Deuteronomy 8 - Life Verses

Billy and I adopted Deut. 8 as one of our family verses very early on. Jennifer and Rob S. had made help make this verse significant to Billy and he later brought it to me. Our time living in Oregon brought some of this home to us about trusting in the Lord. No time was it ever more present to me than the time between our paychecks from graduate school ending (May 1999) and Billy getting his first paycheck from Habitat (late September 1999).

During this time the Lord really showed us how he sustains us even when their is no logical explanation for that sustaining. Our clothes did not wear out, we had a home, health care and food. We were well cared for and we felt very close to the Lord. Even during those 4 months when we were unsure how we were going to make ends meet or if Billy would ever find a job. During the time our first child was born and we were so uncertain of our future we found ourselves leaning so heavily on the Lord and seeing his provision in very real ways.

Then we move to Georgia and it was like the Israelites after a long time walking somehow we can lose sight of God and the way he is working in our lives. We can become so disgruntled and grumbling about our circumstances that it is hard to acknowledge God's hand in all we do.

Retrospect of course is easier. Now I see how God protected K and me when we got held up at the store and gas station so we were not home when our neighbor was murdered by our other neighbor. How God put the right women in my life to teach me about being a truly submissive and God fearing wife and a godly mother. How God taught us to rely on him for our comfort and our safety and not the terrible health care there. How God used us in small ways to make differences in the perpetual racism and sexism of the area. How God taught us that these things still exist. It is easy now to see it but it wasn't then. I was grumbling, I was unhappy and I wanted it to change. Now I know that was an important growing season for us.

Of course we saw God immediately the day he signed our release papers (that's really what it felt like to me) from Southwest Georgia and we headed up to Minnesota! It was easy to acknowledge that the good came from Him when that good was so obvious.

The other part of this chapter that always strikes me is the importance of verses 10-12, emphasis mine:

"10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery."

It can be all too easy to overlook the Lord when our lives are going well. We make a conscious effort each day to remember that it is God who gives us all we have. It is the Lord who has led us through all the difficult seasons and into the plentiful season we are in now. Billy and I are truly in a plentiful season and we acknowledge and thank God for that every day. I make it a habit so much that it has become second nature to me to always acknowledge His role in all the good.

When Billy gets a raise or a promotion at work. My first reaction is "Praise God for his faithfulness, provision and answered prayers" My immediate follow-up is "Thank you Billy for all the hard work and commitment you put forth to make it possible. First we acknowledge God and then the work he has made possible but we choose to follow through with. The constant act of thankfulness and acknowledgement of God has become a second nature to us.

We start each nights prayers with "Thank you Lord for...." and C's prayer is almost always "Thank you God for all things good" - at first I thought this was a bit route and simplified but then I tried to look at it from C's perspective and even from what little I can deduce about God's perspective. Then I realized C has it right - how good it is to acknowledge and thank God for ALL things good. C does this every day and he means it. He loves all that is around him and acknowledges that it comes from God. He has a spirit of thankfulness and a spirit of continual acknowledgment of the Lord. This is what I want to cultivate in myself and in my kids which is why Duet 8 is such a good reminder to us daily.

Our oldest K has this in her personality. She praises God for parking spaces, meals, friends and nearly anything good in her life. This is something they see modeled in their home and was modeled in their grandparents home before ours. This is a true legacy to pass on through the generations. Thanks Mom for starting it!

It is good to be proud of the work that we are our spouses accomplish. It is important to acknowledge that to them, ourselves and others. Yet more important than even that is taking the time to always remind ourselves each day (emphasis mine again):

..17 "You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.

19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God."

We have a truly amazing God and he is with us always through the good and the bad. It is important to always acknowledge Him and His role in our lives. That provision may not always be obvious to the world around us that it is the hand of God at work in our lives but to those of us who truly know Him with practice we too can make it our nature to always see His role and always remember that it was Him who brought us through the dessert and it is Him (not us) that makes our successes possible. Sure we have to work hard and make good choices - yet in the end it is God who provides the opportunities, skills and tools for us to succeed.

The combination of Deuteronomy 8 and our family verse Joshua 24: 15 has been the stronghold and foundation for our family and they are verses we come back to time and time again. I leave you with our family verse:

"15 But if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve...But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD."

Love,
Kellie-Ann