Deuteronomy 8:10-14, "When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless the Lord your God for all the good land which He has given you. Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments, His precepts, and His statutes which I command you today, lest when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all you have is multiplied, then your [minds and] hearts be lifted up and you forget the Lord your God, Who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage..."
In Deuteronomy 8, the Israelites were beginning to get ready to go possess the good land, the Promise Land, which God had in store for them. They were going to have an abundance there! God strongly warned them to not forget Him when they began receiving all of these blessings, though.
Up until this point, Israel was either in bondage to the Egyptians, or they were in the wilderness. In both of these places, they had to fully rely on God for what they needed. In Egypt, their lifestyles were painful. They were lifestyles of slavery and bondage. In the wilderness, they had a lifestyle where every step had to be directed by the Lord, and they had to rely on Him for water and their next meals.
When God got ready to bring them into their Promise Land, He knew that they were going to be blessed, and He didn't want them to forget Him. He didn't want them to forget all that they had gone through in Egypt and the wilderness. What He said was, "Remember..." Remember Me and remember where you came from.
It wasn't that God wanted to withhold blessings from His children. He had so many good things in store for them. He just didn't want them to get so wrapped up in the blessing that they left Him behind and forgot that He was still the One Who was providing for them... even in their abundance.
Have you ever found it more easy to cling onto God in the difficult valleys than on the mountaintops of life?
I know that God has been abundantly blessing me lately! He took me out of my Egypt and has been showering me with good things! While walking through the wilderness, I didn't have to "remember" God, because I was so reliant on Him to take care of me, that I would never forget God. Although, when the season in my life turned from winter to beautiful spring, I have to be very careful to not forget God or to forget what He brought me through...
Truth be told, I am still just as desperate for God now as I was not too long ago when I felt like my dark valley would never lead me to the mountaintop. In this new season of blessing, I still need God just as much as I did then! He is the One Who is still taking care of me, and I must never forget that.
God has good plans for our lives! What we need to do is to make sure that we continue to keep God as our number 1 priority, even when we see blessings all around. The issue doesn't lie with the blessings from God. The issue arises when we allow our blessings to take the place of God.
I must admit that it has been easy for me to put the blessings God's been giving me before Him. Even this morning, I thought, "Well, I'll read my Bible. Just let me do this first." And I put something before God.
So, here is what God has been telling me over and over about where my heart needs to be, "But seek (aim at and strive after) first of all His kingdom and His righteousness (His way of doing and being right), and then all these things taken together will be given you besides." Matthew 6:33.
God has great things in store for us!!! He has already been giving me such wonderful things that I can't even begin to describe how amazing it is! We can enjoy every blessing from God! If I gave something to someone, I'd want them to enjoy it! But I would want them to still remember me!
Dear Heavenly Father,
I praise you for the blessings You've been giving me lately! You have poured one blessing after another into my life, and I am eternally grateful. My prayer is that You will help me to not forget You or put You on the back burner now that these blessings have been placed in my life. Be my first priority and my vital need. Then, my blessings can be in their proper place to be enjoyed. In Jesus' Name.
Amen.
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