Deuteronomy 8:3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
Some lessons are harder than others to learn. Sometimes they have to be repeated in our lives so that we really learn them, once and for all. Or am I the only person who has had to repeat a lesson in the LORD’s school?
I am trying to learn some Japanese, again! When we traveled there several years ago, I tried to learn a few simple phrases. Wow, is Japanese difficult for me. We even took some private tutoring while we were there. Nothing seemed to stick.
Well, I am trying again. I don’t want to let it conquer me. I want to conquer it. I know I won’t be fluent, that takes years. But I want to be able to do the basics of travel and conversation. And I want to remember what I have learned.
Our text is part of this great book of summary called Deuteronomy, or second telling of the story. Moses is getting ready to allow Joshua to lead the people of Israel into the promised land. He isn’t going. A story for another day.
So Moses is giving them his final instructions, including a summary of their history of unfaithfulness to the LORD that has happened so far. Part of his admonition to them includes recounting the gracious hand of the LORD in protecting and keeping them. And part of the story contains the reasons for some of the lessons they enrolled in during their journey.
The LORD allowed them to get hungry, run out of food and water, on purpose! This was part of His design. That doesn’t sound very nice, does it. Why didn’t the LORD just provide in the first place instead of allowing them to suffer? Why did the LORD allow discomfort!
I think we would label these Israelites “snowflakes” because of their thin skins and inability to handle discomfort. The smallest things seem to send them in the completely wrong direction. So the LORD has to toughen them up. He brings difficulty into their lives in order to teach them to trust the LORD.
Oh, how we need this lesson taught and caught today. What I find interesting is that Jesus quoted part of this verse when He answered Satan’s temptation to satisfy His own personal physical hunger, and turn stones to bread. Where the Israelites failed, Jesus succeeded.
When we think about all that the LORD provided for the Israelites, we wonder how they could have missed the lesson the LROD was teaching. But they did.
And then I wonder how we could miss this same lesson. We have been abundantly blessed by the LORD in this country, and yet as a nation we are so quick to forget the One behind the blessing. We dismiss and downgrade Him. As a nation we reject His influence and call Him racist, the ultimate name calling insult of our day. How else could He reject the people of the Promised Land!
We need to learn the lesson. It is from the LORD that all blessings come. Some things might look like blessings, like wealth, but blessing’s outcome is godly character and action. And as we look around, I don’t see too much godly character and action in our nation today. There are faithful people doing the LORD’s work, but as a society we have turned our backs.
And we know what happens when a people turn their back on the LORD. The LORD sends them back to school to learn the lesson. So I would guess that the LORD will let the natural consequences of rebellion happen. And when everything collapses, then there is the opportunity for all eyes and hearts to turn to Him for rescue.
The Arnold Journey 