“DON’T BE LESSENED BY YOUR BLESSIN’S”
DEUTERONOMY 8:7-18
7 For the LORD your God is bringing
you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills,
While there are some exceptions, most of
the time it’s frustrating when you forget something. Sometimes it’s
sad; really sad. That was the case when the Israelites got to the edge of the
Promised Land. As they stood there it was a moment of joy that was also tinged
with a little sorrow. The Israelites were glad.
God, on the other hand, was a little sad.
8 a land of wheat and
barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey,
9 a land where you may eat bread without
scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper.
10 You shall eat your fill and bless
the LORD your God for the good land that he has given you.
11 Take care that you do not forget
the LORD your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today.
12 When you have eaten your fill and
have built fine houses and live in them,
13 and when your herds and flocks
have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied,
14 then do not exalt yourself, forgetting
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
terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock,
16 and fed you in the wilderness with
manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good.
17 Do not say to yourself, "My power
and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth."
18 But remember the LORD your God,
for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he
is doing today.
Everyone
knows what it’s like to forget. Like it or not there are times when your memory is going to fail you. Sometimes when
you forget it’s frustrating. For example, you’re taking a test and
you can’t remember an answer to a question or you’re trying to make an important call and you can’t remember
the telephone number. Sometimes when you forget it’s embarrassing. You’re in the supermarket and you run into someone from the church. No matter
how hard you try though you can’t remember the person’s name. Sometimes
when you forget it’s downright dangerous. Forget the date of your anniversary and I guarantee you that you’ll
regret it.
One
of the things I’ve noticed as I get older is that I forget things more often.
Once you’re retired I think they call them senior moments. By the way, those senior moments aren’t always
bad. Just ask the elderly husband and wife who moved into an assisted living facility. One of the nice things about the facility
was that it was located just around the corner from the elementary school they had attended as kids. One day they decided to take a walk to the old school. When they walked up to the door they discovered
that it was open. So, they went in and found their old desks. Later on, they even found the tree in the playground where they had carved the words, “Andy loves
Mary.” On their way home their lives were turned upside down when they
found a bag of money that had obviously fallen out of an armored car. Well, they
brought the bag home with them and after counting the money discovered that it amounted to $50,000. “Mary,” the husband said. “We’ve got
to give it back.” “No way,” Mary insisted. “It’s
finders keepers.” With that she put the money in a suitcase and hid it in the closet.
The next day two FBI agents knocked on their door and asked if either of them had seen the bag of money. “No,
we haven’t,” Mary said calmly. The husband couldn’t believe
it. “Wait,” he said. “She’s lying. She hid it in a suitcase in the closet.” “Don’t
believe him,” Mary stammered. “He’s getting senile.” The
agents decided they’d better investigate a little further. “Okay,”
the first agent said to the husband, “Why don’t you tell us your story from the beginning.” “Well,” the husband said, “It all started yesterday when Mary and I were walking home
from school.” “Okay,” the agent said to his partner, “we’re
out of here.”
While there are some exceptions, most of the time it’s
frustrating when you forget something. Sometimes it’s sad; really sad. That was the case when the Israelites got to the edge of the Promised Land. As they stood there it was a moment of joy that was also tinged with a little sorrow. The Israelites were glad. God, on the other hand, was a little
sad.
The
Israelites were glad because it was an exciting time for them. Their long odyssey
in the desert was about to come to an end. The future looked bright. It was a future full of opportunities and open doors. So why
was God a little sad? Because God knew that once the Israelites got comfortable in the Promised Land there was a good chance
they were going to forget all about him.
That’s
why Moses pronounced those words of warning to the Israelites. “When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses
and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you
have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt…”
That
of course is exactly what happened. The Israelites became fat and happy. The more they had the less they felt a need for God to be an important part of their
lives. They forgot about God. They forgot about all the things God had done for
them.
Unfortunately, you can see the same thing happening today. The Israelites had little time for God in the Promised Land. People today have little time for God in the Land
of Plenty. Harry Emerson
Fosdick, the founding pastor of Riverside Church
in New York City, summed it up perfectly with some words that
he included in the hymn, “God Of Grace, And God Of Glory.” Like the
Israelites we’ve become “rich in things and poor in soul.”
Like
the Israelites we’ve eaten our fill. We’ve built our fine homes. Our gold and silver have been multiplied. We don’t have the vineyards, but we
do have the time shares on Martha’s Vineyard.
We don’t have the herds of sheep, but we have the SUV’s to get us where we want to go, and get us there
in style. The essence of the way things work nowadays can be seen in the answer
that rock star Paul McCartney gave one day while being interviewed. At one point
the reporter mentioned how the Beatles were so idealistic and against materialism. McCartney quickly set the record straight. That was a huge myth, he said. “John
(meaning John Lennon) and I literally used to sit down and say, ‘Now, let’s write a swimming pool.’”
All
of this goes to show you that a blessing is a strange thing. It can either bring
you closer to God or lead you away from God. It can lead you to a life where
you’re truly grateful or a life that is full of greed. It can make you
more faithful or make you faithless. So, what determines which road you end up following?
The
answer to that question can be found by returning to the words that Moses pronounced to the Israelites
before they went into the Promised Land. Moses said to them, “do not exalt yourself, forgetting the LORD your God…Do
not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth.’”
That’s the danger.
When it comes to all those blessings the temptation is always there to let them fill you with pride. The temptation is there to pat yourself on the back and say, “Look at me. Look at what I’ve accomplished. Look at how successful
I am.” It’s like the businessman who owned a chain of auto dealerships. Because of his fame and fortune the local Chamber of Commerce voted him “Man
of the Year.” A banquet was held in his honor. At the banquet the businessman was asked to give a speech on the keys
to his success. The businessman said it was simple. “As I look back over the years I realize that there were 5 keys to my success.
1. Treat others the way you’d like to
be treated yourself.
2. Sell your product at a fair price.
3. Always be honest.
4. Keep your employees happy.
Then
there was a slight pause. “Oh yes,” the businessman continued,
5. My aunt in Cleveland died and left me $20 million.
After
all was said and done the last thing on his list was the biggest reasons for the businessman’s success. It wasn’t
so much what he did as it was the rich aunt in Cleveland who
left him all that money. In the same way you always have to ask yourself where
the credit lies for the blessings in your life. How much of the credit goes to
you and how much of the credit goes to God? The answer to that question is simple. There
really is no such thing as a “self-made man or woman.” That’s
because ultimately our intellect, our abilities, our talents, our skills…all of our accomplishments are gifts from God.
When you understand that it makes you humble and brings
you closer to God. When you don’t understand that it makes you haughty
and leads you away from God.
God
really does delight in showering blessings on you each and every day. God delights even more when you receive those blessings
the way a family in Korea did. Many years ago a husband and wife went to Korea where the stayed with a friend who happened to be a
missionary. One day they saw a father and son working in a rice paddy. The old
man guided the heavy plow as the boy pulled it. “I guess they must be very
poor,” the man said. “Yes,” the missionary replied. “That
is the family of Chi Nevi. When the church was built, they were eager to give
something to help build it, but they had no money. So, they sold their ox and
gave the money to the church. This spring they are pulling the plow themselves.
After watching them for a minute or so the wife commented how that was a real sacrifice.
The missionary shook his head. “They do not call it a sacrifice,”
he said. “They are just thankful God gave them an ox the could sell.”
It isn’t
automatic you know. You don’t have to end up being lessened by all of your blessin’s. Those blessings can bring you a lot closer to God. They
bring you closer when you accept them humbly and use them gratefully. Amen.
Rev.
Dr. Richard A. Hughes
October
16, 2005
