Warning Not to Forget God

“When you have eaten and are satisfied, you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land which He has given you. Beware lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; lest, when you have eaten and are satisfied and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart becomes proud, and you forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” (Deuteronomy 8:10-14. NASV).

In these verses selected for today’s focus, Moses continues his second discourse to the people of Israel prior to their entry into the Promised Land. Wise and knowledgeable about the pitfalls of plenty, Moses strongly warns the people not to forget God. Prosperity is never a guarantee against suffering. To have plenty to eat and a roof over one’s head, to be comfortable and not worried about what we shall eat, wear, where we shall live, how we can pay our bills—all these are blessings from God. But this “ease” can also bring pitfalls to faith. We can begin to trust our own powers and forget that God is the Provider and Overseer. “Beware…” Moses warned his people. And his words come down through the centuries to warn us today that we should not be solely dependent on our own means and powers. We are no longer in an agrarian society when our livelihood comes from the land—(for a few who provide food for the millions, this is still true, but for most of us, not even a backyard garden spot renders much of what we eat)—but we can certainly consider this verse from the Psalms that is appropriate for any age because it teaches that whatever we have comes from God’s hands: “For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills” (Psalm 50:10, KJV). A multiplication of material wealth, warns Moses, can make for a proud heart and forgetting God “from whom all blessings flow.”

We are coming near to the great American holiday of Thanksgiving. For me and for many of us, it is a time of family get-togethers, a loaded board, and a time to give thanks to God, recalling the blessings of the past year. It is not that we have not been thankful daily; that we try to be. But at Thanksgiving, we have formed the delightful “praise circle” of each naming at least one major blessing of the past year for which we are especially grateful. It is an humbling experience, to hear the elderly, the middle-agers, the youth and the children among us recount a special event or bestowment of the past year to which they give God praise and thanksgiving. At this particular Thanksgiving season, many are suffering woes of a very slack economy. Maybe some have lost jobs or even housing, or we will know those within our acquaintance who are suffering from financial distress. We who are strong are to help the weak in the name of the Lord. Compassion and generosity are marks of Christian concern for others. I can recall from my childhood some of the hard years of the Great Depression when strangers appeared at our farmhouse door and my mother and father somehow found food and other needs to share with them. As we approach Thanksgiving, let us be aware of the many ways God has blessed us, and know that His blessings to us should make us want to share with others. Like Moses of old, Paul the apostle also reminded us of how our blessings come to us: “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19, KJV). Thanks be to God! Amen!

c Ethelene Dyer Jones; Friday, November 12, 2010