Don’t forget your God (Deut 8)

Deuteronomy 8:1-20

Key verse 8:1-2

When I was very young, I often visited my grandparents who were farmers. They grew chickens and gave me a fresh egg when I woke up in the morning. The chickens always hung around together in the house yard. They always looked for something to eat. One day I caught some mudfish from the rice field and put them in a bucket. Then I saw these chickens approaching the bucket, smelling the mudfish. They loved mudfish. So I yelled at them and scared them off. But annoyingly they came back again. So I had to scare them off again. I wondered why they came back again and again. Someone told me that it was because they had a bad memory. While they ran away, they forgot why they were running away. They did not remember what I did to them. As I grew older, I learned that we humans are forgetful particularly of God’s grace like the chickens. Today’s passage warns that we will perish if we forget his grace. I pray that God may help us remember him always so that we may bear his blessings given through Jesus Christ. The title of my message is “Don’t forget your God.”

Chapters 6-10 are applications of the first four Ten Commandments. In chapter 6a, Moses expounds the principal commandment, which is love for God. Then he teaches its application for their upcoming life in the land. In chapter 7, God commands Israel to drive out the nations in the land and totally destroy them because they are God’s holy people. In chapter 8, which is today’s passage, God commands them to remember him when they are satisfied in the Promised Land.  Why? And how can they remember him?

Remember

1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors.

Moses has emphasized their obedience to the commands of God. It is because that is the key to their successful life in the new land they are going to enter. If they follow his commands carefully, they will live and increase and possess the land promised to their ancestors. Why?

2a Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years,

Moses urges Israel to remember how God has led them all the way in the desert for 40 years. Life in the wilderness is tough. There is no water and food. It is so hot during the daytime that you can’t walk without water, a hat, and sunglasses. The place is not good to live. Israel lived in the wilderness for 40 years! What they saw and experienced for 40 years was sand, rocks, wind, hunger, thirst, and extreme weather. You feel like you are engulfed by sand and rocks. So, Moses said that they passed through the vast and dreadful desert. (8:15) Why did God lead them to such a harsh land?

2b to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 

First, God tested them to see what was in their hearts. In other words, God tested them to see whether they would keep his commands. How do you know whether you really keep God’s word? It can be tested when you have difficulties. Difficulties push you to your limitations and reveal what you really believe and who you are. In that situation, you must decide whether you believe and follow God’s word or not. So, we can see whether someone lives by faith or not when he or she is in difficulty.

Another reason God led them in the wilderness was to humble them so that they would know how weak and sinful they were. How did he humble them?    

3b He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known,

The most serious problem Israel faced in the wilderness was the lack of food. When they came out of Egypt, there was 600 thousands of men plus women and children and some foreigners. Such a large number of people lived together in the wilderness. What did they eat? Actually, there was not much to eat.

After the Israelites came out of Egypt, they traveled in the wilderness and their food ran out. They complained that Moses was starving them to death. They even said they missed their life in Egypt where they ate well. God was not happy with them. However, he said, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you.” (Ex 16:4) In the morning thin flakes like frost appeared on the desert floor. It was white and tasted like wafers made with honey. It was manna, the bread of heaven. God fed them with manna for 40 years until they entered the Promised Land. And that was not all.

4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years.  

I am still wearing some of the clothes that I brought from Korea. Probably they are more than 25 years old. My wife and children often make fun of me for this. However, the Israelites wore the same clothes for 40 years in the wilderness because they did not wear out. They traveled a lot on foot but their feet did not swell. All these were marvelous miracles that only God did for them. What then did God teach them through this?

3b to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD

In the wilderness, there was nothing Israel could do to sustain themselves. They had to depend on God. Particularly through manna, God taught them that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. God did not simply provide them with manna or put manna into their mouths as a mom puts food into her baby’s mouth. God gave instructions that they must follow to get manna. For example, they should go out in the morning; on the sixth day, they were to gather twice as much because God would not give the bread on the seventh day. When they failed to follow these instructions, they could not get bread. Only when they obeyed his word did they get manna. While gathering manna as God said, they learned how critical it was to obey every word that came from the mouth of God. In that way, God taught them that they could live by obeying his word and that God is among them through his word. Manna was a reminder to them that man is not a self-sufficient being but a dependent being to God. God humbled Israel with privation, which led them to full dependency on God. Ultimately, through obedience to his word God taught them that he is the LORD their God they must trust in and honor. In 29:5-6, God said,

5 …“During the forty years that I led you through the wilderness, your clothes did not wear out, nor did the sandals on your feet. 6 You ate no bread and drank no wine or other fermented drink. I did this so that you might know that I am the LORD your God.”

God disciplined Israel in the wilderness as a man disciplines his son.

5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you.

