Remember that these forty years the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness, so that He might humble you and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep His commandments. Sermons I. ADVERSITY A DIVINE ORDINANCE. (Ver. 2.) 1. Divinely sent. "The Lord thy God led thee" (cf. Matthew 4:1). Jesus led of the Spirit into the wilderness. Adversity may come through natural laws, as the necessary result of sin or folly; even so it is of God's ordinance - the punitive expression of his will. But adversity is not necessarily punitive. The best man living may be led into straits of affliction, of which his own actions are not in the least the causes (Job 1., 2.). It is God who has "led" him thither for some purpose of his own. 2. The duration of which is divinely determined: "these forty years." God marks for us the term of our probations. Jesus was "forty days" without bread (Matthew 4:2). II. THE GRACIOUS USES OF ADVERSITY. That of the Israelites was designed: 1. To humble them. It aimed at destroying the spirit of self-dependence, out of which comes pride and haughtiness (vers. 17, 18). It made them feel how absolutely they depended for everything upon God - taught them how at every step they hung upon his will. 2. To teach them reliance. Faith is reliance on a Divine Power working for us and in us. "What shall we eat? What shall we drink? Wherewithal shall we be clothed?" Faith cannot tell, but it waits God's time and God's way of providing, confident that in his own way he will provide. This was Christ's attitude in the wilderness (Matthew 4:4). 3. To test obedience. Adversity acts as a test of the disposition. The end of God's discipline is to bring to light hidden lines of character, and to advance life to a crisis. It threes us to moral determination. Will we obey God or will we not? The younger generation of Israel, whatever their faults, showed by their conduct then and thereafter (Joshua 24:31) that the discipline of the wilderness had not been without good results. III. GOD IS WITH US IN ADVERSITY. Though bread failed, God fed them with manna (ver. 3). Their every want was supplied. Jesus teaches us to trust the Father for the supply of all our needs (Matthew 3:25, 34). His own trust, vindicated in the refusal to make stones into bread, was rewarded by angels ministering unto him (Matthew 4:11). He "ate angels food" (Psalm 78:25). Our wants are not supplied by miracle, but by providence, which is all-sufficient to provide for us in every ordinary case. - J.O.
If thou do at all forget the Lord. I. WHAT IS THAT FORGETFULNESS OF GOD OF WHICH THE PRESENT EFFECTS ON OUR MORAL AND RELIGIOUS CHARACTER ARE SO HIGHLY INJURIOUS, AND OF WHICH THE FUTURE CONSEQUENCES IN REGARD TO OUR ETERNAL PROSPECTS ARE SO DREADFULLY FATAL.1. If any persons can rise up and lie down, go out and come in, day after day, and week after week, with scarcely a transient thought of Him whose hand has sustained them, whose long-suffering has borne with them, and whose bountiful goodness has supplied their various wants, those persons are clearly chargeable with forgetfulness of the Lord their God. 2. The same guilt must also lie at our door, if we are habitually unmindful of the attributes of God; and, particularly, of His omnipresence. 3. The same may justly be said of him who allows himself to think of his Creator under a different character from that in which He has revealed Himself to mankind in His holy Word. II. THE FEARFUL DOOM WHICH IS DENOUNCED IN THE WORDS OF THE TEXT AGAINST THOSE WHO ARE GUILTY OF THE SINS THERE FORBIDDEN. The expression, "to perish," when used in the Scriptures in a judicial sense, to describe the punishment of sin, does not mean the suffering of temporal death only — it further signifies the spiritual death of man's immortal part. (C. Townsend, M. A.) Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons. I. MEN ARE LIABLE TO FORGET GOD.1. We infer our liability to forget God, from the mysteriousness of His nature. 2. We infer our liability to forget God, from the moral dislike we have to Him. 3. We infer our liability to forget God, from the facts that fall under our notice. 4. We infer our liability to forget God, from the testimonies of the Scriptures (Psalm 10:4; Psalm 14:1-3; Job 21:14, 15; Romans 1:28). II. FORGETFULNESS OF GOD IS AN EVIL AGAINST WHICH WE SHOULD BE PECULIARLY ON OUR GUARD. This is the intimation in the text, and the reasons on which it is founded are — 1. They who forget God must necessarily remain ignorant of Him. 2. They who forget God must necessarily disobey Him. 3. They who forget God must necessarily prove ungrateful to Him. 4. They who forget God must necessarily be punished by Him (Psalm 9:17; Judges 3:7, 8). III. MEANS SHOULD BE USED FOR THE AVOIDANCE OF THIS HEINOUS CRIME. This is the object of the charge: "Beware that thou forget not," etc. 1. Serious consideration should be exercised on all the things that belong unto our peace. 2. Fervent and unremitting prayer should be offered up to God for a change of heart. 3. We should constantly avoid those things which tend to exclude God from our thoughts. 4. Let us use all the means which tend to turn our thoughts towards God. Let us associate with the pious — frequent religious ordinances — read God's most holy Word — contemplate death, judgment, and eternity. In conclusion —(1) Inquire, Do we forget God? This may serve as a discriminating mark of moral character. Christians love to think of God — sinners strive to forget Him.(2) Exhort those who forget God to consider their folly, their ingratitude, and their danger. (Sketches of Four Hundred Sermons.) I. THE REASONABLENESS OF RENDERING A GRATEFUL SERVICE TO GOD. 1. In the case of Israel the propriety for such a grateful service is clearly seen. All men owe obedience to God; but we should expect a highly favoured people like Israel to render it in a high degree. Israel had been brought from slavery to freedom, and were promised and received as their inheritance a land most highly favoured. 