, too, tend to forget God, especially when things are going well. If life is going smoothly, we usually give ourselves the credit; only when life becomes rough do we wonder where God is and wonder how a “good God” could do this to us. We, just like the ancient Israelites, need a memorable reminder of what God has done in our own lives, as a testament to His nature.

Maybe we all need to write a song detailing all the wonderful works God has done for us in our lives–I know mine would be nothing but praise for getting me out of everything from a traffic accident to a terrible career choice. What would your reminding song say?