©Michael Player
Chapter 8:7-20 (ESV) - “For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, 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. And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.
“Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the LORD your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the LORD your God.
Question to consider: How does recognizing the provision of God affect our attitude toward material things?
While the name Deuteronomy may mean “second law”, we should remember that Israel was not receiving new law from God, but the same law a second time. Moses renewed the covenant with a new generation of Israelites who did not experience the slavery of their fathers and was about to inherit the land that was promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since Moses was not able to follow them into the land, he was fulfilling his final act as their mediator by pleading with them to hold fast to their covenantal God who freed them from slavery and was giving them this land.
Moses’ exhortation, “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God,” was repeated three times (chapters 4, 6, and 8) which stressed its importance. Each covered three specific ways in which they could forget God. The first was in forgetting God’s presence in the fire and voice from heaven and resorting to making a carved image of Him. The second was in forgetting their dependence on God even though He was providing a land that would provide their food, shelter, and possessions. The third was in forgetting that God is the only true God and being tempted to worship the gods of the surrounding nations.
Should they fail to keep God’s commands and fall prey to these temptations, God warned them that they would be destroyed in the same fashion as the nations God was going to conquer for them. He reminded them that they should not think that it was by their own hand that they obtained their wealth, for He was the one who gave them that power. This is a universal truth which many people seem to forget today. If we realize that God was the one who enabled us to earn our income, it should stir up in us a spirit of gratitude and of generosity toward His kingdom.
When Jesus instructed His disciples in prayer, He focused on our keeping holy the name of our heavenly Father, His kingdom and will growing throughout the earth, our dependence on Him for our daily bread and our petition to be kept from temptation and to receive forgiveness in the same way we forgive others.
The land promise given to Israel was a type and shadow of our inheritance in Christ. Their time in the land was doomed to fail because only Christ was able to keep the Law perfectly and by it be called righteous. Our inability to obtain righteousness by the Law should bring us to Christ where righteousness is given to us by faith. Just as Israel was meant to find rest in the land flowing with milk and honey so we find our rest from the works of the Law in Christ. The writer of Hebrews explained this in Hebrews 4:1-10.
Dear heavenly Father, thank You for providing us rest from works of the Law and for taking care of our daily needs. Help us to view our abilities as a gift from You and use them to serve Your church with joy. Amen.