Deuteronomy 8

The Explanation

Imagine a whole nation standing at the edge of a desert. Behind them: sand, rocks, forty years of walking. In front of them: green hills, water, trees full of figs.

An old man stands up to speak. His name is Moses. He is very old, and this is one of the last times he will talk to his people.

"Remember," he says. "Remember the whole way God led you these forty years."

The people remember. They remember being hungry. Really hungry, with nothing to eat anywhere. And then, in the morning, the ground was covered with something white and strange. Nobody knew what it was. They called it manna. It tasted sweet, and it came every single day, for forty years.

"Look at your clothes," Moses says. "They didn't wear out. Look at your feet. They didn't swell up."

Then Moses tells them what is coming. A land with brooks and springs, with wheat and barley, with vines and fig trees and pomegranates, with olive trees and honey. Bread enough for everyone. Stones full of iron, hills where you can dig for copper. "You shall eat and be full," he says.

But then his voice changes. He gets serious.

"Beware," Moses says. "Watch out. One day your house will be beautiful. Your sheep will fill the fields. Your money will be piled up. And then, on that good day, you might say in your heart: I did this. My own strong hand made me rich."

Moses shakes his head. "Don't forget. It was God who brought you out of Egypt, out of the house of slaves. It was God who led you through the terrible desert with poisonous snakes and scorpions and no water anywhere. It was God who split open a rock so water came pouring out. Don't forget Him."

What Does This Mean?

Here is the strange thing. It is easy to remember God when you are hungry. When there is nothing to eat, you pray hard.

But when your stomach is full and your bed is warm? That is when people forget.

That is exactly what Moses is afraid of. Not the snakes. Not the desert. He is afraid of what a full stomach can do to a heart.

God let the people be hungry on purpose, and then fed them with manna, so they would learn something they could never learn any other way: "man does not live by bread only, but man lives by every word that proceeds out of Yahweh's mouth." Bread keeps you alive for a day. God's voice keeps you alive forever.

The Common Thread

Many, many years later, Someone else stood in a desert. He was hungry too. Forty days with no food at all.

The devil came and said: turn these stones into bread.

And Jesus answered with this very verse from Deuteronomy 8. "Man does not live by bread only." Jesus had learned what Israel kept forgetting. He trusted His Father completely, even with an empty stomach.

Where the people failed, Jesus stayed faithful. He walked the desert road all the way through, so that we could come with Him into the good land God promised.

For You

Try this, this week. When your plate is full, before you eat, stop for three seconds. Say thank you out loud, and mean it. Not a fast mumble, but really: God, You gave me this.

And here is the harder one. When something goes really well, when you win, when you make something beautiful, when you get a good grade, don't only say "I did that." Say it to God too: "Thank You that You helped me."

Because forgetting doesn't happen all at once. It happens one thank-you at a time, quietly left out.

Talk About It

Why do you think people forget God more easily when everything is going well?

What is one thing you have that you never thought to say thank you for?

Praying Together

God, thank You for food, for a bed, for people who love me. Help me not to forget You when everything is good. Teach me to listen to Your words, like Jesus did. Amen.