Title: Wilderness for Blessings
Contents
title; Wilderness for Blessings (Deut. 8:11-16)
Jesus said, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me,” and “enter through the narrow gate.” “If you hit me on the right cheek, turn the left cheek as well,” he says. to go out into the spiritual wilderness. Sometimes we suffer because we don’t have money, we have to suffer because of disease, we feel lonely as if we have lost everything because we have failed in the world, and there are times when we stand alone in the wilderness where we are ignored by people. Why do believers have to be in this spiritual and physical wilderness?
1. To meet the forgotten God.
Do not believe that you are not forgetting God only with vague memories, as in verse 11, “Beware that you do not keep the commandments, decrees, and ordinances of the Lord, which I am giving you today, and you will not forget the Lord your God” Concrete actions must prove that we do not forget God and live in God. That is, one must keep the commandments, decrees, and ordinances of Jehovah God. If he does not keep God's commands, laws, and ordinances, even though he knows God well, he is actually forgetting God. As the epistle of John says, to love the commandments is to love God.
To forget God is to forget the Source of eternal life, and the result of forgetting God is to lose life, lose the ability to overcome sin, and lose mission. You will leave the world of God's grace. The wilderness of suffering and suffering encountered in life is an opportunity for those who have lost God to meet God again. Human beings can look back on themselves in the reality of suffering and suffering, and the conscience of seeking God can be moved. In the wilderness of trials, there is also the humility to rely on God, who is the absolute. Therefore, do not run away from the given wilderness! Rather, use it as an opportunity to meet God like Jacob along the Jabbok River in that wilderness!
Verses 12-14 “When you eat and you are satisfied and when you are satisfied and when you build and dwell in beautiful houses, and when your flocks multiply and your flocks increase, your silver and gold increase, and all your possessions abound, lest your heart become arrogant and you will forget the LORD your God. He brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery”, an affluent environment may be a condition that makes you forget God. We should not be conceited as if there is nothing that humans need to save beyond affluent conditions. Rather, there is a possibility that abundance makes man foolish and turns him away from God. Human worth and happiness do not depend on material abundance. But in general, many reject this truth. No, they claim that material abundance is happiness. This is the fall of knowledge. God wants His people to dominate and rule over material things, not to deify material things like idols, so that life is not lacking because of it.
The true knowledge, the knowledge of eternal life, the knowledge of heaven, and the knowledge of God are the knowledge that always thirst for God, have such a heart, and seek such a heart. Therefore, the reality of suffering and suffering in the realistic wilderness can be a rudimentary wilderness. It may still be a wilderness permitted to the worldly. However, those who have grown up spiritually need a spirit that thirsts for God, that is, the spiritual wilderness. When Jesus was rejected by all people on the cross, cursed by God the Father, and suffered terribly, Jesus fought a lonely battle in the spiritual wilderness for all mankind, and his body was also where the soul of Jesus could comfortably dwell. He was in endless crucifixion. We do not need to carry the cross of Jesus physically, but we must always be together in the spiritual wilderness. Only then will you be poor in spirit to enjoy the kingdom of heaven in God.
2. It is a wilderness for God's blessing.
Verse 15 says, “He brought you through that vast and dangerous wilderness, a low tide, where there are fiery serpents and scorpions, and where there is no water, and he brought up water for you out of the hard rock.” may be more abundant than in the wilderness. But an affluent environment is not what saves life and makes you happy. What to do with the condition of those who have forgotten God, those whose souls are dead, those who have no power to overcome sin, and those who are slaves to sin!
We can only be saved at the price of the death of His only begotten Son, Jesus Christ. What will change God's salvation and happiness! Liberation from the punishment of eternal hell. salvation from death It changed the wandering life into an eternal missionary. He made those who were slaves to the world to be children of God. Those who were led by Satan went on the way of the cross with the Lord. A man who did not even know his own soul saved his neighbor and all peoples. How do you compare the salvation of Jesus with anything else!
The vast and dangerous wilderness, the thirsty wilderness, and the hungry wilderness will be hard work, but why did God lead His people out of Egypt and lead them through the wilderness? It has a clear purpose. This is so that his people can restore the way to live by the word of God so that they can meet God again and live as the absolute God. This is a real blessing.
Do you have a view of life without God, without life, without the power of life, without real value, and in servitude and avoiding the wilderness? Choose! Let's give thanks in the wilderness to meet God even in a difficult wilderness, to have the constitution to live according to the Word, not to leave God, and to know and enjoy the way to live in God!
However, they do not die in the wilderness. don't starve It doesn't matter if it's hot or cold, it's not unbearable. We only seek his kingdom and righteousness first. Rather, God, the Almighty, is also responsible for the food of the flesh.
Verse 16 says, “He fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your ancestors did not know, in order to humble you and to test you and to bless you in the end.” is existence You have the right to enjoy these blessings: the blessing of eternal life, the eternal blessing of heaven, the blessing of enjoying heaven on earth, the blessing of enjoying the authority of children, the blessing of participating in the mission, and the eternal inheritance and reward. No, you should enjoy it. this is human Rather, the stolen blessing must be found. The salvation of Jesus Christ is to restore all the natural blessings without leaving any traces. I went out briefly into the wilderness for this blessing. Let's not be too hard! There is peace in heaven that is not difficult even in the wilderness. He also leads us to go the way of the cross with thanksgiving.
Do not lose heart in the wilderness! Rather, meet God through the wilderness! Learn how to live according to God's word through the wilderness and become one who has become a person! So be rich with God! Enjoy the blessings of life! Enjoy the blessings of heaven and become those who enjoy the blessings of mission! Prosper in everything and become a ruler! To do that, work together for good through the realistic wilderness that comes from time to time! And in the spirit of thirst for God, always dwell in the spiritual wilderness!