Humbled and tested
Deuteronomy Chapter 7 – 9:6 Click here to read
We’ve all heard some variation on the saying that tough times produce strong people, strong people produce good times, good times produce weak people, and weak people produce tough times.
While that observation isn’t unique to God-followers, it summarizes what today’s reading is about: Humility and testing lead to faith and obedience. Ease leads to disobedience.
In 8:2 we read, “Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands?”
Then, in 8:13-14 we read, “…when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.”
The law, the commands of God, are intended as guardrails to keep this from happening. If we indeed talk about them when we’re at home or on the road, in rest and in work, we are reminded to be faithful without the need to be humbled by life…we can live in the joy God intended.
In the last few years there have been a lot of jokes made about having experienced enough things that make us stronger…but have we?
Look around and there’s not a lot of humility or strength to show for all we’ve been through as a society. Pride and forgetting about the Lord are far more in evidence.
The most successful people around us are those who embrace challenges and actively seek to learn from them. But the secret is that the challenges will come whether we embrace them or not. The learning and growth are the parts we can either choose or reject.
Another verse I’d like to lift up for particular attention is not quite on the same topic, but follows up on Tuesday’s “Some assembly required” reflection.
In 8:18 we read, “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 ancestors, as it is today.”
It’s a valuable reminder that while God often gives us blessings whole, he also often gives us the ability to produce blessings, inviting us into a relationship with him.