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 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. Deuteronomy, Chapter 8, verses 14-19.
It’s kind of like a high school student who buys a
term paper from another student rather than doing their own assignment. They are tickled when the teacher hands back
their paper and they have received an A.
When the teacher refers to their paper as an example of exemplary work and
dedication, they puff up with pride as if they had written the term paper themselves,
but they hadn’t.
God knew how human we were. He knew that the Israelites would see all the
miracles that He had provided for them in the wilderness and the bounty He
provided in the Promised Land. God knew
that they would take credit for it, as if they had accomplished these on their
own. He also knew that they would forget
to thank Him and they would take credit for all their good fortune, and He was
right.
Do we do this in our own lives? I have, more times than I care to
mention. God has gotten me through many
difficult situations and when they’re over, I either forget about what God had
done for me, or what is even worse, I take credit for them myself.
Some people make it hard to give God the
credit. People have complimented me for
particular ideas or actions. I tell them
that God gave me the idea or God got me through the particular situation but
they argue with me, telling me, “No, god helps him who helps himself.” Well, you already know how I stand on that
one!
We can easily fall into the trap of not appreciating
all that God has done for us. God can
lead us out this trap if we let Him, just like He led the Israelites to the
Promised Land.
Because this is an example of how I’ve applied this Bible passage to my life, it doesn't necessarily reflect the whole meaning of the passage.
This is a connection I've made from this Bible passage. Please share your connections.
Please click on comments below to share your suggestions. Thanks! Debbie
