Man does not live on bread alone

(The importance of daily bread)

Deut 8:1-20

Key Verse 3

He humbled you, causing you to hunger
and then feeding you with manna,

which neither you nor your fathers had known,

to teach you that man does not live on bread alone

but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Part I: The purpose of God’s discipline (1-5)

1.      Read verse 1. On what occasion did Moses speak these words? What did he urge them to do? How would this benefit them?

2.      Read verses 2-5. For forty years in the desert, what did God do? Look at Exo 16:14-36 to see how God gave the manna. Why did he feed them manna (3)? How can we live on God’s word? What does God want us to sincerely know about him (5)?

Part II: Remember him who blesses you (6-20)

3.      Read verses 6-10. Describe the land God was giving them. What kind of land does God promise to give us? How were they to respond to all the goodness God was giving them (6, 10)? How does this apply to us?

4.      Read verses 11-20. What did Moses warn them about (11-14)? How was it possible for them to “forget” God? What thoughts should they guard against (17)? How does God confirm his covenant with us (18, Luk 22:20)? What were the consequences of unfaithfulness (19-20)?

Man does not live on bread alone

(The importance of daily bread)

Deut 8:1-20

Key Verse 3

He humbled you, causing you to hunger
and then feeding you with manna,

which neither you nor your fathers had known,

to teach you that man does not live on bread alone

but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Thank God for our spring conference through which we could enjoy meditating on the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection and receive newly of those benefits – how he loved us and has forgiven our sins and has given us power to live for him. We want to retain the spiritual progress we made through the conference and not slide back into our old ways but rather improve upon what we have gained. Today’s passage teaches us the secret to doing this. It warns and encourages us to live on God’s words – to make a deliberate, persistent effort to remain in a humble, submissive, loving dependence on our Lord by feeding daily on his life-giving word.  

Part I: The purpose of God’s discipline (1-5)

1.      Read verse 1. 

ANSWER:

Deu 8:1  Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.

On what occasion did Moses speak these words? 

ANSWER:

Deu 1:1  These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the desert east of the Jordan -- that is, in the Arabah -- opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab.

Deu 1:5  East of the Jordan in the territory of Moab, Moses began to expound this law, saying:

Time:
Deu 1:3 shows that the 40^th Passover was one and a half months away, at which time the forty years of wandering in the desert would be completed. Deu 1:3 reads, “In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them.” It was, therefore, Shebat 1, 1406 B.C.

Israel was going to enter the land five days before the 40^th Passover (Jos 4:19). The manna stopped on the day after the 40^th Passover (Jos 5:12)

Place:
Moses spoke these words to the people east of the Jordan River in the territory of Moab (Deu 1:1, 5). 

Audience:
These Israelites were the second generation of those who left Egypt. The whole generation of those who left Egypt died in the desert because of their rebellion against God (Num 14:29, 32:13). 

Content:
In the land they were about to enter, there was a danger they could lose their hearts to God’s blessings. So, in this chapter Moses exhorts the people to be faithful to all the terms of God’s covenant with them.

This chapter is a part of one long speech Moses gave to the people in chapters 1-28 of this book – a speech in which Moses gave the commands of the covenant to them and exhorted them by means of repeated warnings and promises to be faithful to that covenant.

Relevance:
We too are children of Abraham (Ro 4:16) and heirs of the true Canaan. The promise of Canaan was only a shadow of that which we have in Jesus (Col 2:16, Heb 10:1).

Canaan is a figure for our eternal home in the new heavens and earth in the age to come (Rev 21:1ff), the good land we look forward to inheriting (Rom 4:13, 1Pe 1:3-4).

Canaan is also a figure for the life with Jesus under his leadership which is abundant (Joh 10:9-10) and fruitful (Joh 15:5). A land with streams of living water (Joh 7:37-39) and where true bread is not scarce (Joh 6:51). 

The desert is the figure for the period in which we are still dying to the desires for Egypt (the flesh and this world) and find God’s commands as burdensome and have yet to rise with Christ to taste inwardly of his power and goodness.

What did he urge them to do? 

ANSWER:

Deu 8:1  Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.

He urged them to “Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today”

They should be “careful” to do this. That means caution and attentiveness should be exercised to be sure that they obey them. This is needful because of what is at stake.

They should follow “every” command.

How would this benefit them?

ANSWER:

Deu 8:1  Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.

By doing this, God would enable them to “live and increase” and also “enter and possess the land”.

“…so that you may live”. What was at stake here was their very lives. If, after entering the land, they lost their hearts to idols or wealth, they would surely be destroyed (v19). But if they loved God more than anything and proved it by their obedience, they would live in the true sense.

“…so that you may…increase”. God would bless them to increase in number and increase in strength.

“…so that you may…enter and possess the land”. To possess the land required fighting powerful enemies, external and internal. God would enable them to conquer their enemies and take possession of the land.

God wanted them to obey him because he loved them dearly and so strongly desired for them to enjoy of his blessings in Canaan forever. Deu 5:29 reads, “Oh, that their hearts would be inclined to fear me and keep all my commands always, so that it might go well with them and their children forever!”

We also should be careful to follow everything Jesus has commanded us (Luk 6:46-49, Mat 7:21-23, Heb 12:25, Jas 1:21-22, Heb 5:9, Mat 5:19, Mat 28:20). His commands are his prescription for our happiness. If we fail to follow what the doctor tells us to do, our sickness may get worse, not better. In the same way, we should be careful to follow every command Jesus has given us, for they are his prescription for us to be healthy and happy spiritually, to overcome the power of sin and take possession of what he promised – the blessed land of the rule of the Spirit (Joh 15:10-11, 14:15-17, 1Jo 3:24).

