The Bible says in Deuteronomy 8:7-10,
For
the LORD thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains
and depths that spring out of valleys and hills;[8] A land of wheat, and
barley, and vines, and fig trees, and pomegranates; a land of oil olive, and
honey;[9] A land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou
shalt not lack any thing in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose
hills thou mayest dig brass.[10] When thou hast eaten and art full, then
thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good land which he hath given thee.
In these verses God is telling the children of Israel all of
the good things that He is going to do for them. God kept His promises. He
always keeps His promises. Jesus has also made promises to the believers in the
day in which we are in. The promises are great and the promises are many. We
have a wonderful future that we can look forward to because of the promises.
For example, just a few of the promises, Jesus said in Matthew 28:20, lo, I am with you alway, even
unto the end of the world. Jesus said in John
14:3, And if I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye
may be also. Jesus promised in John 14:13-14,
And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name,
that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.
[14] If ye shall ask any thing in my name, I will do it. And Jesus said in Matthew 6:33, But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his
righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.
The children of Israel were given
promises regarding life in the land of Canaan that they were about to enter.
One of the things to notice about the promises that God made about the land is
that there was a practical aspect to the blessings that God promised. It says
in Deuteronomy 8:9, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills thou mayest
dig brass. God provided the resources and the opportunity, but people still
had to make an effort: they still had to dig. Of
course, there is a practical side to serving God and finding all
of His blessings. First, you believe and trust, and then there is
something for you to do.
It says in verse 10, When thou
hast eaten and art full, then thou shalt bless the LORD thy God for the good
land which he hath given thee. In other words, learn to be
thankful. Every day that you have something in life that you enjoy or benefit
from, be thankful for it. It says in the New Testament in Ephesians 5:20, Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the
Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.
If we are not constantly thankful to
the Lord, one result might be that we will forget Him and what He has done for
us. And so it says in Deuteronomy 8:11-16, Beware that thou forget not the LORD
thy God, in not keeping his commandments, and his judgments, and his statutes,
which I command thee this day:[12] Lest when thou hast eaten and art
full, and hast built goodly houses, and dwelt therein;[13] And when thy
herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and
all that thou hast is multiplied;[14] Then thine heart be lifted up, and
thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of
Egypt, from the house of bondage; [15] Who led thee through that great and
terrible wilderness, wherein were fiery serpents, and scorpions, and drought,
where there was no water; who brought thee forth water out of the rock of
flint;[16] Who fed thee in the wilderness with manna, which thy fathers
knew not, that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee
good at thy latter end; Both in verse 11 and in verse 14 God warns us to not
forget. We should not forget the blessings that He does for us each day, and we
should not forget the salvation that He gave to us when we came to know Jesus
as Savior. Salvation is what God is talking about in verse 14 when he tells us
to remember that He brought us out of the
house of bondage. We were in bondage to the
world and to sin, but Jesus delivered us. We will enjoy the benefits of being
delivered forever and ever. Surely we will not forget
that.
When someone forgets what God has done
for them, what is happening? It says in Deuteronomy 8:17-18, And thou say
in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand
hath gotten me this wealth.[18] But thou shalt remember the LORD thy
God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, that he may establish
his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as it
is this day. When people forget God, they start thinking that someone
other than God is responsible for their good fortune: themselves. You see this
happening many times in the world around you. Someone accomplishes something
that the world admires, such as in sports or entertainment or politics, and all
the talk is about that person and what they did. Sometimes you hear nothing in
regards to thanks to God. God gave the opportunity, God gave gifts and
abilities, and God made sure that things worked out just the way that they did.
To give no thanks to God in such a situation is a terrible failure of
recognition of reality. God gave the children of Israel power to get wealth,
as it says in verse 18. Anything that you accomplish, God gave you power to do
it.
An ominous warning is given to the
nation of Israel in Deuteronomy 8:19-20, And it shall be, if thou do at all
forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship
them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish.[20] As
the nations which the LORD destroyeth before your
face, so shall ye perish; because ye would not be obedient unto the voice of
the LORD your God. This whole idea of forgetting or remembering certain
things, of course, has everything to do with your mind: what you think about
and when you think about it. If you think about carnal things, then you are a
carnally-minded person. If you think about the Lord and His Word, then you are
a spiritually-minded person. This passage is not only talking about what an
individual remembers of forgets, but also what a nation forgets. There are a
few nations in the history of the world that at one time were godly nations.
