AM Bible Study Group; May 4, 2011
Deuteronomy 8:1-20
Theme: In this chapter, God’s people are urged to remember His provision for them in the wilderness, and not forget Him when they come into the promised land.
Moses continued to give the second generation of the people of Israel instructions before he recited to them the book of the law. In this chapter, he lets the people know that they are about to leave a time of great trial and testing, and enter into a time of great prosperity and blessing. They must not forget that, throughout the times of trial, they were utterly dependent upon God. Now, in the forthcoming time of prosperity, they must make sure that they stay utterly dependent upon Him.
This chapter can be divided into two main exhortations. Looking backward, they are to ‘remember’; and looking forward, they are to ‘beware of forgetting’.
I. REMEMBER GOD’S PROVISION IN THE TIMES OF TRIAL (vv. 1-10).
A. The people were to carefully observe the commandments of God that they had been given at Mount Sinai, and that had been recited again to them in Deuteronomy 5. The reason was "that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers" (v. 1). God’s blessings were contingent upon a heart of loving dependency upon Him; and that loving dependency was demonstrated through obedience.
B. Therefore, it was absolutely essential that they remember the ways that God had provided for them over the past forty years during their wilderness wanderings. He humbled them and allowed them to hunger, so that He could daily feed them manna. This was so that they would learn that they did not live on bread alone but by every word that proceeded from the mouth of God (v. 3; see also Matthew 4:4; Luke 4:4). Implicit in the command of God was His provision. Their garments didn’t wear out, nor did their foot swell. Their provision throughout that forty year journey was a miraculous demonstration of God’s reliability and sufficiency. And this was expressly so that He might test them to see if they would obey Him (v. 2); and to chasten them so that they would walk according to His ways and fear Him (v. 6).
C. What God had in mind in training them to depend on Him during their wilderness journey was that they might be better prepared to enter into the richness of the blessing that He had in store for them (vv. 7-9). When they have eaten and were filled with the blessings of the promised land, they were to bless the Lord in return for the good that He has given them (v. 10).
II. BEWARE OF FORGETTING HIM IN THE TIMES OF PROSPERITY (vv. 11-20).
A. The admonition to "remember" God was followed by the warning to "beware" of what would happen should they forget Him and abandon their sense of dependency upon Him. Because dependency is shown through obedience, to forget to keep His commandments was as much as to reject dependency upon Him (v. 11).
B. To forget Him was also a dreadful expression of pride (vv. 12-17). It would be to forget the graciousness He had shown to them in their helplessness (14-16), and to think that it was by their own hand that they brought about all the prosperity that they enjoyed (v. 17).
C. Their best security was to make sure that they did not forget. They must "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 father, as it is this day" (v. 18). With dreadful clarity, He warns, "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" (vv. 19-20).
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Our sovereign God permits times of trial to come into our lives in order to test us. They teach us about His sufficiency, and show whether or not we will obey Him. And this is because He has great blessings that He wishes to pour out on us; but He wants to prepare us for those blessings—so that we wont forget Him in the midst of them.
He wants to be our only dependency. And that’s what He is wonderfully sufficient to be to us. As our Lord said;
“Therefore I say to you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink; nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they? Which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?
“So why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; and yet I say to you that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
“Therefore do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For after all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble (Matthew 6:25-34).