While it is true that obedience is the key to happiness, it is not by human effort that we can obey his commands. God’s law is not a blessing but a curse to those who try to obey it apart from faith in the power of Christ’s blood (Gal 3:2-3). In other words, it is by working out our faith in what Christ has done for us that we can repent our sins and obey and thereby take hold of the blessedness of being ruled by him (1Jo 5:3-5, Joh 6:29). The real source of blessedness is Christ’s sacrifice on the cross. 

2.      Read verses 2-5.  

ANSWER:

Deu 8:2-5  Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  3  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.  4  Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.  5  Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

For forty years in the desert, what did God do? 

ANSWER:

Deu 2:7  The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

He “led” them as a shepherd leading his flock. He did so by the cloud of his presence (Num 9:15-23).

He “humbled” them (2) by placing them in situations of extreme need so that they would have to rely on him to supply those needs and receive of his help with gratitude. He did this to mold them into people who would live by faith in him and know his goodness and greatness.

The poor in spirit – those who have been emptied of their sense of self-sufficiency and who know their weakness and totally depend on their Father God – are blessed (Mat 5:3).

He “tested” them (2). By placing them in extreme difficulties, he brought into full view in their actions what was hidden in their hearts for their sake (for he knew it already), and revealed it so that they might know how they were really doing so far in terms of learning to trust and obey him. He revealed what was in them, whether or not they had faith in his power and goodness, and brought to light their rebellion and wickedness.

His intent in testing them is stated in verse 16: “so that in the end it might go well with you”. He wanted it to go well with them in Canaan – for them to be prosperous and happy. So he tested them to discipline them so that they might repent their sins and grow in faith and committed obedience to the point where they would “keep his commands” (2) – that they would be faithful to the covenant relationship with him in Canaan.

As Christians, we also receive God’s testing (Heb 12:6). It is evidence that we are his beloved sons and daughters (Heb 12:7-8). But we also need to learn from the testing and produce the fruit of obedience (Heb 12:11, 1Jo 2:3).

He cared for them physically so that their feet did not swell (4) and their clothing and sandals did not wear out (Deu 29:5). He gave them water to drink (15) and fed them with manna (3). More on the manna in what follows…

Look at Exo 16:14-36 to see how God gave the manna.

ANSWER:

Exo 16:14-36  When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor.  15  When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was.  Moses said to them, "It is the bread the LORD has given you to eat.  16  This is what the LORD has commanded: `Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.'"  17  The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little.  18  And when they measured it by the omer, he who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little. Each one gathered as much as he needed.  19  Then Moses said to them, "No one is to keep any of it until morning."  20  However, some of them paid no attention to Moses; they kept part of it until morning, but it was full of maggots and began to smell. So Moses was angry with them.  21  Each morning everyone gathered as much as he needed, and when the sun grew hot, it melted away.  22  On the sixth day, they gathered twice as much -- two omers for each person -- and the leaders of the community came and reported this to Moses.  23  He said to them, "This is what the LORD commanded: `Tomorrow is to be a day of rest, a holy Sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.'"  24  So they saved it until morning, as Moses commanded, and it did not stink or get maggots in it.  25  "Eat it today," Moses said, "because today is a Sabbath to the LORD. You will not find any of it on the ground today.  26  Six days you are to gather it, but on the seventh day, the Sabbath, there will not be any."  27  Nevertheless, some of the people went out on the seventh day to gather it, but they found none.  28  Then the LORD said to Moses, "How long will you refuse to keep my commands and my instructions?  29  Bear in mind that the LORD has given you the Sabbath; that is why on the sixth day he gives you bread for two days. Everyone is to stay where he is on the seventh day; no one is to go out."  30  So the people rested on the seventh day.  31  The people of Israel called the bread manna. It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey.  32  Moses said, "This is what the LORD has commanded: `Take an omer of manna and keep it for the generations to come, so they can see the bread I gave you to eat in the desert when I brought you out of Egypt.'"  33  So Moses said to Aaron, "Take a jar and put an omer of manna in it. Then place it before the LORD to be kept for the generations to come."  34  As the LORD commanded Moses, Aaron put the manna in front of the Testimony, that it might be kept.  35  The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a land that was settled; they ate manna until they reached the border of Canaan.  36  (An omer is one tenth of an ephah.)

It’s origin: He “rain[ed] down bread from heaven” (Exo 16:4). It was a daily miracle which happened until they reached the borders of Canaan (Exo 16:35)

It’s characteristics: It appeared each morning (except Saturdays) as “thin flakes like frost on the ground…on the desert floor” (Exo 16:14).  “It was white like coriander seed and tasted like wafers made with honey” (Exo 16:31).

The Israelites were to “go out each day and gather enough for that day” (Exo 16:4) and were to gather no more than one day’s portion, otherwise if “they kept part of it until morning, …it was full of maggots and began to smell” (Exo 16:20).

The idea here was to keep the Israelites from amassing multiple days of food and thereby defeat the purpose of the training which was to learn to depend on God.

The Israelites ground the manna and prepared meals from out of what they gathered: “The people went around gathering it, and then ground it in a handmill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into cakes. And it tasted like something made with olive oil.” (Num 11:8)

Why did he feed them manna (3)? 

ANSWER:

Deu 8:3  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Exo 16:4  Then the LORD said to Moses, "I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions.

To teach them to live by faith, not by sight (2Co 5:7) – to teach them that God and not bread alone is what sustains them physically. And he did this to teach them that, so long as they believe and obey all his words (“every word”), he will provide for their physical needs.

Jesus quoted this verse in Mat 4:4 when the devil tempted him to distrust his Father and leave the path of obedience to provide bread for himself. 

The “Great Recession” has brought economic crisis, layoffs, and scarcity of jobs, making people worried. God doesn’t want us to ruled by fear and become slaves to bread but live according to his words, trusting him to provide (Mat 6:33).

How can we live on God’s word?

ANSWER:

Deu 8:3  He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

By feeding our soul with God’s word daily. God wants us to recognize our utter dependence on his word in order for us to “live” (in the full sense of being alive). God has made us in his image with a spiritual nature that is higher than our physical nature. Bread alone is not all we need because we are not just physical beings. 