2. Above all, the system of moral law and social order, and the Divine rule of the theocracy elevated them far above surrounding nations. In view of it all, there was reason that the people should yield to God a grateful service. 3. If the Israelites had reason for this, much more we. What was Britain when Imperial Rome held sway? What is it now, when Rome and many another proud dominion are but names? Do we not owe our higher light and liberty to the truth and freedom of the Gospel? As a nation we owe our God thankful gratitude and service. 4. As individual members of a great Christian people we owe gratitude to God. Contrast our condition with the savage tribes discovered by a Livingstone or Stanley; with the higher yet still idolatrous and superstitious Hindu; with a cannibal of the race so graphically described by a John G. Paten or the semi-barbarous Chinaman with his history reaching far into the past ages before our own began, but who yet has not risen above the grossest superstition and a most materialistic idea of existence. Contrast our blessings alike bestowed on cottage and palace, with the darkness that prevails among the peoples, and reason will be found for the exercise of grateful service. II. THE SIN OF INGRATITUDE. 1. The passage warns us against the danger of receiving and enjoying the gifts at the risk of forgetting the Divine Giver; all thought and energy are not to be applied to the acquisition of more and more of the gifts of this life to use them for our own use, etc. 2. Into this sin Israel fell. They became practical materialists. Even after the return from Babylon their enthusiasm for God's work soon faded (Haggai 1). So was it in our Lord's day; and the ingratitude was then heightened by hypocrisy (Matthew 21:33-46; Matthew 23:26-39). Self and their own ease and glory were to them in reality, first; loving service toward God shown in works of love to their fellow men was far from them. 3. Is not this the spirit of too many in our time? There is a perpetual striving after the gains and pleasures of time, not that they may better serve God and become better men and women, but that they may have more of ease, more of the passing fleeting joys of this brief existence. This feature is seen in every class of the community. The socialistic schemes of the toiling millions are simply attempts to gain the kingdom of the material. But material possessions gained and received without due thankfulness to God and endeavours in His service, turn to dust and ashes in the using. Whereas if received with thankful hearts and used in His service, they may be transmuted and transformed into spiritual treasures, eternally enduring. III. THE EFFECT OF CULTIVATING THE SPIRIT OF GRATITUDE OR ITS OPPOSITE ON MATERIAL AND INDIVIDUAL LIFE. 1. When a nation, in its government and institutions, publicly acknowledges its indebtedness to God, and makes public profession of loyalty to Him, God shall add to its blessings. Examples are not wanting. 2. So with individuals. God may not send material wealth, etc. But He will give them reasons for the joyful assurance that He is with them, and of the certainty of His promises. Hope for time, and assured hope for eternity. The effect will be closer communion and more consecrated service. 3. Far other is the effect of forgetting God whilst receiving His gifts. Remember how it was with Israel (Isaiah 1:3; Matthew 23:38, 39). Hardness of heart, material living, God-forgetfulness, idolatry — these were the steps of descent. Nothing so tends to harden the heart and quench the spiritual life than God-forgetfulness and ingratitude in using the Divine gifts. There are still too many who reap luxuriant fields without due gratitude to Him who sent sunshine and rain, etc., who attribute their success, wealth, etc., to their own skill and industry, who add possession to possession without one thought of using them beyond the narrow circle of their own lives. 4. The Divine rule is the only safe one: "Seek ye first the kingdom of God," etc. (Matthew 6:33). Let the soul be right with God through forgiveness, etc., in Christ, then we shall be guided to seek and enabled to find what is best for our mortal life, and will best avail us in thankfully doing our Heavenly Master's work. (Wm. Frank Scott.). People MosesPlaces Beth-baal-peor, EgyptTopics Afflict, Caused, Commandments, Commands, Desert, Forty, Hast, Heart, Humble, Led, Low, Mind, Order, Orders, Pride, Prove, Remember, Remembered, Test, Testing, Try, Waste, Whether, Wilderness, Wouldest, WouldstOutline 1. An exhortation to obedience in regard to God's mercy and goodness to Israel.Dictionary of Bible Themes Deuteronomy 8:2 1095 God, patience of 5473 proof, through testing Library God's TrainingDEUTERONOMY viii. 2-5. And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the … Charles Kingsley—Discipline and Other Sermons The Lesson of Memory National Wealth Subterraneous Places. Mines. Caves. Emmanuel's Land Palestine Eighteen Centuries Ago The Temptation of Christ Why all Things Work for Good Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners: In Death and after Death Meditations Before Dinner and Supper. Third Sunday Before Lent Deuteronomy Links Deuteronomy 8:2 NIVDeuteronomy 8:2 NLT Deuteronomy 8:2 ESV Deuteronomy 8:2 NASB Deuteronomy 8:2 KJV Deuteronomy 8:2 Bible Apps Deuteronomy 8:2 Parallel Deuteronomy 8:2 Biblia Paralela Deuteronomy 8:2 Chinese Bible Deuteronomy 8:2 French Bible Deuteronomy 8:2 German Bible Deuteronomy 8:2 Commentaries Bible Hub |
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