In ancient times, father’s discipline for his son was tough. They often used a rod to discipline their sons even to the point of shedding blood (Heb 12:4). Why? Proverbs 13:24 reads, “He who spares the rod hates his son, but he who loves him is careful to discipline him.” Father’s discipline is out of love. There were several duties that a Jewish father must do for his son, such as circumcising and redeeming the son, teaching a trade, and finding a wife for the son. But the most important duty of the father was to teach the son the Torah, the word of God. The main purpose of the father’s discipline was to help his son to know and keep the word of God all his life. It was because man lives on the word of God and through the word the son could learn how to serve God and become his people.

God disciplined Israel out of love. It was God’s tough love to rectify their sinfulness. Again, God disciplined Israel to trust in him and depend on him alone, by obeying his word. They will eat well and live in a better environment in the Promised Land. Yet, they still must live on the word of God.

Do not forget

6 Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him.

Again, Moses says that they must observe God’s commands, obeying him and revering him. He says the same in verse 1, presenting the importance of following God’s commands as a general truth. But this time he emphasizes the importance of obedience to God’s word when they live in the land.

7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.

God is leading them into a land with an abundance of water sources, a land with grains and fruits, a land where bread will not be scarce, and a land with abundant copper. Israel will enjoy the land, eating well and being satisfied. What should they do when they live in such a good land?

10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day.

They first should praise the LORD their God for the good land. Most of all, they must not forget God. When they eat well when they settle down in good houses, and when their property increases, their hearts will become proud, saying, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” And they will forget the LORD their God who brought them out of Egypt, the land of slavery and led them through the wilderness.

15 He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you.

Here Moss stresses that it was God who saved them, protected them, and provided for them. So they must remember him and acknowledge him as the LORD their God.

18 But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. his God is the Sustainer of all. So they must remember him when they live in the blessed land.

If they remember him, God will continually bless them. Otherwise, they will pay with terrible consequences.

19 If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.

The consequences will be unbearably terrible. It is according to the covenant they are making with God (28:15-68).

Overall, Moses urges Israel to be careful to follow God’s commands in the land, remembering that man does live on bread alone but on the word of God and not forgetting that it was God who brought them out the land of slavery and led them safely in the wilderness and provided for them.

Today’s passage was given to Israel just before they entered the Promised Land. God wanted to bless them continually. He wanted them to maintain his blessing in the Promised Land by keeping his commands.

This passage teaches us how we can maintain God’s blessing. God has saved us from our slavery to sin and death through Jesus. God has sustained us, protected us and has provided for us. We often think that we should do a lot of things to please God. But the most important thing you and I must do is to remember his grace and not forget him. In the passage, Moses uses the word remember (זָכַר) twice and the word forgets (שָׁכַח) three times. By this, Moses stressed the importance of remembering God. When Jesus had his last supper before he died, he said to his disciples that they must remember him all the time (Luke 22:19).

19 And he took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to them, saying, “This is my body given for you; do this in remembrance of me.”

We believers always must remember Jesus and thank him and praise him. That is the most important thing we believers must do.

I still remember when I began my life in America. After months, I began to work as an assistant in the computer operation at school. My wages were $4.5 an hour. One time we had lots of snow and it piled up to my waist. People stayed at home for a week. But I had to go to work, otherwise, I would get no pay. So I walked through the snow. But I was so thankful for God’s provisions.  God has blessed me in many ways and respects. Now I have a better job, a house, cars, and coworkers. It is not my work but God’s grace. What should I do then? I must remember his grace all my life.

We, believers, are so much blessed through Jesus. We all are saved and have the same promise for the kingdom of God. We must not forget what God has done for us especially when we are full and when we are poor. Sunday worship is the special day we remember our Lord and thanks and praise him together, looking forward to his kingdom. We should not forget him even one day. Otherwise, we are dead. You should not forget when he provides for you and protects you. You should first remember him and honor him.

How can we remember our Lord, not forgetting what he has done for us? By keeping the word of God! In the passage, what Moses tries to say is that they must be careful to follow God’s command, remembering his deeds for them. Likewise, we must not forget him, studying and obeying his word each day. That is why we do daily bread and pray. Otherwise, we will forget him and we will lose his blessing.

Again, how can we maintain God’s blessing? By keeping the word of God in our heart and live according to his word. One time when Felix and Shannon came to our Sunday worship, I saw them both sweating a lot because they walked and biked on such a hot day. Seeing them, I was so thankful for their efforts to worship God together. That is very precious to God. That is a way to remember God and that is a way to be blessed more. I pray that they can always remember their God and Jesus Christ by studying and keeping God’s word. We shouldn’t be like chickens that forget things immediately. We may lose memory as we get older but we must not forget one word “Him.” He did everything for us. He is the LORD our God! Amen.
By David Yun