Deuteronomy 4:7-10 Complete Jewish Bible
7 For what great nation is there that has God as close to them as Adonai our God is, whenever we call on him? 8 What great nation is there that has laws and rulings as just as this entire Torah which I am setting before you today? 9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves diligently as long as you live, so that you won’t forget what you saw with your own eyes, so that these things won’t vanish from your hearts. Rather, make them known to your children and grandchildren — 10 the day you stood before Adonai your God at Horev, when Adonai said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, and I will make them hear my very words, so that they will learn to hold me in awe as long as they live on earth, and so that they will teach their children.’
The Word of God for the Children of God.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
The title of my devotion today is “Hindsight, Insight, Foresight: The critical Importance of acknowledging HIS story (God’s story) as everyone’s story.”
This effort is my contribution toward the celebration of Black History Month.
In the US of America, February is the month when we celebrate Black History.
This celebration originally began as Negro History Week in 1926 and took place during the second week of February as it coincided with the birthdates of both Frederick Douglass and Abraham Lincoln.
In 1976, the bicentennial of the United States, former President Gerald R. Ford expanded the week into a full month.
In doing so he said the country needed to “seize the opportunity to honor the too-often neglected accomplishments of black Americans in every area of endeavor throughout history.”
While Black History Month has been heavily criticized by both black people and people of other races for its unfairness in devoting an entire month to a single group of people, there are significant lessons to be learned from remembering our history, especially as it relates to everyone’s faith, hope and love in God.
During this celebratory month we have the opportunity to share stories, reflect on our rich history (good and bad and devastating) and remember the highest of prices paid by others for us to have the privileges of community that we have.
Celebrating this month gives us the opportunity to remember the best of our history and culture while remembering that it is HIS Story and OUR history.
The remainder of This month I pray that you to really take some time and think about what we have and the rather ugly road travelled and how we all got here.
Talk to some older folks and listen to their stories as they tell you what was available to them sixty years ago, hear the stories they were told by their parents and grandparents and what “life” they had experienced “back then.”
When we hear and understand their stories we can hopefully, prayerfully and humbly, appreciate their sacrifices so we would have more what we have today.
As I said, history is first and foremost HIS (God’s) story we have a long history of active participation and it cannot be remembered if we do not talk about it.
So today, we are going to examine active passive hindsight, and insight and foresight, how our acknowledgement and understanding of HIS story impacts our own story as we try to learn how we live in community today and tomorrow.
Let’s start with a review of the definitions of hindsight, insight and foresight.
Hindsight is “the ability to understand a situation or event after it has already happened or developed.”
It’s our ability to remember what has happened previously which gives us the opportunity to learn from those past experiences.
An example of this is someone learning from a past mistake.
They experience the failure, look back on it and learn from it.
The process and learning from past experiences give us what we call insight.
Insight is discernment; “the ability to see clearly and intuitively into the nature of a complex person, situation or subject.”
Insight actually encompasses both hindsight and foresight. Foresight is “the action of predicting what will happen or what needs to happen in the future.”
It’s the ability to see what is coming.
Foresight moves us forward into taking an action and it makes sure we do not get too complacent, comfortable about taking that action. It demands we move.
Working together, hindsight, insight and foresight allows us to learn from the past, adapt to the present and plan for our future.
Think of it like this, a person with no foresight, hindsight or insight goes for a walk in the street. They see a car coming. They stay in the street. The car keeps coming and they remain in the street. The car runs over them. They had no foresight, hindsight or insight which led them to get out of the way of the car.
When they get out of the hospital, they decide to go for another walk.
This time, however, after getting run over by a car, they learned some things.
First they have foresight. They know that cars move on the streets and they should really anticipate seeing them. Secondly, they have hindsight as they reflect on getting run over by a car previously and take precautions to ensure it does not happen again. Lastly, they have insight as they decide the best way to go for the walk is to stay on the sidewalk, being more aware of their fragility.
Now, these three working instantaneously together, keeps the person safe.
But let me be clear, there are many people walking on this earth with no sight.
These people see the car coming; get run over by the car; forget what it felt like the first time to get run over; and continues to walk in the middle of the street only to be run over again. If not learning from out past we are like this person walking down the middle of the street repeatedly getting run over by cars.
Having hindsight, insight and foresight keeps us from constantly getting run over by life’s circumstances.
I want to share with you why the understanding of our history is so important.
