Humbling - Deuteronomy 8

One thing that I didn’t really understand until today is that if Israel had been obedient initially, they would have been able to receive the promised land only a couple of years after they left Egypt. I was always under the impression that the first generation couldn’t inherit the promised land because they were wicked but that God just instinctively knew that and walked them around for 40 years until they died. The reality is that they were given opportunities to inherit the promised land but rebelled against God repeatedly and were therefore banned from entering. It was just something I think about in my life like am I not receiving promised blessings because of my disobedience or because it is not God’s timing. Are bad things happening to me and my family because we rebelled against God like the Israelites or just because this is God’s will for it to happen? It’s been interesting to reflect why things have played out certain ways and what the consequences have been of those events, and why it’s God’s will for certain things to happen and not necessarily a condemnation of me or my family. It goes back to the whole concept that obedience can’t be transactional.

Moses says that the previous generation of Israelites were denied the promised land to “humble” them and “prove” them. This is similar to what we’ve talked about the last couple of days about remaining humble when given blessings. He reminds them that they were fed with manna for 40 years “that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the Lord.” This is another example of Jesus citing the Torah to those who were trying to trick him. Additionally, and I had never heard this before, the clothing of the Israelites “waxed not old upon thee, neither did thy foot swell, these forty years.” I hadn’t thought about it before but Israel’s access to new clothing, especially for the volume of people that they had, was probably very limited so God’s miraculous preservation of their clothing might have seemed like no big deal, but they would essentially have had to wander the wilderness naked with it. Another way God demonstrates His taking care of the little details.

This feeds into what I talked about the other day about ways that God preserves his people miraculously. Feeding them, manna in this case, but also in the Book of Mormon, when Nephi and his family were wandering in the wilderness they were commanded to eat their meat raw and God “made it sweet” for them. They didn’t get sick, which they probably should have and it was enough food to not only allow the women enough nourishment to “give plenty of suck” to their children, but they also became “strong like unto the men.” Here God says that he didn’t allow their feet to swell, which would have been a natural consequence of walking around in the desert for 40 years, but he manipulated their bodily functions to allow for them to accomplish the mission he gave them. Interesting to think about. He also gave them water out of a rock, which is wild, and inexplicable and preserved their clothing so that they would be sufficiently protected from the elements. And He’s doing all this for people that rebelled against Him so severely that he basically just has to wait for them to die so He can actually move forward with his mission and blessings for their children. He still cares for them in the little ways even though they constantly reject him.

Moses describes all the blessings that they’ll receive in the promised land, all the abundance, all types of food and land and water, and again reminds them that they have to be humble even after being blessed which is so hard to do. TB talks about it during his lecture for this chapter and says that at one point in his life he was very professionally and materialistically successful and that he was mighty high on his horse and felt like he earned and deserved all this success and that he got it by his merit alone. He said that when God humbled him it was the most profound and painful experience of his life, but that’s what led him to be able to do his Bible study ministry. I had an experience several years ago that was kind of the opposite where there was something that I wanted but that I didn’t think that I deserved and the message came to me “what you deserve is not up to you, it’s up to me. Lots of people get things they don’t deserve and lots of people don’t get things they do deserve. You have what I want you to have.” And I haven’t really had any other thoughts about deserving what I have or earning it or anything like that ever since. What I’ve found is that when I start to look at things or opportunities and really wish that I had them, and the feeling is negative like bitterness or jealousy, then I have to take a step back and know that I’ve not being humble. Or when I start to recognize that I want certain attention or recognition, then I can take a step back and question my motivations for my behaviors. I guess that helps me some, but I still pray to stay humble because I know if I don’t, then the divine humbling will come swiftly and painfully and I have had that enough times to just want to do it myself and not involved God’s justice in my humbling efforts.