This inference does not come from verse 4. Strictly speaking, in the context of this passage, verse 4 applies only to the physical needs of the Israelites. The Israelites were to learn their dependence on his word for their physical life. But we are taught elsewhere in Scripture to understand this verse as having a broader meaning which applies to our spiritual needs. For example, Christ tells us that he is the manna for our soul in Joh 6:51. Hence, there is a strong warrant to draw a parallel between the Israelite’s need for God’s word to supply their daily physical need and our need for God’s word to supply our daily spiritual need.

Where does it say that we need the word of God daily to sustain our soul? To my knowledge, there is no such explicit declaration in Scripture. Yet, it is alluded to in the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us today our daily bread.” (Mat 6:11). We tend to think of this as more of a prayer petition for daily spiritual bread rather than physical bread because Christ tells us to seek after the food which endures to eternal life rather than that which spoils (Joh 6:27). 

Just as the Israelites had to go out each morning to gather the manna they needed for that day (Exo 16:21), so we need to come to the feet of our Lord Jesus each morning and gather from his words in Scripture the heavenly manna we need to sustain us for the day (Isa 55:2-3, Luk 10:39). Every word of Scripture comes from the mouth of the Lord and is God-breathed and, therefore, life giving (2Ti 3:16).

The bread from heaven which God provided the Israelites was something “which neither you nor your fathers had known”. It was mysterious, not of this world. In the same way, that which God provides for our soul through the word of God is mysterious and supernatural, quite unlike any delight found in this world. This bread is the healing, renewing, life-giving benefits of Christ’s flesh and blood (Joh 6:33) made deeply, firmly known to us by the Holy Spirit through the words of God (Joh 16:14, 1Co 2:12), making fresh impressions on us and freeing us from that which is unholy that we may love and worship and serve him. The words of God are the vehicle used by the Holy Spirit to feed us with the manna of Jesus flesh and blood (Joh 6:63, 55), making that which he did on the cross very real and deeply meaningful and precious to us.

The Scriptures abundantly testify that this manna is truly satisfying and of superior taste: Isa 55:2, Heb 6:5, Psa 119:103, Psa 19:10, and so on.

After the church of Pergamum was assaulted by persecution, Satan enticed them with pleasure (Rev 2:12-14). To this church, Christ gave the promise in Rev 2:17 of “hidden manna” as the reward for those who are victorious over the sweet temptations of this world: “To him who overcomes, I will give some of the hidden manna.” This alludes to a delight which surpasses what the world offers.

Humbleness is necessary to receive of the heavenly manna. That which he gives is by his mercy and beyond our ability to grasp by our own smartness or effort. If we approach the word of God with a wrong attitude, we can get no benefit from all our effort and time and even become worse. Yet, he will not turn us away hungry when we come before his words, asking for his manna, seeking earnestly to learn of him with a humble attitude in which we honor him and give our respectful attention to his word, believing what he says and intending to do whatever he says.

God put them in the desert where no earthly bread could be found so they would have to eat his heavenly bread and discover of its goodness.

This food is not necessarily enjoyable at first experience. (It’s what they call an “acquired taste”.) To acquire a taste for this manna, we have to stop satisfying ourselves with earthly, unholy things and satisfy ourselves, instead, with God’s word. We have to place ourselves in a “desert”, so to speak, where we can be separated from the worldly foods and lose our addiction (Pro 27:7) and call out to God to be fed with his food (Pro 2:3) and learn to be satisfied by his pure, heavenly food alone (Pro 2:10). The Scriptures urge us to learn to “crave” it (1Pe 2:2) – to learn to love it (Psa 119:103).

There is a saying, “You are what you eat”. What we put into our minds – what we enjoy to read and watch and think about – becomes a part of us. If we feed our worldly desires and eat junk, we become worldly, polluted, empty and dissatisfied. We need the food from heaven which makes us to grow up spiritually (1Pe 2:2) and which makes us to be holy (Joh 17:17, 15:3).

By retaining the word we received and meditating on it (Jas 1:25, Joh 8:31-32, Jos 1:8, Psa 23:2, Luk 8:15).

The manna they gathered in the morning was what they ate during the day (Num 11:8). This correlates to meditating during the day upon what we received in the morning from God’s word. Again, when we learn the delight of it – when we find that the word tastes supernaturally so good – we will automatically return to it with frequency and pleasure during the day, meditating on it.

By obeying God’s word absolutely. We should live in obedience to his word, trusting fully that, as we obey it with perseverance, God will provide us with all good things to sustain us physically and make us truly happy. We should do what his word says, believing that freedom and power from Jesus is found therein to rise above the life that is dominated by our sinful nature and this world’s worries, riches and pleasures.

What does God want us to sincerely know about him (5)?

ANSWER:

Deu 8:5  Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.

Deu 1:31  and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

Deu 2:7  The LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.

The word “then” refers to the previous verse, verse 4, which speaks of God’s help for them during their journey. We should know about his care for us and that his discipline comes from his care (Heb 12:7-8) that we may fear him and love him.

He wants us to have, not theoretical, but living, liberating knowledge of him in our heart: “Know then in your heart”. This knowledge is a deep conviction which enables/frees us to obey him, love him, and serve him.

He wants us to not be fearful or anxious about how to survive but be loaded with peace in the knowledge that he is our loving Father, protector and provider (Mat 6:25-26). He wants to trust in him that he might give us practical experience of his mighty deliverance and of his supernatural provision.

He wants us to know of his goodness and greatness as our loving Father who has given us of his One and Only Son out of his passion to have us as his possession, and who does not give up on us in our rebellion and sin but disciplines and trains us to obey him because he so much loves us and wants us to be satisfied with nothing less than himself that we might be his treasured possession to the end and be his beloved sons and daughters and be truly happy and free and alive, receiving of everything (even trouble) with faith in his goodness and with thanksgiving and praise. He is our loving Father who is leading our life and disciplining us that we may “live and increase” and “enter and possess” the promised land of heaven at the close of our life.

