May 5, 2019: Day 8 – Deuteronomy 8

I hope the words from vs.3 sound familiar.  Turn to Matthew 4 and you will find Jesus tempted in the wilderness, keep in mind Jesus is in the wilderness.  Who else is in the wilderness right about now?  The people of Israel.  Satan tempts Jesus with putting an idea into his mind about changing stones to bread.   Jesus quotes these verses in Deuteronomy to Satan in order to show the ordeal that the people of Israel had been through, and he wasn’t about to throw that away.  

We also find the reason why God put the people of Israel in the wilderness to wander.  Look at vs.2: “In order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments.”  We know that it is not this generation walks into the promised land, their children do.  But God has provided for the people of Israel and had thought of every detail.  Even the minute detail of swollen feet was considered as we read that the feet of the people of Israel did not swell after 40 years of wandering in the wilderness.  God pays attention to the details.  

But ultimately we read one of the common threads and themes that runs through Scripture.  We cannot cease giving God the glory.  We cannot take the glory of God’s actions upon ourselves.  If you look at vs.17 there is a warning to thinking that we are the ones who brought this wealth upon ourselves.  “Remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power and wealth.”  If you forget this and start to worship other idols, including the idol of yourself, we read that we will surely perish.