But Jesus replied, "It is written and forever remains written, ‘MAN SHALL NOT LIVE BY BREAD ALONE, BUT BY EVERY WORD THAT COMES OUT OF THE MOUTH OF GOD.'"—Matthew 5:
"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. 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.—Deuteronomy 8:1-2
God didn’t have to test the Israelites to know what was in their hearts. He knew who would obey and who wouldn’t obey. The testing was for them…to show them what was in their hearts. It was also for us who read these accounts that their obedience or disobedience would be proven in history and one way or another would be an example for us.
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. Your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. You should know in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so the LORD your God chastens you. “Therefore you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God, to walk in His ways and to fear Him.
God put them in the desert where they had no other choice but to trust Him. Everything they had came from His command…from His very word. The Lord chastened His people by making them depend on Him for everything. If they wanted to live, they had no other choice but to obey His commands, walk in His ways, and to fear (revere) Him…they literally “feared” to disobey Him who held their very breath in His hands.
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; a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil 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. When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.
This is the part that really gave me pause when I read it last night. It helped me to understand why the giving of thanks and praise to God for His infinite goodness to us is so important.
The land in which their God was bringing them stood in stark contrast to the wilderness in which they were now wandering. It was a land of abundance where Israel would lack nothing. Moses goes on here to tell them the dangers that would be inherent in said abundance. Prosperity, in effect, would hide their need to depend on God. The reality, however, was that both in scarcity and in abundance their need to depend on God would remain the same.
The antidote for this danger was to give God praise.
When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land which He has given you.
This made so much sense to me. Praising God for all His good gifts would be a constant and (judging from my own life) a much needed reminder to God’s people that all of what they had ultimately came from Him and that without Him nothing was possible.
"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, lest—when you have eaten and are full, and have built beautiful houses and dwell in them; and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver aand your gold are multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 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; 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; 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— then you say in your heart, 'My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.'—Deuteronomy 8:11-17
Praising would keep them from forgetting God and saying that it was their might and power that had gained them their abundance instead of God’s.
"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. 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. 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.
Dependence is humbling and praise is beautiful in that it gives glory to the One who deserves all glory, honor and praise. Beloved…Let the praises of God be continually on Your lips. Failure to praise Him leads to forgetting Him. When we begin to forget Him, our hearts become lifted up in pride, and we begin to walk according to the dictates of our own sinful lusts. We begin to worship the gifts rather than the Giver of all of them.
And lest I should be exalted above measure by the abundance of the revelations, a thorn in the flesh was given to me, a messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I be exalted above measure. Concerning this thing I pleaded with the Lord three times that it might depart from me. And He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for My strength is made perfect in weakness." Therefore most gladly I will rather boast in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me. Therefore I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in needs, in persecutions, in distresses, for Christ's sake. For when I am weak, then I am strong.—2 Corinthians 12:7-10
Praise the Father
Praise the Son
Praise the Spirit three in one
God of glory
Majesty
Praise forever to the King of kings
On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand
My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.
I dare not trust the sweetest frame
but wholly lean on Jesus’ name.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
2 In every rough and stormy gale,
my anchor holds within the vale.
When all around my soul gives way,
he then is all my hope and stay.
[Refrain]
3 Not earth, nor hell, my soul can move;
I rest upon unchanging love.
I trust his righteous character,
his counsel, promise, and his power.
[Refrain]
4 When he shall come with trumpet sound,
oh, may I then in Him be found,
Dressed in His righteousness alone,
faultless to stand before the throne.
On Christ, the solid rock, I stand;
all other ground is sinking sand,
all other ground is sinking sand.