Part II: Remember him who blesses you (6-20)

(Part I looked backward and was a review of lessons learned over the past 40 years. This next part looks forward to the life in Canaan.)

3.      Read verses 6-10. 

ANSWER:

Deu 8:6-10  Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him.  7  For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land -- a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;  8  a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;  9  a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.  10  When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

Describe the land God was giving them.  

ANSWER:

Deu 8:7-9  For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land -- a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills;  8  a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey;  9  a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

Deu 6:10-11  When the LORD your God brings you into the land he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to give you -- a land with large, flourishing cities you did not build,  11  houses filled with all kinds of good things you did not provide, wells you did not dig, and vineyards and olive groves you did not plant -- then when you eat and are satisfied,

It was a beautiful, Eden-like paradise loaded with every good and delightful thing: plenty of water, many varieties of trees, and plenty of delicious food and natural resources. The land was also filled cities, houses, and vineyards of the Canaanite inhabitants. These would become the possession of the Israelites for them to enjoy (Deu 6:10-11).

Compared to the desert where they had been wandering, the land they were about to enter was fabulous.

The desert was a “thirsty and waterless land” (Deu 8:15) where, in contrast, Canaan was well watered.

The desert was also inhospitable – a “dreadful” place with “venomous snakes and scorpions” and was also “barren” (Jer 2:6). In contrast, Canaan was filled with beauty and living things. A refreshing, satisfying and enjoyable land.

What kind of land does God promise to give us?

ANSWER:

God has promised us two lands: (1) Heaven in the hereafter; and (2) heaven in our hearts in the here-and-now. Let’s examine these two promises further:

(1) Heaven is the place Jesus is preparing for us where we will be with him forever (Joh 14:2-3, Rev 22:4). There will be a new heaven and earth (Rev 21:1, Isa 66:22) and a huge and splendorous city, the new Jerusalem, in which we will dwell with him forever (Rev 21:2-27) in a glorious, resurrected body (Php 3:21, 1Co 15:49, 1Jo 3:2, Dan 12:3, Mat 13:43).

To be with Christ in this heavenly Canaan ought to be the object of our longing (Php 3:20, Heb 11:16, Luk 12:35) and the hope for which we purify and ready ourselves (1Jo 3:3, Tit 2:11-13) and the aim of our life. We should not be short-sighted, setting our hopes on the things of this life (2Co 4:17-18). 

(2) Heaven in our hearts is the promise of full life in a close love relationship with Christ in which he dwells and rules in us by the Holy Spirit (Joh 3:5, 10:9-10, 14:15-17; Eph 3:16-19).

Christ wants us to experience of the surpassing greatness of knowing, enjoying and loving him (Joh 17:26, Php 3:8, 1Pe 1:8, Psa 37:4, Deu 28:47, Joh 15:11, Psa 32:11) while we wait for his return. He wants us to experience of the circumcision of our hearts (Php 3:3, Col 2:11-12, Ro 2:29) – the removal from our hearts of sinful desires which rob our happiness. And Christ wants our love and happiness with him to overflow into the lives of those around us and to draw others to know and enjoy him (1Jo 1:4).

What does your Canaan – your promised land – look like? What are you seeking after as your paradise and how does it compare with what God offers in the gospel? Jesus wants to sell us on his version of paradise, that we may seek after it and settle for nothing less than it and follow every command he has given us to take hold of it.

How were they to respond to all the goodness God was giving them (6, 10)? 

ANSWER:

Deu 8:6  Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him.

Deu 8:10  When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

Deu 28:47-48  Because you did not serve the LORD your God joyfully and gladly in the time of prosperity,  48  therefore in hunger and thirst, in nakedness and dire poverty, you will serve the enemies the LORD sends against you. He will put an iron yoke on your neck until he has destroyed you.

The abundant love he was showing them was intended to foster in them a sense of gratitude and indebtedness so that joy and gladness and reverence and love and worship and service and obedience might come forth from their hearts.

They were to revere him (6). This means that they were to respect and honor him as their great King and Deliverer. They were to express this by observing his commands and walking in his ways.

They were to walk in his ways rather than in the ways of the world – the ways of the idolatrous nations which surrounded them and the ways they lived formerly in Egypt. We should not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (Ro 12:2). We should walk in reverence BEFORE him.

What are his ways? In brief, his ways, as revealed in Moses’ law, are those of holiness (Lev 19:2) and of passionate love to him (Deut 6:5) and of love for each other (Lev 19:18).

They were to praise the LORD for the good land he had given them (10) and thereby cultivate gratitude in their hearts to God. This point is critical.

Backsliding and apostasy (turning away from God) begins with failing to positively and sincerely glorify and give thanks to God according to Ro 1:21. It causes our heart to become “foolish” and “darkened” so that we no longer cherish God but see the value in worthless things outside the relationship and want to exchange him for those idols. 

They should enjoy him and love him more than his blessings and be careful not to lose their hearts to the blessings. 

They should not forget their status as tenants on the land, not owners. They were tenants whose job was produce the fruit he desires (Mat 21:41,43) – the fruit of obedience, worship and service to him coming from the knowledge of his greatness and goodness and from a loving heart toward him. They had to fight the sinful propensity to become ungrateful, forgetting what he has done, and forsake their relationship with God the landowner and live selfishly as though they were the owners. 

How does this apply to us?

ANSWER:

All the aforementioned points apply to us in Christ. We need to be thankful to God for giving his Son to die for our sins. All the grace he has shown us should have the effect of causing us to love him back (1Co 15:10, Luk 7:47, Ro 12:1). 

