“Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors.” Deuteronomy 8:1 NLT
God’s rules were never about keeping us from having fun, enjoying life or just to be a kill-joy. It’s all about living and thriving in this relationship with Him. Who knows better than God who built us and the entire system of how the world works. Moses records the truth about all the rules, lessons, hardships and detours, “Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
There’s reason behind the rules? God makes them for OUR benefit! Yep. A big lie is the bad-rap, stereotype that God is some old mean man in the sky. Oh please, that’s ridiculous! That makes us sound like toddlers squabbling to get our own way. God is not old, not a man and not mean!
In these verses it reminds me of everything God wants for us in terms of our basic wants and needs in life. Moses writes, “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley; of grapevines, fig trees, and pomegranates; of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills.” I see a couple things here: One, God wants to bring blessing of abundance. For example the idea of milk and honey. These staples and sweets of life are for our enjoyment as much as they are for our health. Two, God put iron & copper in the hills for building infrastructure, for our homes and tools. Notice the difference? One comes with sowing and reaping, just caring for the land and reaping the delicious results. Ah, but the other, the minerals and ore’s, they have to be mined! It is much harder work to dig and mine those resources. It’s just pure work!
After all this, God’s instructions comes back to remembering Him, remembering His rules, His ways. Why? Because when abundance comes, our relationships, both with God and one another, tend to fade into the background. God states a difficult truth about our human nature, when we become too rich, we forget. “But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful!”
Prayer
Dad,
I am comforted and embarrassed that you know us so well. I know I get distracted so easily when things are going super good. When it comes to having wealth or abundant resources, I believe your antidote is generosity. Giving away the abundance, the extra, helps me focus on something other than just storing up more for myself. Plus, It’s fun. So when I buy a two-pack of milk at Costco, I can think of these verses and remember to give one away 😀.