KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2018
Chapters: Deuteronomy 8-10
Message: Remember God Gave It
Hello My Friend,
I have been working some crazy hours the past couple of weeks and it does not seem to be stopping. I count it a blessing that I have been given so many hours, but am also humble enough to know that without God I could not have gotten through those long twelve hour days. It may not seem like it all the time, but the harder we work the more blessed we become, I am looking forward to the paycheck that I am going to receive this week as all that hard work will pay off. We have to be careful when God starts blessing us because the more He does the less dependent we are of Him, then when that happens we begin to take the credit for the things we have gotten. We must never forget that everything comes from God, even when it gets taken from us. “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return thither: the LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.” – Job 1:21.
It is easy to praise and thank God when we have been struggling, it is easy to praise and thank God when we see Him bless us with our daily bread. It is not so easy to praise and thank Him when the blessings become abundant, which is often why God places challenges before us to remind us that He gave us these things. Moses foretold how great it would become for the children of Israel once they got on the promised land and started taking possession of it as God commanded, but he also gave a prediction of what would happen once they became great and forgot it was God who made them great.
“All the commandments which I command thee this day shall ye observe to do, that ye may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers. And when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied, and all that thou hast is multiplied; 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; 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; 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; And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth. 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. 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. 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.” – Deuteronomy 8:1,13-20.
“My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.” While God would be pleased to bless all of His faithful with great wealth, very few of us get it. This is because God knows what would happen to us if we let all that wealth go to our head. With that said, I believe that God can and does bless us more abundantly when we are faithful to Him, some of His people are incredibly poor, yet have great wealth because God always provides them with what they need. I get aggravated with people when they start to boast over and show off their wealth, especially when they cry poverty. It is not that I am jealous over what they have, it is that they are so arrogant about it. If we are not careful we begin to take the credit for the things that we have gotten. While we by our works have achieved the ability to do these things we must never forget that it is God who gave us those abilities and the grace to carry them through in the first place because He will take it away if we become too proud. “They that trust in their wealth, and boast themselves in the multitude of their riches; None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him:” – Psalm 49:6-7.
If there is one thing I have learned over the years as a Christian it is that God has protected me and had a lot of mercy on me when I was wandering around in my own wilderness. While God wants us to understand that once we get saved we are redeemed and cleansed of all our sins, He also wants us to never forget that we are saved by His grace. Moses takes Israel down memory lane of the forty years that they provoked God with their unbelief and rebellion. He also reminds that they are not getting to the promised land by any good that they have done, but only by the promise He made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, in other words, by His grace.
“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. 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. 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. Understand therefore, that the LORD thy God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness; for thou art a stiffnecked people.” – Deuteronomy 9:3-6.
“God giveth thee not this good land to possess it for thy righteousness;” We are to never forget where we were before we chose Christ and allowed Him to live in and through us. Remembering where we were is not the same as dwelling in the past, it takes us back to the senseless and lost life we lived before we had Him in our lives. When Christ gets in us He changes us, and let me tell you, these reminders keep you faithful to God because you know how bad it was before He was in your life. Do not think for a moment that if Christ was not a constant in your life that you would not fall quickly back into the bondage of this world, we must be dependent upon Him at all times if want our lives to be continually blessed abundantly. We can accept that, trust Him, and let Him guide us so that we life it to the fullest or we can rebel, and in the end have nothing to show for it. Moses tells Israel exactly what God requires from every one of His people.
“And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul, To keep the commandments of the LORD, and his statutes, which I command thee this day for thy good? Behold, the heaven and the heaven of heavens is the LORD’S thy God, the earth also, with all that therein is. Only the LORD had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day. Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no more stiffnecked. For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.” – Deuteronomy 10:12-18.
“what doth the LORD thy God require of thee,” What does God require of you since you accepted His Son as your Saviour? In the words of Jesus, “And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these.” – Mark 12:30-31.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “For the LORD your God is God of gods, and Lord of lords, a great God, a mighty, and a terrible, which regardeth not persons, nor taketh reward: He doth execute the judgment of the fatherless and widow, and loveth the stranger, in giving him food and raiment.” – Deuteronomy 10:17.
Today’s Prayer: God, All we have to do to realize how blessed we are is to look back on the life we lived without You in it. It was cold, dark, and depressing, trying to fit in where we didn’t belong, trying to blend in with a world that did not accept us. Oh, we had some fun, but in the end we are the ones who suffered. It is only by Your grace and love, that You picked me up out of the rut I was in and gave me a new life. The world still tries to drag me in, but I know You are always with me, right there in front of me, making sure that I am safe and secure. I know I will mess up, but thanks to Your amazing grace all I have to do is come to You and You will make it right. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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