But what if we don’t have such feelings? He is not commanding us to have such feelings toward him as though we can make ourselves feel that way. Rather, from the Spirit of him who raised Christ from the dead is the power to make us alive spiritually and the power to give us a loving and thankful disposition toward him. He commands us to renounce the love of other things and do the outward work of loving him, trusting that as we do so he will change us step by step (Mat 9:29, Ro 4:19-21, Gal 6:9, Mar 11:24). 

In Christ, we also have an obligation to live for him (2Co 5:15). We are stewards not owners of the life and blessings from him (1Co 6:19-20).

We should not take our salvation for granted, looking for something more to satisfy ourselves with. Rather, we should learn contentedness with him alone, and remember and give thanks for what he has done (directly and indirectly through others) and ask him to reveal more of his glory to us (Eph 1:17, 3:18-19) that our appreciation of him and all that we have in him may grow.

4.      Read verses 11-20. 

ANSWER:

Deu 8:11-20  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.  12  Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down,  13  and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied,  14  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.  15  He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock.  16  He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.  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.  19  If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.  20  Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

What did Moses warn them about (11-14)? 

ANSWER:

Deu 32:15  Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior.

He warned them that prosperity could make their hearts “proud” (14).

They could become puffed up with thoughts of themselves being glorious and powerful (godlike) on account of their riches. Nebuchadnezzar said to himself, “Is not this the great Babylon I have built as the royal residence, by my mighty power and for the glory of my majesty?” (Dan 4:30). They are warned of this in verse 17.

They could become proud in the sense of self-sufficient, feeling that they don’t really need God much in their life – that he is merely an accessory to their life. This could arise because, in the land, all their physical needs would be met and, hence, there would be no outward, urgent cause for them to vigorously depend on God and cling to him. Being well fed, at ease and surrounded by visible wealth could lull them into complacency, feeling that they don’t need to struggle that much any more to depend on God, so that they would be spiritually lax, slack in carrying out their duty to love him wholeheartedly and remain in the relationship with him, obeying him and doing the things which please him. Thus, the vital connection with God would be broken and backsliding would start.

This pride was contrary to what he trained them 40 years to have. He wanted them to have humble hearts and depend on him (to be “poor in spirit,” Mat 5:3), realizing that it was him and not visible bread alone that sustains them (3). 

Peace and prosperity is the real test of whether we have really learned humility and dependence on him and genuine gratefulness and the fear of him. 

He warned them that prosperity could make them “forget” the LORD. More on this in what follows…

How was it possible for them to “forget” God? 

ANSWER:

The forty years of desert training had passed and they were about to cross the Jordan.  To them at that moment, it may have seemed hard to believe that they could ever forget the long, hard lessons they had learned. But God knows the power of our sinful nature and he warned that it would be automatic for them to forget everything he had done for them, even to forget that the land and their prosperity was his gift to them. (Even after the death of Joshua, thirty or so years from now, they would forget God. This is recorded in the book of Judges.) Therefore, they had to make diligent effort to prevent this, to “be careful” that they did not forget.

The danger was not of forgetting facts about God. The facts about God can be remembered even while we forget God. Rather, the danger was of forgetting the reality of God in their life:

Forgetting that he was their real provider, the one on whom they ought to depend. 

Forgetting that he was the real owner of the land and their lives, they one whom they ought to revere and walk before.

Forgetting that he was their awesome God, the one to whom they owed the debt of love because he so loved them and had done great things for them and had been so patient and merciful to them and had led them and shielded them and cared for them all these years.

It is possible for us to forget the Lord Jesus who saved us sin – to forget him, not in the sense of failing to recall the facts of who he is and what he did, but forget him in the sense of these truths not having power in our lives – not being real to us any more – not being alive and having sway over our desires, decisions, actions and path of life (Mat 13:13). For this reason, the word of God tells us to remain in Jesus (Joh 15:5) in a humble, loving, submissive dependence on him who is our life source. And the Spirit of God counsels us to make every effort to do this (1Jo 2:27) because remaining in him is not something that comes automatically, without deliberate, vigorous effort. We need the truth of Christ and the life-giving benefits of what he has done to come to our heart with forcefulness and conviction through his word that it may rule in us. And we need to come to him sincerely and ask for this.

Unless we make effort like this daily to receive powerful life-giving truth from him, darkness overtakes us (Heb 3:12-13, Joh 12:35) – the darkness of sin’s deceitfulness and of the love of the world (1Jo 2:15-16) – and these things become real to us so that we give them priority and attention over the spiritual things.

What thoughts should they guard against (17)? 

ANSWER:

Deu 8:17  You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."

They should guard against prideful thoughts – congratulating themselves as though by their own hard work and wisdom they had attained their wealth. They should be careful, instead, to remember that “it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth” (18). The strength and wisdom they had to get wealth was from the Lord who was working vigorously in them to confirm his covenant to bless them (Deu 28:1, 11-13). Thus, all glory belonged to God.

They should also guard against self-righteous thoughts. Deu 9:4 reads, “After the LORD your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The LORD has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness."” They were to remember that they are stiff-necked people on whom God had shown mercy because of the covenant he swore to their fathers. They were also being given the land because of God’s judgment on the Canaanites for their wickedness (Deu 9:5). 

How does God confirm his covenant with us (18, Luk 22:20)?

ANSWER:

Deu 8:18  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.

Luk 22:20  In the same way, after the supper he took the cup, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in my blood, which is poured out for you.

Gal 3:16-17  The promises were spoken to Abraham and to his seed. The Scripture does not say "and to seeds," meaning many people, but "and to your seed," meaning one person, who is Christ.  17  What I mean is this: The law, introduced 430 years later, does not set aside the covenant previously established by God and thus do away with the promise.

As Christians, we are under a covenant different from the one made through Moses, a covenant in which we are recipients of the benefits of what Christ did through faith. And, through faith in Christ, we are also the children of Abraham and heirs of the covenant promises which God made to him.

