New Year can be considered a reference point. A time when you can look back, look forward, and choose a direction. When I was thinking about it, I found a big Bible passage where the Lord Himself spoke to Israelites on how to do it. If you’re ready for a little bible study you can read Deuteronomy chapter 8 now. However, if you’re just scrolling through, you can pause for a minute and read the main points.
Deuteronomy 8
1 “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the Lord swore to give to your fathers.
2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
3 And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
4 Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.
5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.
7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills,
8 a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,
9 a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
11 “Take care lest you forget the Lord your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today,
12 lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them,
13 and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied,
14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, 15 who led you through the great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty ground where there was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock,
16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that he might humble you and test you, to do you good in the end.
17 Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’
18 You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.
19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.
20 Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.
“Remember the whole way” - maybe you shouldn’t live in the past, but you definitely should remember it and learn from your own experience. “That the Lord has led you” - if you look closely, you can see that God establishes your steps with certain purposes.
“That He might humble you, testing you, to show you that man does not live by bread alone” - God sometimes lets problems come into our lives to show us our place compared to His holiness. “Fed you with manna, your clothing didn’t wear out” - God is also our good shepherd that provides for us and gives us blessings from His hand.
5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.
“As a man disciplines his son God disciplines you” - He doesn’t do that as an experiment or “just because He felt like it”, but out of fatherly love.
6 So you shall keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.
“Keep the commandments by walking in His ways and fearing Him” - what God respects from us is obedience in small actions and big directions, he expects us to have the fear of the Lord.
“God is bringing you to a good land” - His will is perfect and His plans are for good.
10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the Lord your God for the good land he has given you.
“You shall eat and be full and you shall bless the Lord” - aren’t all these great reasons to worship Him?
“Take care lest you forget the Lord, your heart be lifted up” - our human prideful nature is always ready to take over, but you should remember, who’s the real Source.
“Brought you out of the house of slavery, led you through the wilderness, gives you power to get wealth” - everything good in us is from the Lord.
19 And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve the
“If you forget the Lord, you shall surely perish” - not only from this life but also for eternity. So at the turn of these two years take a look at your life, see how God led you, and put your trust in Him for this New Year. Humble your heart, learn obedience, and you will see “the good land, a land of brooks of water”. Because “the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him”! (Ps. 103:17)
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