That can certainly be said of Israel, a nation made up of Gods chosen people. Perhaps
it can be said about England at one time in the 19th century, and it
can probably be said about a few other nations. It can certainly be said about
the United States of America at one time in its history. When we consider such
things as: the number of the founding fathers who had a strong faith in God and
who expressed their faith in God openly and often; the pilgrims and the
Thanksgiving feast that was directed to God for His many blessings to have been
able to endure such trials and loss when they came to this land; the Christian
teachers who for almost two hundred years read the Bible, prayed, and taught
Christian ethics in our school systems, and consider that there was a time in
America when the majority of people went to church every week to hear a good
sermon and to fellowship with other Christians. What has happened to America?
The Bible and prayer have been banned from our school systems, and the morality
and ethics that would have gone with it, and as most children have grown up in
this educational environment, an impression has been made that there is
something wrong with believing in Jesus and serving God. The judges allow the
ACLU to have the atheistic final say in the court cases that have come up in
this area of religious freedom. The law-makers have not stood up for what is
right. The leaders have failed to turn to God. What we have now: a nation that
has forgotten God. Unfortunately for the nation, that will have a terrible
conclusion to it as Israel discovered when God raised up the Babylonians. God
says to the nation that forgets Him, I
testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. Our only hope now is that people turn back to God before
it is too late.
God says in Deuteronomy 9:1-3, Hear, O
Israel: Thou art to pass over Jordan this day, to go in to possess nations
greater and mightier than thyself, cities great and fenced up to heaven,[2]
A people great and tall, the children of the Anakims,
whom thou knowest, and of whom thou hast heard say,
Who can stand before the children of Anak![3] Understand therefore this
day, that the LORD thy God is he which goeth over
before thee; as a consuming fire he shall destroy them, and he shall bring them
down before thy face: so shalt thou drive them out, and destroy them quickly,
as the LORD hath said unto thee. The Lord told the Israelites
ahead of time that He was going to fight for them and give them the victory.
And sure enough when the battles came, the Lord fought
for them and gave them the victory over their enemies just like He said He
would do. Jesus has made the same promise to His believers. We are involved in
a great spiritual warfare in which we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but
against principalities and powers and spiritual wickedness in high places. But
notice what the Word tells us about this warfare. It says in First Corinthians
15:57, But thanks be to God, which giveth
us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
It says in First John 5:4, For whatsoever
is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Rely on the Lord Jesus, and enjoy the victory that He is
giving you and will give to you.
The Bible says in Deuteronomy 9:4-5, Speak not
thou in thine heart, after that the LORD thy God hath cast them out from before
thee, saying, For my righteousness the LORD hath brought me in to possess this
land: but for the wickedness of these nations the LORD doth drive them out from
before thee.
[5] Not for thy righteousness, or for the uprightness of thine heart,
dost thou go to possess their land: but for the wickedness of these nations the
LORD thy God doth drive them out from before thee, and that he may perform the
word which the LORD sware unto thy fathers, Abraham,
Isaac, and Jacob. This is an interesting passage of scripture because it
gives two reasons why the Lord gave the land of Canaan to the children of
Israel and one reason that was not why He gave the land to them. The first
reason that God gave the land of Canaan to the Israelites was because of how
wicked the people were who were already in the land. This leads to the reason
that God did not give the land to the Israelites: God did not give the land to
the Israelites because of how good they were. This tells us something about how
God deals with nations. God just might allow one wicked nation to defeat
another wicked nation: it just depends upon what Gods purposes are in His
judgments. God definitely is Judge of the nations, and
God will cast down a nation if and when God says that such a nation has gone on
long enough rejecting Him and living wickedly. The day is coming when God will
judge the whole world for the wickedness of all the nations. All the nations
will have rejected Christ and turned from God, and then shall the judgment come.
In the fullness of times, when the sins have gone on long enough, Jesus will
return and smite all the nations in the Valley of Megiddo.
The second reason that God gave the
land of Canaan to the children of Israel was because of promises that God made
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. It says in Deuteronomy 9:5, that he may
perform the word which the LORD sware unto thy
fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The children of Israel did not
deserve the land. They were not good enough for the land. God did not like the
failings of the children of Israel. They were not righteous. They were stiffnecked, which means that they were stubborn and
refused to do what God wanted. You cannot get much worse than that. They got to
enter the promised-land and enjoy its blessings, not because of anything they
did to deserve it, but because God keeps His promises. Salvation is just like
that. People will be able to go to the heavenly promised-land because that too
is based upon a promise. The promise is this: believe in Jesus and you get to
go to the promised land. You are not righteous in your own deeds. You do not
deserve it, but because of faith in Jesus, God will let you enter the place of
blessing. Jesus promised in John 14:2-3, In my Father's house are many
mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for
you.[3] And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and
receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.
___________________________________________________
Copyright; 2015 by Charles
F. (Rick) Creech
All Rights Reserved