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The Scriptorium

Remember Your Savior

Don't exchange the gifts for the Giver. Deuteronomy 8.11-19

Remember!: Deuteronomy 7-9 (4)

Opening Prayer: Psalm 116.1-6
I love the LORD, because He has heard
My voice and my supplications.
Because He has inclined His ear to me,
Therefore I will call upon Him as long as I live.
The pains of death surrounded me,
And the pangs of Sheol laid hold of me;
I found trouble and sorrow.
Then I called upon the name of the LORD:
“O LORD, I implore You, deliver my soul!”
Gracious is the LORD, and righteous;
Yes, our God is merciful.
The LORD preserves the simple;
I was brought low, and He saved me.

Psalm 116.1-6

(Mit Freuden Zart: All Praise to God Who Reigns Above)
I love the Lord because He hears my cries and pleas for mercy.
Because He bends to me His ears, my prayers shall ever thus be.
The snares of death encompassed me; hell’s grip could not unloosened be;
distress and anguish pressed me.

I called to God, “O Lord, I pray, my soul redeem with favor!”
The Lord is gracious in His way, and righteous is our Savior.
His mercy to the simple flies; He lifted me up to the skies –
I rest in Him forever!

Today’s Text: Deuteronomy 8.11-20

Preparation
1. What would distract God’s people from remembering Him?

2. How many different facets of God’s salvation are mentioned or alluded to in these verses?

Meditation
Here’s what happens: God saves us – like He saved Israel – and unfolds before us exceeding great and precious promises. We are elated. Overjoyed. God loves us and has saved us for Himself! Hallelujah!

Then we begin to enjoy the good and perfect gifts that come to us from God. We’re glad for those gifts and blessings. So glad, in fact, that our heart becomes filled with blessings more than the One Who blesses (v. 12, 13). Soon enough, our delight lodges more in these good gifts, and we begin to desire them, rather than the One Who saves us and gives us these gifts each day. We might even forget to delight in Him, to enjoy knowing Him, and rejoicing in His Presence (v. 14). We might stop remembering that He saved us and just keep looking forward to whatever the next blessing might be (vv. 15, 6). We might even go so far as to congratulate ourselves on being so blessed, and think that somehow we had achieved this state of happiness on our own (v. 17).

The antidote to drifting into such idolatry is to remember the Lord – that He is our Savior, He grants us every good gift, and He is with us to teach and guide according to His covenant and promises (v. 18). For if we do forget Him, and long more for the gifts than the Giver, God will bring discipline against us, just as He threatened to do with the people of Israel (vv. 19, 20; cf. Heb. 12.3-11).

Treasure Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
Beware, lest you encounter another terrible wilderness, fiery serpents, scorpions, and no water! Well, no. That is not what Moses is warning the people of at all: “Beware that you do not forget the LORD your God by not keeping His commandments, His judgments, and His statutes…” (Deut. 8.11). And just to confirm the point he adds, “As the nations which the LORD destroys before you, so you shall perish, because you would not be obedient to the voice of the LORD your God” (Deut. 8.20). We must remember to love and obey Him, our Savior, Who carries us through the bugs and disasters; and we must keep our fear fixed on the right thing.

Reflection

1. How can you tell when someone is beginning to exchange love for God for love for His blessings?

2. What can you do to keep God and His salvation and blessings more in the forefront of your mind throughout the day?

3. Why is it important that Christians encourage one another to remember our Savior?

We ought, indeed, the more kindly we are dealt with by God, to submit ourselves the more meekly to His rule; but, as I have said, the depravity of our nature hurries us quite the other way, so that we grow insolent under God's indulgence, which should bend us to submission. And if this does not happen immediately, yet whenever prosperity flows on uninterruptedly, its delights gradually corrupt even the best of us, so that they at last degenerate from themselves.
John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Deuteronomy 8.12

Thank You, Lord, for the great blessing of knowing You! Help me to increase in You today as I…

Closing Prayer: Psalm 116.7-19
Renew your vows and commitments to God, your Savior, and seek His filling for the day ahead.

Psalm 116.7-19
(Mit Freuden Zart: All Praise to God Who Reigns Above)
Full well the Lord has dealt with me; my soul from death He delivered.
My weeping eyes, my stumbling feet, He has redeemed forever.
Forever I before His face shall walk with those who know His grace,
and dwell with them forever.

Afflicted, I believe His Word, though lying men would undo me.
What shall I render to the Lord for all His blessings to me?
Salvation’s cup I lift above and call upon the God of love
and pay my vows most truly.

How sweet to Him when saints depart – save me, Your servant, Savior!
From sin You loosed my wand’ring heart; I praise Your Name forever!
On You I call, my vows to pay; here in Your presence I would stay
Your praise to offer ever.

T. M. and Susie Moore

Listen to our summary of last week’s study in Deuteronomy by clicking here. You can download all the studies in the series by clicking here.

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. All quotations from Church Fathers from
Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy: Ancient Christian Commentary Series III, Joseph T. Lienhard, S. J. ed. in collaboration with Ronnie J. Rombs, General Editor Thomas C. Oden (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2001). All quotations from John Calvin from John Calvin, Commentaries on The Four Last Books of Moses Arranged in the Order of A Harmony, Rev. Charles William Bingham M. A., tr. and ed. (Edinburgh: The Calvin Translation Society, 1863. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (available by clicking here).

T.M. Moore

T. M. Moore is principal of The Fellowship of Ailbe, a spiritual fellowship in the Celtic Christian tradition. He and his wife, Susie, make their home in the Champlain Valley of Vermont.
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