Year 4, Day 159: Deuteronomy 8

Theological Commentary: Click Here 

Discipleship Focus: Character

• Character: Having the interior life that is necessary to support the work that God sets before a person.  It is hearing from God and obeying.  It is doing the right thing when nobody is looking.

We can tell much about character when people are pressed.  When a person is squeezed, what comes out?  When I am squeezed hard, is it God that comes out or is it a reflection of myself?  By squeezed, I don’t just mean negative pressure.  We as human beings can be squeezed by negative pressure and by positive pressure.  We see both of these examples in the text before us today.

First, let’s take the negative pressure.  The Hebrew people wandered the wilderness.  There was little food, little water, and little reassurance.  They didn’t know how they would survive.  What came out of the people?  The Hebrew people grumbled, complained, and ultimately made life miserable for the leadership around them.  When these people were squeezed, they did not exude faith.

But that wasn’t the end of the story.  Moses reminds the people that God provided manna.  God provided clothing that didn’t wear out for 40 years.  God provided shoes that also didn’t wear out.  God cared for them in unbelievably supernatural ways!  And what came out?  The people grumbled against the monotony of the manna.  They no doubt grumbled about only have water – even if it was supernatural water from a rock!  They no doubt grumbled about having to wear the same clothes day in and day out.  When God blessed the people, they continued to grumble.

Can there be any doubt that Moses is worried for them?  They are about to go into a land of prosperity.  If the people cannot handle a relationship with God when they have nothing and God blesses them supernaturally, how will they have the character to have a relationship with God when the land can actually support their needs?  Reread that last sentence, but it should hit pretty close to home with our own modern western world, too.

Who are you when pressed with need?  Who are you when pressed with prosperity?  When squeezed by either need or abundance, do you exude God?  Or do you grumble, complain, and search for more for yourself?

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