Deuteronomy 8:1-20
Remember the LORD Your God
1 “Every commandment which I command you today you must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers. 2 And you shall remember that the LORD your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. 3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. 5 You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you.
6 “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, that flow out of valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey; 9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing; a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.
11 “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes which I command you today, 12 lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 when your heart is lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage; 15 who led you through that great and terrible wilderness, in which were fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty land where there was no water; who brought water for you out of the flinty rock; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers did not know, that He might humble you and that He might test you, to do you good in the end— 17 then you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.’
18 “And you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth, that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day. 19 Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the LORD your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God.
Just as Israel was given a command to humbly remember all God had done for them by following His commands in return, so we are called to recall our saving deliverance from sin’s penalty by grace in the person and work of God’s divine Son, Jesus Christ, and likewise adhere to the scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17) as our way (Romans 12:2, Hebrews 13:21, 1 John 2:15-16, 17) impelling (2 Corinthians 5:14-15) us to live. God’s people of old had to be humbled and told to obey to be continually delivered before the grace of Christ and His work fulfilled the law for them and us that we might rest in His grace (Hebrews 4:1, 9-10) and not vainly attempt to earn salvation by our own imperfect (Romans 3:20, 23) works. We learn from their example to trust then lord for our daily bread of His word that nourishes because Jesus is the bread of life (John 6:48, 51, 58), our heavenly manna who feeds and nourishes us. This was the response of Jesus when tempted by the adversary (Matthew 4:4) to live contrary to the scriptures, to live by feeding the soul first and then the body. The Lord disciplined them in their sojourning and does so with us still (Hebrews 12:7-8, 10-11) in our journey of lifelong sanctification, so we should likewise heed the humbling words reminding us to follow them as God-pleasers (Colossians 1:10) on the way to the promised heavenly land and the Celestial City to come down from heaven (Revelation 21:2) for us to live in. We are still to walk in His ways and fear Him in awe of His sovereign greatness that motivates us to follow all His words given us in the scriptures and not just the ones we like or agree with. We should also daily look back at His faithfulness and deliverance from the eternal consequences of our sin, both inherited from Adam and committed daily now, remembering His grace that keeps us through the eternal covenant of His blood (Hebrews 9:15, 13:20-21) as we sojourn through life. These things are our humbling reminders to die to ourselves as we take up our cross and follow Him all the way home.
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