Although God promises to supply our need when we seek first his kingdom and righteousness (Mat 6:33, Heb 13:5, 1Ti 6:17, Php 4:19), the new covenant he has made with us in Jesus’ blood is not one in which he promises to make us materially wealthy (Mat 19:29 refers to spiritual compensation for our sacrifice). God confirmed his covenant of love with Israel in a visible way with material wealth, but he confirms the new covenant with us in Jesus’ blood by giving us spiritual wealth – the power to love God and enjoy him and serve him, and to love one another and live a holy, obedient, self-controlled and happy life which glorifies him (Joh 15:5, Rom 6:22, Gal 5:22).

God confirms his covenant with us by working for our good in all things, even in poverty, trouble and persecution (Ro 8:28, Joh 16:33, Ro 5:3-4, Mat 5:11-12). Trials are also the confirmation of his love for us (Heb 12:7-8). We should not expect only good things to come our way, but rather that God will work in all things to sustain us, keep us and help us grow spiritually. 

The blessings promised to Israel in the law were only a shadow of the real blessedness found in Christ (Heb 10:1). The blessed life does not consist in having an abundance of possessions (Luk 12:15) but in knowing Christ (Php 3:8). 

It is not by our effort or wisdom or goodness that we grow spiritually and take hold of his promises. All glory belongs to God for our salvation and the spiritual wealth we attain – every good thing we enjoy in the Lord – because, from first to last, it is only by the grace of God working in us that we can attain it (Joh 15:8, Act 5:31, Eph 2:8-9, Eze 36:27, Php 2:13, Joh 3:21).

What were the consequences of unfaithfulness (19-20)?

ANSWER:

Deu 8:19-20  If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.  20  Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

Dan 9:11-12  All Israel has transgressed your law and turned away, refusing to obey you.  "Therefore the curses and sworn judgments written in the Law of Moses, the servant of God, have been poured out on us, because we have sinned against you.  12  You have fulfilled the words spoken against us and against our rulers by bringing upon us great disaster. Under the whole heaven nothing has ever been done like what has been done to Jerusalem.

For Israel, destruction was the consequence of unfaithfulness. God was jealous for Israel’s love. If they failed to keep their love relationship with him going, abiding by the terms of the covenant, and gave their heart to other gods, they would be destroyed. 

Idolatry is not limited to the worship of images and false gods. An idol is anything we put before God or takes God’s place in our heart. They can be goals or things we pursue such as money, power, or comfort. Types of idolatry also include pride, greed, gluttony (Php 3:19, Col 3:5) and a love for possessions (Mat 6:24).

For Christians, destruction is the consequence of unfaithfulness (Gal 6:8, Joh 15:6, Ro 6:23). Deliberate rejection of Christ as leader is tantamount to the rejection of him as Savior and of his gift of salvation (Joh 12:48, Heb 10:26, Luk 6:46-49, Mat 7:21-23, Heb 12:25, Heb 5:9) with the result that the person is given over to the power of his sinful nature becoming worse than the first (2Pe 2:20, Rom 1:26, Mat 12:44-45). 

The End.

Man does not live on bread alone

(The importance of daily bread)

Deut 8:1-20

Key Verse 3

He humbled you, causing you to hunger
and then feeding you with manna,

which neither you nor your fathers had known,

to teach you that man does not live on bread alone

but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Part I: The purpose of God’s discipline (1-5)

1.      Read verse 1. On what occasion did Moses speak these words? What did he urge them to do? How would this benefit them?

2.      Read verses 2-5. For forty years in the desert, what did God do? Look at Exo 16:14-36 to see how God gave the manna. Why did he feed them manna (3)? How can we live on God’s word? What does God want us to sincerely know about him (5)?

Part II: Remember him who blesses you (6-20)

3.      Read verses 6-10. Describe the land God was giving them. What kind of land does God promise to give us? How were they to respond to all the goodness God was giving them (6, 10)? How does this apply to us?

4.      Read verses 11-20. What did Moses warn them about (11-14)? How was it possible for them to “forget” God? What thoughts should they guard against (17)? How does God confirm his covenant with us (18, Luk 22:20)? What were the consequences of unfaithfulness (19-20)?

Man does not live on bread alone

(The importance of daily bread)

Deut 8:1-20

Key Verse 3

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Thank God for our spring conference through which we could enjoy meditating on the benefits of Jesus’ death and resurrection and receive newly of those benefits – how he loved us and has forgiven our sins and has given us power to live for him. We want to retain the spiritual progress we made through the conference and continue growing rather than slide back into our old ways. Today’s passage teaches us the secret to doing this. It exhorts us to live on God’s words – to make a deliberate, persistent effort to remain in a humble, submissive, loving dependence on our Lord by feeding daily on his life-giving word.

Part I: The purpose of God’s discipline (1-5)

The occasion on which Moses spoke the words in today’s passage was when the Israelites were about to enter Canaan. They were encamped on the eastern border of Canaan, poised to enter the land. It was the time for them to prepare for the dangers of what lay ahead and reflect upon the lessons they had learned from 40 years of God’s training in the desert. 

