by Scott Kloster
In Deuteronomy 8, Moses reminds the Israelites how God has been faithful to them throughout their 40 years in the wilderness. During those years of wandering, God provided manna – but why?
“…that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
God was testing them to be obedient, amidst their hunger, thirst, and weariness. The entire purpose of his commandments and law was to teach them, not to save them. He also knew that Israel would fail to keep his commandments and fall into idolatry. The blessings God promised them would happen – which is detailed in verses 7-9:
“For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land–a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.”
But there would be loss, hardship, and pain because of their disobedience – they would forget that God had led them there. Israel would forget they did not enter this land on their own effort, but through God’s divine providence.
How we do the same thing every day! We complain about hardship and pain, but we are still sinners. So, we will endure these things as in the flesh, they come with it. God’s grace gives us hope during these hardships. Christians, we are children of the new covenant in Christ, and so we are heirs to that original covenant God made with Abraham – the same covenant he had with Israel. But, like them, we continue to sin. Has God forgotten us? Absolutely not. He will never leave us, nor forsake us, because Jesus, the Son of God was forgotten on the cross. He became forgotten after living a perfect life of obedience, always submitting to the Father, and never boasting in his work. He did in his solitary life, living in poverty, facing adversity and danger constantly, being tempted by Satan himself for 40 days in the wilderness while fasting – what Israel could never do. Yet, unlike Jesus, they were never forgotten. How can we ever think that God would forget us for even a split second?
We should embrace our hardships, because we know that God is teaching us to be obedient through them. We can be obedient because the Holy Spirit enables us to. We can know with certainty that he understands our struggles, because we are his children, and children need discipline. We must strive to live by the manna of the Spirit, and not the manna of the world. We must never take our eyes from the cross, because we will soon forget that God humbled himself to keep us, and in forgetting, that will lead us to despair, worry, doubt, and despondence. There isn’t anything on this earth that can bring us to the humiliation Jesus faced before he died. And thanks be to the Father that we don’t have to, because Jesus conquered the lowest point of the human soul – spiritual death. Regardless of where you are in your journey, turn to face him, and believe with all of your heart that he knows and relates to everything you are thinking and going through. Though we stray, God is faithful.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned–everyone–to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all. | Isaiah 53:6
Scott Kloster is a member at Living Hope Church. He and his wife, Melinda, have four children.
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