Deuteronomy 8: 10-14 “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein; And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage;”
The passage here points out that if the children of Israel enter the land of Canaan; the promised land, God fears that when they become full and truly blessed, they will forget about the Lord and what He has done for them. They will claim it as their own doing, and not God’s.
This applies to us Christians too. God does not want us to forget our beginnings, how God has helped us to overcome struggles and persevere through tough times.
Exodus 14:1-3 “And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, that they turn and encamp before Pihahiroth, between Migdol and the sea, over against Baalzephon: before it shall ye encamp by the sea. For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, They are entangled in the land, the wilderness hath shut them in.”
When God takes the children of Israel out of the land of bondage, He also pulls them through the Red Sea. The Israelites are not bothered by the Pharaoh and his armies, they are just too excited for being able to get out of Egypt.
Exodus 13:17- 22 And it came to pass when Pharaoh had let the people go, that God led them not through the way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, Lest peradventure the people repent when they see war, and they return to Egypt:But God led the people about, through the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.And Moses took the bones of Joseph with him: for he had straitly sworn the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you; and ye shall carry up my bones away hence with you. And they took their journey from Succoth, and encamped in Etham, in the edge of the wilderness. And the Lord went before them by day in a pillar of a cloud, to lead them the way; and by night in a pillar of fire, to give them light; to go by day and night: He took not away the pillar of the cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from before the people.”
God takes the children of Israel on a completely different route because they would be discouraged if it were Philistines. God knows our limits and is merciful enough to provide us with a route that we can handle.
Even though God already knows that the Israelites will rebel, and sin against Him in the future, He still allows them to taste victory for a period of time, and let them rejoice in their victory.
This reminds us that we should rejoice in the Lord at this moment and thank God for all His blessings, before facing what’s ahead of us. We should learn to take things one day at a time, and trust in the Lord that He will take care of our problems.
Let’s not forget that Satan is the adversary and he tries to steal our joy away from us.
Deuteronomy 8: 10-11,14,17-18 “When thou hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the Lord thy God for the good land which he hath given thee. Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes, which I command thee this day: Then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it is this day.”
It is okay to have joy in the things we are blessed with, but let’s not get carried away that we forget God and serving Him. Don’t stay too comfortable with our blessings and let them overrun our flesh.
For example, people in this day and age live way too comfortable and rely too much on worldly solutions and quick fixes to resolve their problems, which in turn can lead to more fatal problems like health issues so to speak.
The devil can’t go against God’s permission to attack us unless we yield into the temptation of our flesh, and continue to feed the beast and allow it to grow.
Remember, when we taste great things in life, God is behind all of it, and we should always keep God in mind. Even if we don’t get what we want, our faith in God remains strong, and we pledge our allegiance to Him.
Hebrews 11: 8 “By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went.”
Abraham just lost his father, yet he is faithful towards God’s instructions and will. He walks exactly how God wants him to. Unlike our wicked society today, who got so lost in the worldly system that allows the evil leaders to take control of our lives.
God is loving enough to give us free will for us to break free from the worldly system so that we can follow Him and walk with Christ.
Besides, God also asks Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac at the altar and gives Him the free will to choose. God will not influence our control so that we have the ultimate choice to go with our own flesh and live in bondage, or go with God and be completely set free.
Romans 5: 3-5 “And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope: And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.
The Holy Ghost can make the hope spread abroad in our hearts, but only through trials and tribulations first. When tribulation strikes, it is not hope that we get immediately, but we need to be patient first.
Just like Abraham, when he takes each step closer to the altar to sacrifice his son, he has to grit his teeth and goes by faith in the Lord.
Last part of verse 4 ‘And hope maketh not ashamed‘, let’s be reminded that there were so many times where we went through miserable times and felt hopeless, God turned things around for us for the better and answered our prayers.
This shows how loving, gracious, and merciful God is, He will not let us continue to spiral down in misery despite our wickedness.
Revelation 3:17 “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked:”
When we are lost in the system of comfort, or overrun by our flesh and blessings, let’s remember that God needs to always come first, and we should thank Him for everything given to us, both good and bad.