Deuteronomy 4:9 “Only take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently, lest thou forget the things which thine eyes have seen, and lest they depart from thy heart all the days of thy life: but teach them thy sons, and thy sons’ sons;”
There are dreadful consequences for failing to “take heed to” ourselves and failing to “keep” our “soul diligently”. Moses strongly warned Israel to “Take heed unto yourselves, lest ye forget the covenant of the LORD your God …” (Deuteronomy 4:23) “For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.” (Deuteronomy 4:24)! To “take heed to” ourselves is to carefully guard ourselves; so that we are not tempted and drawn away from obedience to God’s Commandments, learning His Word, and attending His Church. The Children of God are sometimes tempted and drawn away from the Lord, for a time, to follow carnal desires and lusts that the devil so deceitfully places in our paths. To “keep thy soul diligently” is to say NO to the devil’s enticements and attractions and humbly pray “What shall I render unto the LORD for all his benefits toward me?” (Psalms 116:12). In practice, to “keep thy soul diligently” is to focus our minds away from the lusts of the world and give the attention of our hearts and minds to the things of God. The devil would like for us to think that failing to “take heed” and “keep” only results in judgment on the “last day”; that is putting far off the “evil day”; but, the Children of God who do, “put far away the evil day, and cause the seat of violence to come near” (Amos 6:3). In this present life, the Lord chastens His Children for failing to “take heed to thyself, and keep thy soul diligently”. The Lord will not eternally lose a single one that His Father gave Him before the foundation of the world (John 6:39; Ephesians 1:4). But, we can certainly bring great misery to ourselves in this present life. It is a dreadful thing when “the LORD thy God” arrives in our lives with His “consuming fire”. When we begin to think that nothing is going to happen, then suddenly one day our lives fall apart rendering us broken in body and mind and miserable and sad and helpless. Our God is indeed “a jealous God”, but He does not pout and slink away in despair. When His beloved Children give their love and attention to other things, He does something about it! After much exhortation and warning, He sends “a consuming fire” that we simply cannot stand against. Finally, when the heat of His “consuming fire” gets overwhelmingly hot, we fall down before Him and cry “Have mercy upon me, O LORD, for I am in trouble: mine eye is consumed with grief, yea, my soul and my belly.” (Psalms 31:9). Peter lovingly exhorts us to “Save yourselves from this untoward generation” (Acts 2:40); that is, “take heed to” ourselves and do not fail to “keep” our “soul diligently”. Furthermore, we are to strengthen our children and grandchildren by teaching them these things of God!