Look at Me.....Not!

Greetings All,

Let's begin with Scripture once again reading from the Book of Deuteronomy:

NLT

Deuteronomy 8:7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with springs that gush forth in the valleys and hills. ⁸ It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees, pomegranates, olives, and honey. ⁹ It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone, and copper is abundant in the hills. ¹⁰ When you have eaten your fill, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ¹¹ "But that is the time to be careful! Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the LORD your God and disobey his commands, regulations, and laws. ¹² For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, ¹³ and when your flocks and herds have become very large and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, ¹⁴ that is the time to be careful. Do not become proud at that time and forget the LORD your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt. ¹⁵ Do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you water from the rock! ¹⁶ He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. ¹⁷ He did it so you would never think that it was your own strength and energy that made you wealthy. ¹⁸ Always remember that it is the LORD your God who gives you power to become rich, and he does it to fulfill the covenant he made with your ancestors.

Moses has been giving a speech to the Israelites to prepare and encourage them to enter the Promised Land.  He begins by acknowledging how great a land this is that God has promised them and pointing them to the reality that when they move into the fullness of God's promise they will find themselves with plenty to eat, with nice houses and with flocks and wealth that seem to ever increase.  The reason for the acknowledgement is to present a warning.  Whether it is the Israelites or us, whenever we find ourselves in a comfortable and prosperous place we are faced with the great temptation to think, "Look what I have done!  Everyone, look at me and see how awesome I am!  I have worked hard and made myself rich!" 

We get in those comfortable spots and forget how God provided for us in the tough times which is the foundational evidence that it is Him that is providing for us in these prosperous times.  We want to believe that we did it, we earned and that we deserve it, but the truth is we didn't do it, God did; and we don't deserve it, for it is God's gracious gift.  Moses tells the Israelites that God has tested them in the wilderness so that they will never be tempted to say, "look at me!" nor be tempted to think they accomplished all of this in their own strength and energy. 

It is equally a message for us today.  The longer we walk the Christian walk, the more likely we are to find ourselves in a more prosperous life, but let us never be fooled to think that we have some how accomplished this, earned this or even deserve it.  God has done and incredible thing for us and we need to always give Him the credit.  It should never be the case that we say, "look at what we have done," and always the case that we say, "look at what God has done in our lives and through our lives!"

Your brother in Christ,
Faron