The land they were about to enter was so good. There was a danger they could lose their hearts to God’s blessing and then fail to keep their relationship with him, provoke his anger by their disobedience and lose everything. So, Moses warned them in verse 1 to be careful. He said, “Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers.” God loved them and earnestly wanted them to be happy – to take possession of his blessings in Canaan and retain possession of them forever. So, he told them to be careful to follow every command he was giving them. God’s commands are his prescription for our happiness. If we, for example, fail to follow what the doctor tells us to do, our sickness may get worse, not better. In the same way, we should be careful to follow every command Jesus has given us, for they are his prescription for us to be healthy and happy spiritually, to overcome sin sicknesses and take possession of what he promised. The promises given to Israel were only a shadow of those which we have in Christ. So, Canaan is only a shadow of the real stuff. What Jesus has promised us is not just the eternal Canaan in the age to come, the new heavens and the new earth (which is fabulous enough), but he has also promised us a spiritual Canaan in this life – one in which Jesus rules in us and our desires for this world cease and one in which the love of him and enjoyment of him fills us and we have peace and happiness and one in which we have his strength to love those around us sincerely and to draw them to know and enjoy Christ with us (Joh 14:15-17). This, what I just described to you, is the true Canaan – the true paradise that is worthy of giving up everything to possess. And Jesus really wants to sell us on this, that we may seek after it and settle for nothing less than it. But the problem is that taking hold of it by following every command he has given us is something we cannot do on our own. We need, therefore, to depend on Christ and what he has done for us.

It was for this purpose that God led Israel through the desert forty years. Verse 2 says, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.” God humbled them; by leading them through distress and hardship, he emptied them of their sense of self-sufficiency and made them recognize their utter helplessness and need of him. This was so that they might rely on him and obey him. And the purpose of the trials was also to test them, to bring what was in their hearts into full view in their actions so that they might know how they were really doing so far, good or bad, in terms of learning to trust him and keep his commands. 

God wants for us to be humble and rely on him. This is the foundation of our spiritual life. The blessed are the poor in spirit (Mat 5:3) – those who have been emptied of their sense of self-sufficiency and who know their weakness. God has shown them what is in their hearts – they know they are sinners and they know the terrible power of their sinfulness and of its terrible consequences. And they, therefore, totally depend on Christ – they cling to him with fear and trembling, trusting him and not themselves. They depend on Jesus for their healing and happiness and submit themselves to following what he prescribes – what the doctor orders. Proud people, the rich in spirit, on the other hand, don’t obey, but hold on to their own idea and experience and hold their own ways and they suffer for it.

God taught the Israelites through their stomachs how to humbly depend on him and follow his word. Verse 3 reads, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” This refers to how God fed the Israelites in the desert. Out in the desert, there was no food, so God fed them by raining down bread from heaven called manna. It was a mysterious miracle. This manna would appear each morning as thin flakes like frost on the desert floor. God instructed the Israelites to go out each morning and gather enough for that day and to only gather that day’s portion and no more, because otherwise, if they kept part of it until the next day, it would be full of maggots and begin to smell. They also had to gather the manna they needed in the morning before the sun grew hot and it all melted away. Another point was there was no manna on Saturday, the Sabbath, so the Israelites had to gather two days worth of manna on Friday to last them through Saturday. And strangely, the manna they collected did not go bad the next day. This all shows that the manna was not a natural phenomena but something God was controlling, causing it behave precisely according to his word without exception. 

So in order to have food to eat, the Israelites had to follow God’s instructions exactly regarding the manna. Some learned the hard way that if they didn’t follow his word, they would go hungry. If they slept in late, for example, and went out to find manna, it was gone. Thus, they learned that their Heavenly Father’s word was trustworthy. They learned that they would always have food to eat if they followed his word rather than their own idea or convenience. According to his word, their Father in heaven would faithfully provide them with manna without failing. They, indeed, learned that, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” 

This principle applies to us as well. Our Father in heaven is in control of everything including our personal bread situation. So long as we trust him and practically obey his words, he will provide for us. The devil tempted Jesus in the desert, saying, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” He wanted Jesus to distrust his Father and leave the path of obedience to provide bread for himself, so Jesus quoted from verse 3 saying, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Mat 4:4). In the same way, we can easily look at our visible bread situation, calculate how to survive, and get overcome by worry and then withdraw from living on God’s word and seeking first his kingdom and his righteousness. The worldwide economic crisis these days has been dubbed, the “Great Recession”. It has brought bankruptcies, layoffs, and scarcity of jobs, making people worried. But God doesn’t want us to ruled by fear and become slaves to bread but live according to his words, trusting him to provide (Mat 6:33). 

Verse 3 again says, “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” This verse has a broader meaning which applies to our daily spiritual needs, not just our physical ones. We cannot “live” (in the full sense of being alive) on physical bread alone because we are not just physical beings but spiritual beings created by God in his image. We need spiritual bread daily. This is alluded to in the Lord’s prayer: “Give us today our daily bread.” And Christ says that he himself is the manna for our soul in Joh 6:49-51. He says, “Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats [and we take this verb “eats” to mean not just one time by repeatedly] of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” So, Jesus says here that we need to “eat” of him, meaning that we need to take and apply to ourselves and especially our sins the benefits of what he did on the cross – to believe and accept it. And it is through the words of God in the Bible that the Holy Spirit administers to us the life giving benefits of Christ’s sacrifice (Joh 6:63). Just as the Israelites were taught to live on his words with a sense of utter dependence on him to sustain their physical life, so we are taught by Christ, the Word who came down from heaven and became flesh for us, that he is the true manna for our soul on whom we are to depend and feed on daily that we may have his life in us. The Lord cries out to us in Scripture, “Give ear and come to me; hear me, that your soul may live.” (Isa 55:3). We need to come to the feet of our Lord Jesus each morning and listen and gather from his words in Scripture the heavenly manna we need to sustain us for the day, just as the Israelites went out each morning to gather the manna they needed for that day.

