Deuteronomy 8 LED BY THE LORD When we take time to review our lives up until this time, we will realize we have been blessed, and are daily receiving new blessings we often take for granted. When we read the Word of God in a devotional way, we begin to check ourselves out to see if we are true “practioners” of the truths we have learned. The Lord our God leads us day by day and step by step through the path of life He has designed for us. When He does this He gives grace for grace - grace given for grace needed. Besides that, we receive faith for faith - answers from His word when we move forward in His will. The process of living by the Word of God often follows a certain pattern. A need arises and we wonder how it is going to be met. To know our need stirs our faith in our Gracious Father and we turn to Him with full confidence. We remember how He has dealt with us in the past and why things unknown to us at the time, have turned out to be great blessings to us.
By God's grace, He has humbled us so that we realize what we thought we were able to do, we could not accomplish without Him. In humility and repentance because of our arrogant pride, we came to Him and He enabled us to do by His power what was needed. In hindsight we began then to understand our real need of God in the small things of life as well as what we considered to be big things. This turned out to be a testing time from our Lord to let us know our limitations and His all-sufficiency. By allowing us to go through difficulties beyond our control or capacity to deal with, He proves to us who we really are and we learn who God really is. It is in those times of need we find that it is God who meets that need.
When the children of Israel rose to dress each day, they could examine their shoes and clothes and find no sign of wear and tear in them in spite of the journey of the day before. They were probably quite amazed at first, but soon they began to take the provision of God for granted. Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for God's people to take for granted our acceptance with God through Christ, our fellowship with Him and His provision for our well-being in the small things of life. It is when we are consciously of God with us that our fellowship with Him lets both us and Him our hearts. When we learn God in the little things of life, He can trust us with the big things. When we are truly thankful for food, the appetite to eat it and the sense of smell to enjoy it, we are often moved to pray for those who have very little and, if possible, take steps to provide for their needs as well.
In grace God at times will lead us to the place in life where we learn the value of hunger. When it is hunger as the Lord Jesus experienced when He was tempted of the devil, we learn there is a satisfaction that goes way beyond being filled with food. Those who "hunger and thirst after righteousness shall be filled" with that holy provision. We have been "made the righteousness of God in Him." At those times when our spiritual senses are sharpened, we are made to realize what is really important in life. Then when God feeds us, we learn from Him. "Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls." The children of Israel were forty years being trained how to live in the land of promise. However, all those lost years weren't necessary if they had only been willing to follow the word of God and His leading when they first arrived at Kadesh-barnea.
We are called upon then, to observe what we know and practice it. Then to remember what God has taught us and learn life-lessons from those times of training. We are also called upon to consider why God has corrected us and what led up to that need of correction. It is not right that we should have to be corrected time after time for the same thing. Correction, chastening is inevitable, but its purpose is "to yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness." When we have been charged to obey God's word and carry out the precepts it teaches, we dare not ignore such a charge. The One who gives it is the Lord God who has "all power in heaven and on earth." How arrogant for a mere man to try to change the holy instructions given by God so they suit my preconceived ideas.
On the other hand, when we consider Him and seek to observe, remember and obey His divine directives, we find He moves in grace to us and blesses us with the spiritual blessings that bring us peace and contentment. The discontent of those who measure blessings by the tangible things of life, will never cease. There will always be more things available that the world offers than we can ever use. And yet a discontented person will seek them. How much better to be able to truly say, "Satisfied with Thee Lord Jesus, I am blessed."
In order to keep a balance, God wanted His people not just to remember what He had done for them for the forty years of wandering in the wilderness. There were more fundamental things He did not want them to forget. May we never forget who our Lord really is. He is Eternal in His being. He is Almighty in His power. He is Supreme in His authority. He is Limitless in His ability. He is Gracious in His dealings with us. He is Merciful in His forgiveness. He is Tender in His acts of compassion. His Love has no measure. There is no limit as to who our Lord is and what He is able to do. He is infinite in every attribute and yet has drawn near to us and is our Savior and Lord. He considers us friends. How far beyond our comprehension is His Love to us!
To begin to understand the multiplied blessings we have received from Him, we should not forget where we came from. The Israelites were to remember their bondage, their smallness and the way the Lord led them. We remember we were "not a people." We didn't count at all as far as deserving any attention from God. But now we are "the people of God." No longer are we strangers to His grace, but we are sons and daughters adopted into His family. Even more than a normal adoption, we have been given a new nature by means of the new birth. Both by adoption and by birth, we have been made children of the Living God. We have gone from having nothing, to having all things in Christ; from being enemies and aliens, to children and heirs; from having "no hope and without God in the world," to being placed in the blessed position of sonship.
Now what we have are all things to enjoy in Christ. When we find ourselves in happy fellowship with God, our lives are full of blessings and significant purposes. Accompanying those blessings are obligations that we have to God to live holy, righteous and godly lives because of our association with Him. As those who are a "special people" we owe the world around us our testimony to Him and of His grace. Those we live among need to know that the blessings we received are offered to them as well. Everything "we are, and have, and hope to be," we owe to our Lord. If we forget who He is and what He has done, and turn to the ways of the world around us to seek satisfaction for our fleshly nature, all we have and enjoy can be quickly lost, except for the new nature we have been given. That nature will be grieved and we will find no real joy. The reality of our spiritual joy and blessing will be lost if we turn to the religious world, the world of pleasure, the business world, or any other aspect of the world to try to find our satisfaction.
To truly obey God and keep His commands Means my heart is fully attracted to Him. It is not a burdensome thing to submit to His plans When I live in blessed freedom from sin. To know what God wants and to gladly submit; Is not always a natural thing to do. Obedience because of grace is the reason I commit Myself to let my appreciation for Him shine through.
My will is involved in obedience to God; I know He wants the very best for me. Even though I act in faith alone in His Word Each event by faith I can see; That my Lord knows best, He is infinite; Nothing to Him is unknown. Obedience to Him means walking by faith not sight; Trusting that what He chooses to me will be shown.
My mind by human nature is so very limited
That I couldn't really know what is right or wrong. Unless to principles of truth and grace I'm committed Then in my weakness His will is made strong; There is a foundation that is laid in my mind So, my spiritual intelligence will take control. Searching the scriptures of truth, I will find That learning from the Lord gives rest to my soul.
My strengths and talents are not very many. This body is getting slower and weak. Thankfully the Lord is gracious and willing to use any Physical abilities I have when fellowship with Him I seek. Fellowship in the Gospel, fellowship in any part of His work Is my delight in whatever way to participate. Financial or physical, may there be no way I shirk So that what I am and have to Him I can consecrate.
I look ahead to a day when accounts are made up And I stand in awe before the One I truly love. Before sitting at the marriage supper and with Him sup Will be displayed what for His glory I gave. May my purpose in life be consistent in faith As from day to day in obedience I serve. May my demeanor be a demonstration of God's grace May I never from the path of obedience swerve.