Deuteronomy 8: We Are Tested with Blessing

The word Deuteronomy is not only one of the hardest books of the Bible to spell, it is also has a meaning most people don’t know. It means “Second law.” That is the focus on this book. Deuteronomy is the last sermons Moses will preach to this young nation who is about to enter the Promised Land.

What are his final words of motivation? Trust and Obey. It’s the only way to keep the freedom God has given them.

What about you? What will you pass on to the next generation? Let’s read Deuteronomy as the final sermon of a man who saw the miracles of God. His final words are to trust God completely and obey God completely. It’s the way of continued freedom.

Outline

1. Prologue (1:1-5)
2. Moses’ First Speech: Historical Prologue (1:6-4:43)
3. Moses’ Second Speech: General Covenant Stipulations 4:44-11:32)
4. Moses’ Second Speech: Specific Covenant Stipulations (12:1-26:19)
5. Moses’ Third Speech: Blessings and Curses (27:1-28:68)
6. Moses’ Third Speech: Final Exhortation (29:1-30:20)
7. Succession of Leadership (31:1-34:12)

“Today I have given you the choice between life and death… choose life. You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him.” Deuteronomy 30:19-20 NLT

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Scripture quotations taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation (NLT).
Copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.
Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Purpose of Podcast
• 0:24 Today’s Focus: Deuteronomy 8
• 0:47 Community Invites and Question of the Day
• 1:55 Setting the Scene: Moses’ Final Sermons
• 3:02 The Hardest Test: Prosperity
• 4:06 Reading Deuteronomy 8:1–5
• 5:35 Dependence on God’s Word and Provision
• 6:20 The 40-Year Provision and Humor
• 7:33 The Good Land and a Warning
• 8:15 Pride, Forgetting God, and Consequences
• 9:41 Applying the Warning to Our Lives
• 11:46 Prayer and Final Encouragement

Transcript

SPEAKER_00: 0:01

Hey everyone, and welcome to the Bible Breakdown Podcast. In this podcast, we will be breaking down the Bible one chapter a day. Whether you are a new believer or have been following Christ for a while, we believe that you will learn something new and fresh every single day. So thank you for joining us. Let's get into breaking down the Bible together.

