http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy%208-10&version=NIV
Deuteronomy 8:11 – “ Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.”
Have you forgotten the Lord? Do you forget the Lord when you are having a busy or stressful day?
In chapters 8 to 10 of Deuteronomy, Moses is telling the people of Israel to not forget the Lord.
In chapter 8, Moses warns the people about getting “fat and happy”, if you will. He reminds them that the Lord guided them through the desert and provided them with nourishment. And in verses 17 and 18 Moses warns the people to not get puffed up because of their accomplishments.
17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
How true this still is for us today. It is so easy for us to rely on our own strength and think that we are the reason for our success. Yes, we are responsible for our actions, yet it would be better for us to look at ourselves more as stewards of the abilities He has given us, than as the reason for our success.
In the Scriptures, we are told not to boast in ourselves or what we have done, but only in God.
The prophet Jeremiah wrote:
“ This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD. (Jeremiah 9:23-24)
And Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 1:28-31
“God chose what is low and despised in the world, even things that are not, to bring to nothing things that are, so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
So how should we then live? Moses writes of a fine way of living that was suitable for the Israelites and is suitable for us today.
Deuteronomy 10:12-13
“And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God ask of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD's commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”
Soli Deo Gloria
Today’s post was submitted by Russ Shellhamer.
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9:13 And the LORD said to me, "I have seen this people, and they are a stiff-necked people indeed! 14 Let me alone, so that I may destroy them and blot out their name from under heaven. And I will make you into a nation stronger and more numerous than they."
ReplyDeleteMoses was reminding them how the Lord offered him a chance to start over with someone else.
What was Moses response? He prayed for them
25 I lay prostrate before the LORD those forty days and forty nights because the LORD had said he would destroy you.
If you are praying for someone, don't give up!! Our tendency is to grow weary after a few days of prayer when we don't see the answer. Keep praying, keep asking God and keep bringing your request before Him. It's through patience and faith we inherit the promises.