Turn to Deuteronomy 4:7-10.
“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as is the LORD our God whenever we call on Him? Or what great nation is there that has statutes and judgments as righteous as this whole law which I am setting before you today? Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. Remember the day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, when the LORD said to me, ‘Assemble the people to Me, that I may let them hear My words so they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children.”
Now turn over to Deuteronomy chapter six and let’s begin with verse six.
“You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates. Then it shall come about when the LORD your God brings you into the land which He swore to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you, great and splendid cities which you did not build, and houses full of all good things which you did not fill, and hewn cisterns which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant, and you eat and are satisfied, then watch yourself, that you do not forget the LORD who brought you from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 6:5-12)
Moses brought the people together to give them the laws of God, with clarity and a conviction that spoke to the hearts of everyone.
In chapter four Moses told the people to remember and to teach their children otherwise they would forget.
In chapter six he goes a step farther.
He tells them to diligently teach their children.
That word diligently means to show persistence and hard word work in doing something.
In other words, Moses was telling the people to make teaching their kids about everything God had done for them as an “daily at every opportunity” priority.
He told them to talk about what God had done and His laws when they sat in their homes, when they walked down the street, when they went to bed and when they got up.
The image that he was painting was that they should always (persistently) be teaching their children and their children’s children about God and everything He had done for them. They were to always be talking about it. Finally he told them that they should write the words on the doorposts of their homes and on their gates. This was to ensure that the words were forever before their eyes.
We need to teach our history so that those who are enjoying the fruits of those who went before them understand the price that was paid.
You see, there are many making good money and we never once picked cotton.
We live in nice homes in mixed subdivisions (not on the other side of the railroad tracks as the old people used to say) and we are treated as equals.
We don’t recall those times when many people were not allowed to own homes.
We can eat at any restaurant that we choose (as long as we are willing to pay for it) don’t remember the signs that said go around to the back door to be served.
There are many of us who go shopping wherever we want and try on all the clothes in the stores and do not remember the times when many were not allowed to try on clothes unless it was purchased from a black owned store on the farthest outskirts of town stocked with out of date second hand fashions.
There were many who never voted because they never had the equal right to vote or because of Jim Crowe laws, they (ballots) were segregated, tainted.
Because voting was something already available to some of us when we reach the appropriate age, the high importance of equal access was utterly lost on us.
There are many of us who approach learning as if learning is a chore because we do not remember a time when blacks were not allowed to go to the same schools as white children to learn – do we recall when President Eisenhower ordered the 101st Airborne troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to enforce school desegregation?
There are some of us who to this day who dislike other races because we do not remember those of other races who stood, marched and died with us during the Civil Rights movement so we could all have everything we have access to today.
Mark 3:31-35 Amplified Bible
31 Then His mother and His brothers arrived, and standing outside they sent word to Him and called for Him. 32 A crowd was sitting around Him, and they said to Him, “Look! Your mother and Your brothers are outside asking for You.” 33 And He replied, “Who are My mother and My brothers?” 34 Looking at those who were sitting in a circle around Him, He said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 35 For [a] whoever does the will of God [by believing in Me, and following Me], he is My brother and sister and mother.”
Galatians 3:28-29 Amplified Bible
28 There is [now no distinction in regard to salvation] neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you [who believe] are all one in Christ Jesus [no one can claim a spiritual superiority]. 29 And if you belong to Christ [if you are in Him], then you are Abraham’s descendants, and [spiritual] heirs according to [God’s] promise.
https://blackhistorymonth.gov/
https://www.history.com/news/little-rock-nine-brown-v-board-eisenhower-101-airborne
https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/brown-v-board-of-education-of-topeka
https://kids.nationalgeographic.com/history/article/black-history-month
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Psalm 133 Amplified Bible
The Excellency of Brotherly Unity.
A Song of [a]Ascents. Of David.
133 Behold, how good and how pleasant it is
For brothers to dwell together in unity!
2
It is like the precious oil [of consecration] poured on the head,
Coming down on the beard,
Even the beard of Aaron,
Coming down upon the edge of his [priestly] robes [consecrating the whole body].
3
It is like the dew of [Mount] Hermon
Coming down on the hills of Zion;
For there the Lord has commanded the blessing: life forevermore.
Glory be to the Father,
and to the Son, and to the Holy Ghost;
as it was in the beginning,
is now, and ever shall be,
world without end. Amen, amen.
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 