This heavenly manna which God by his Spirit supplies for our soul through his word is truly satisfying and of superior taste. The Scriptures abundantly testify to this. For example, Psa 119:103 says, “How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” and Isa 55:2 says, “Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and your soul will delight in the richest of fare.” But, just as the manna which God provided the Israelites in the desert is said in verse 3 to be something which neither they nor their fathers had known, so this manna which God provides for our soul is supernatural, mysterious, and not of this world. The benefits it provides are spiritual. The taste of it is, therefore, not necessarily going to be enjoyable to us at first and the problem is not with the manna but with us in the respect that we might be still accustomed in our inner being to the satisfaction, comforts and delights of sin and of those offered in this world. So to acquire a taste for this food, we need to place ourselves in a “desert”, so to speak – we need to remove the worldly elements from our life – just as the Israelites were led out into the desert to be deprived of the foods of this world and those they had in Egypt in order to eat only the heavenly food and acquire a taste for it. And this is exactly what the word of God leads us to do when we eat of it. It is holy food which sanctifies us and our desires (Joh 17:17) and leads us to get rid of worldly things and overcome our appetite for them and seek after God and delight in him alone. To him who overcomes the sinful delights of this world, Christ promises in Rev 2:17 the “hidden manna”, which refers to a secret satisfaction and delight in him which surpasses that offered in this world and through which we can persevere in resisting this world’s temptations during our life’s journey through this world to the heavenly Canaan.

In today’s passage, we learn how God showed fatherly love to the Israelites in the desert for 40 years. He not only fed them with manna but he gave them water to drink out of hard rock (verse 15b). And their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell (verse 4) because of his care. In short, he watched over them, providing for all their needs, according to Deu 2:7, so that they lacked nothing. And he says in verse 5, “Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.” God wants us to understand how he is working in our life that our obedience to him might come forth from our understanding of his love. He is leading our life and caring for us and disciplining us because he is our Father and we are his precious children whom he cares for and wants to raise that we may grow in his likeness bearing his character being full of faith in him so that we may take hold of his blessings in this life and the one to come.

Part II: Remember him who blesses you (6-20)

Thus far, Moses was looking back and reminding the Israelites of the lessons they had learned over the past 40 years. But in this next part, he is looking forward to the life in Canaan and is preparing the Israelites for what lay ahead.

Moses tells them that there are two things they needed to do in view of how good the land was that God was about to give them. The first thing was to obey God. He says in verse 6-7, “Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land…” The word “for” at the start of verse 7 means “because”. Because God was giving them such a fabulous land, they should observe his commands. In other words, because there ought to be in their hearts a sense of gratitude and indebtedness to their God who was lavishing his love on them by giving them this land, they ought to observe his commands. This was necessary for them to retain the blessing he was about to give them.

The second thing they needed to do was to give thanks. Verse 10 says, “When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.” This was necessary to keep their thanks to God alive in their hearts. The initial appreciation and gratitude they would feel to God for giving them the land was going to wear out real quick unless they worked on giving thanks. According to Ro 1:21, failing to positively and sincerely glorify and give thanks to God is what causes our heart to become “foolish” and “darkened” so that we no longer cherish him. We become like the prodigal son, our heart straying from our Father even while we are in his house, because we are no longer satisfied with him but see the value in worthless things outside the relationship with him. For this reason, we need to praise him for what he has given us in Christ and give thanks.

In the next verses, Moses gives the Israelites a series of warnings. They were surely going to become wealthy and prosperous in Canaan according to his promises and he now alerts them to the dangers that would accompany this wealth that they needed to be on guard against. He says in verses 11-14, “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. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and 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.” He says here that they needed to be on guard against becoming proud on account of their wealth. They could become proud in the sense of feeling self-sufficient that they don’t really need God much in their life – that he is merely an accessory to their life. In the land, all their physical needs would be met and, hence, there would be no outward, urgent cause for them to vigorously depend on God and cling to him. Surrounded by visible wealth, they could easily be lulled into complacency, feeling that they don’t need to struggle that much any more to depend on God, and making them spiritually relaxed and slack in carrying out their duty to love him wholeheartedly and remain in the relationship with him, obeying him and doing the things which please him.

Moses warned them that, once they became proud, they would “forget” the LORD. Having just finished 40 years of God’s training in the desert, it may have seemed ridiculous to them that they could ever forget the Lord. But the danger here was not of forgetting the facts about God and what he did for them. Rather, the danger was of forgetting the reality of God in their life. It is possible for us to forget the Lord Jesus who saved us sin – to forget him, not in the sense of failing to recall the facts of who he is and what he did for us, but forget him in the sense of his truths not having power in our lives – not being real to us any more – not having sway over our desires, decisions, actions and path of life because our heart is so calloused and distant from him. To prevent this, we need to depend on our Lord Jesus – to cling to him, feed daily on his teachings and hold to them.

There was another species of pride they needed to guard against. On account of their wealth, they could become puffed up with thoughts of themselves as being glorious and powerful. He says in verse 17, “You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me."” So, they should not congratulate themselves as though by their own hard work and wisdom they had attained their wealth. To guard against this, verse 18 says, “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.” Thus, they were to give all the glory to God not only for their wealth but for the ability God gave them to produce wealth. God confirmed his covenant of love with Israel in a visible way by giving them power to accumulate material wealth. As Christians, we are under a covenant different from the one made through Moses, a covenant in which we are the recipients through faith of the benefits of what Christ did. And God confirms his covenant with us by giving us real wealth – spiritual wealth: The power to love God and enjoy him and serve him, and to love one another and live a holy, obedient, self-controlled and happy life which pleases him. And the one to whom the credit belongs for our spiritual wealth is the Lord. From first to last, it is only by the grace of God working in us that we can attain it. To him alone belongs the glory and praise and honor.

Today’s passage concludes with a solemn warning: Destruction awaited the Israelites if they ever forgot the Lord and gave their heart away to other gods. Verses 19-20 read, “If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed.  20  Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.” The New Testament has so many warnings similar to this which apply to us: Gal 6:8, for example, reads, “The one who sows to please his sinful nature, from that nature will reap destruction…” Rom 8:13 also says, “For if you live according to the sinful nature, you will die…” And Joh 15:6 reads, “If anyone does not remain in me, he is like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned.” We must heed these warnings. May the Lord help us to humbly depend on him and live on his word daily and thereby remain faithful to our relationship with him and grow.

One Word: Man does not live on bread alone.