A Call to Remember and Obey...

Here in chapter 8 of Deuteronomy are God's commands, cautions, blessings and warnings for his children...

Let Holy Spirit be the wind in our sails directing us homeward

      a command...

"1.  Be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today.  Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the LORD swore to give your ancestors.

      the lean times...

2.  Remember how the LORD your God led you through the wilderness for forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would really obey his commands.  
3.  Yes, he humbled  you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors.  He did it to teach you that people need more than bread for their life; real life comes by feeding on every word of the LORD.

     God's disciplining is not to destroy you but build your character...

4.  For all these forty years your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell.  5.  So you should realize that just as a parent disciplines a child, the LORD your God disciplines you to help you.

     a reminder and a promise...

6.  "So  obey the commands of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. 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.

     a caution for the good times...

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, 

     your character will determine the outcome (God abhors pride)...

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 you ancestors.

     Warning...Warning...Warning...

19. "But I assure you of this: if you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods , worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed.  20. Just as the LORD has destroyed other nations in your path, you also will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

Christ teaches us in Luke 12:34, 'Wherever your treasure is, there your heart and thoughts will be." I pray for God's grace to lead me home.  God bless you!