SPEAKER_01: 0:23

Well, everybody. Welcome back to the Bible Breakdown Podcast with your host, Pastor Brandon. Today, Deuteronomy chapter 8. And man, if I were to give today a title, it would be We Are Tested with Blessing. Man, this is so true. I can't wait to get into it. We're gonna have a lot of fun today. And man, it's this one's really gonna, it hits us, but it it's it's powerful. It is, I just we'll talk about it, right? Before we do that, if you like what we're doing, make sure you subscribe to our YouTube channel, to our podcast, leave us a review. It really does help. Go to the Facebook group, Bible Breakdown Podcast, and let us know what's going on in your life. Let's engage and interact with one another. Also, I have been asked, what would it look like if we were to get together once and just read God's word together as a group? Not as like an everyday thing, but like a one-time thing. Someone's like, PB, what would it look like if we all got together and you read it like live in front of us one day? And I was like, that sounds horrible. But if you would like to do that, I want you to let me know on the YouTube video, comment, Facebook group. I want you to let me know if you'd like to do it. And if enough people would, I'll come up with a really good excuse why it's still never gonna happen. But we might would do something like that, and it might be really cool, okay? But I want to know uh the question of the day is what is one of the greatest blessings that God has given you? Like, like I want you to let me know on the Facebook group question of the day. What is the greatest blessing that God has given you? And I love to talk about it, okay? All right, let me catch us up and then we'll go from there. Don't forget, the greatest leader maybe ever to live, other than Jesus himself. You know, Solomon was the wisest. Jesus is always the right answer. Moses probably the best leader to ever live. He's about to die. He's not going to be able to go into the promised land with this new generation, but he's cheering them on for success. He is summarizing for them the lessons that he has learned over a life of watching God do miracles, saving him from the backside of nowhere, all this amazing stuff. And he's putting all of that into these final sermons that were written down in the book of Deuteronomy, that is, you know, the Greek word for second law. So he's laying down that law. A few chapters ago, he laid down the Ten Commandments again and told them that story, and then talked about the importance of their commitment and just keeps on building. Well, in this second sermon, now he is going to say something that is absolutely amazing. He's going to talk about the reason why it's important to obey the Lord, but then he also talks about something that not many people talk about. We talk a lot about how it feels like God tests us through trouble. But did you also realize that some of the greatest testing in our life is not when everything falls apart, but it's when everything goes well? Sometimes that's when it really gets tested. Because, you know, when you realize God's all you got, man, you hold on to him, right? He's all I need. I just grab on. Come on, me and you, Jesus. Well, what happens when all the bills are paid? What happens when everybody likes you? When everything's going well, and then all of a sudden it's a beautiful Sunday morning, you know, and bills are paid, everything's going well. We know Jesus would understand if I just slept in today, or, you know, Jesus would understand if I didn't read my Bible. And Jesus also understood, but you didn't have anything either, right? So sometimes he tests us, you know, were you really on my team? Or you just like the blessing? That's kind of a harsh, right? But Moses is warning them because he's going to tell us about it. So let's jump in, okay? You got your NLT Bibles with you. Go up to Deuteronomy chapter 8, starting at verse 1, he says, this be careful to obey all the commands I am giving you today. Then you will live and multiply, and you will enter and occupy the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Pause. So notice why do we obey God's commands? He obey his commands so that you can experience his blessings. So Moses is saying, remember, God's not some mean God. It's like do it just because I say so. He's like, do it so that you can receive the blessings that I have for you. All right, verse three. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone. Rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Pause again. If you know the reference in Matthew chapter four, this is the scripture that Jesus used against the devil when the devil came up to him and said, If you're the Son of God, make these stones to bread. And Jesus said, Oh, no, no, no, no, no. Man doesn't live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He was using this to say, we live by the provision of the Lord, not by our own strength. All right, verse four. For all these forty years, your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell. Verse five, think about it. Just as a parent disciplines a child, the Lord your God disciplines you for his own good. Can we pause again? Can we verse four? For all these forty years, your clothes didn't wear out, and your feet didn't blister or swell. Can we find those clothes? Okay. Now listen, some of you, you enjoy going shopping because you enjoy new clothes, because you like to look different or whatever. People who know me know that I wear the same four or five shirts all the time because I don't actually like variety. I like dependability. That's that is a problem of mine, right? If I could find, Lord, right now, in the middle of this podcast, I am praying. If you could take my shirts and make them last for 40 years, praise the Lord. Think about that. Think about the oldest pair of clothes you have right now. I don't want to know what it is. Don't tell me because that's weird. Some socks, okay? How long you had them socks? Maybe some underwear, but we ain't gonna talk about that. We're gonna go with socks. How long you had them socks? 10 years? Five years? I wonder, I would love to know if somebody on this Bible breakdown podcast, and I am getting sidetracked, we're going to get back to this, but somebody on this podcast, if you would, I want you to get a pair of socks, and I want you to label them with the date and then go find a hole and bury them, and then remind yourself where they are. In 40 years, we're gonna come back and we're gonna see if they are still there. That is such a miracle. They didn't have to pay for their food. They God always gave them water, they didn't have a clothing bill, and they didn't have any medical bills either. Their feet didn't blister or swell. No wonder these people complained. They didn't have anything else to do. They were so blessed. It's amazing. All right, I'm sorry. Rant over verse 6. So obey the commands of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land of flowing streams and pools of water, with fountains and springs that gush out in the valleys and hills. It is a land of wheat and barley, of grapevines, fig trees and pomegranates, of olive oil and honey. It is a land where food is plentiful and nothing is lacking. It is a land where iron is as common as stone and copper is as abundant in the hills. When you have eaten your fill, be sure to praise the Lord your God for the good things he has given you. Now listen to this. But that is the time to be careful. Beware that in your plenty you do not forget the Lord your God, and disobey his commands, regulations, and decrees that I am giving you today. For when you have become full and prosperous and have built fine homes to live in, and when your flocks and herds have become very large, and your silver and gold have multiplied along with everything else, be careful. Do not become proud at the time and forget that the Lord your God, who rescued you from slavery in the land of Egypt, do not forget that he led you through the great and terrifying wilderness with its poisonous snakes and scorpions, where it was so hot and dry. He gave you that water from the rock. He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and to test you for his own for your own good. He did this so that you will never say to yourself, I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy. Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you the power to be successful in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath. But I assure you of this if you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods, worshiping and bowing down to them, you will certainly be destroyed. Just as the Lord has destroyed other nations in your path, you will also be destroyed if you refuse to obey the Lord your God. Amazing. Amazing that Moses is warning them beforehand. You know why? Because this is human nature. It's human nature to be thankful when you don't have a lot and to be unthankful when you have a lot. And that's counterintuitive, right? You would think that when you have a lot, you would be thankful. But think about the wealthiest person you know. I'm thinking of someone right now. The wealthiest person I know is not very thankful. They are always thinking about if I had one more of this, if I had one more of that. They're not necessarily like mean, but they're worried. They're constantly grabbing for more. Now I think about someone right now who doesn't have a lot. They are the most kind-hearted people ever. They're wonderful. Now, is that universal? No. I I know I know people who have nothing who are horrible. And I also know people who have a lot, and they are wonderful people. But as a general rule, people who have a little are usually more thankful than those who don't, or who actually have more. And so the lesson for us is that sometimes the greatest test of our character, and if we're truly growing in the Lord, is not when we struggle, even though that is a test, but it's when we're blessed. And so right now in this season, maybe you're in a season where you're not very blessed right now. And if that's the case, you need to pay attention to the first half when it says, hey, you be careful to obey the Lord's commands, and he's going to bless you in every way. But I guarantee you, there's some of you listening to this today that you're maybe you don't have everything you want, but you're more blessed than you realize. For you, I would say you need to pay attention to the second half that says, but when you are blessed, be careful. Beware that your plenty does not make you arrogant and make you forget the Lord your God. Because if you forget the one who brought you, then you're not going to be able to be sustained in what he's trying to keep you in, and what he's trying to give you. So it's a word of hope and also a word of warning. Let's pray for let me pray for you today, and then we'll be done. Father, thank you so much that you are for us and not against us. I'm thankful, God, that this chapter is not passive aggressive. It's a warning because you don't want us to fall into this hole, this place of ungratefulness and and fail the test. And the only reason why a teacher ever gives someone a test is because they want to send them on to the next grade, the next level, the next thing that you have for them. And so if someone's going through a test right now, it's maybe it's because you see more in them than they see in themselves. So I pray you will help them to stand under that test, whatever it is. You'll give them the courage to continue, the faith to stay close to you, and that in all things, God, we realize that success is not in what we achieve, but it's in who we become. And that we get closer to you every day. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Don't forget, God's word says in Deuteronomy chapter 30, today I have given you the choice between life and death. Choose life. You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying Him, and committing yourself firmly to Him. I love you. I see you tomorrow for Deuteronomy chapter nine.