March 29

The process we must all go through in order to experience the prosperity God desires to give us is like the journey Israel took to the Promised Land. They started out as slaves in Egypt, the land of “not enough.” Through Moses, God promised to take them to Canaan, the land of “more than enough.” To get there, they first had to go through the wilderness, the land of “just enough.”

As they wandered around in the desert, the Israelites were utterly dependent upon the miracle-working power of God to survive. Without any grocery stores or bakeries anywhere to be found, unless manna fell from heaven daily, they would starve to death!

If you are like me, you like the land of “more than enough” more than the land of “not enough” or the land of “just enough.” I am sure the Israelites felt the same way, but God allowed them to pass through their season of complete reliance on Him for three specific reasons:

1. In order to know what was in their heart:

Deuteronomy 8:2 (NIV) — “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.”

2. In order to teach them to listen to and obey His voice:

Deuteronomy 8:3 (NIV) —“…to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord…”

3. In order to insure their long-term success.

Deuteronomy 8:16 (NIV) — “He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you.”

God knew that once they reached the prosperity He had promised, the Israelites would be in danger of falling back into sin. He warned them repeatedly and clearly to remain dependent upon Him, even when it looked like their life circumstances had improved so dramatically that they no longer needed sustaining miracles.

“The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden…the land is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven…a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.” (11:10-12)

Egypt had been a place where they could irrigate their fields through the power of their own flesh, i.e., by working a primitive sort of pump with their foot. Canaan was a place of hills and valleys that was watered through the rain. Even there, they were dependent upon God to provide. If they sinned, He would shut up the heavens and no rain would fall.

Let's continually trust God together! He will honor our faith...because our faith honors Him...!

Pastor Mark