Deuteronomy 8:1-5
Like everyone else, I wonder why I experience difficult times, even for short period of times. Yesterday during my reading/study, I was reminded how I need to be thankful for how God has blessed me, and that I am not deserving given my sin...that God gives despite my sin. I often forget how God blesses me and a chief reason why this is so is my lack of prayer life.
Today, I am reminded that God creates "experiences" for me as a means to discipline me, keep me humble, and see how I am blessed. I walk around all day many days thinking how great I am without any attribution to how God provided. Even without "bad times" I can actually use sacrifice as a spiritual discipline to drive humility and thankfulness.
1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers 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. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
In particular this lesson teaches me:
- God keeps His promises (i.e. eternal life, forgiveness, love, etc.)
- All life experiences are designed by Him for His glory and my good
- In bad times, I need to mindful that provision and relief WILL come from God in His time and from places that are unexpected sometimes
- Man lives on "every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord"
My Prayer: Lord, your plan is an awesome one as I have seen it unfold in my life with blessings and experiences that are rich beyond imagination. I am in awe of how you use me for your glory and I thank you for how you have blessed me. Keep me humble Lord, keep me focused on you, correct/discipline me, and help me understand how I am part of YOUR plan.
