Deuteronomy 8:1-10

8 “The entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. ² Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. ³ He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. ⁴ The clothes on your back did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know, then, in your heart that, as a parent disciplines a child, so the Lord your God disciplines you. ⁶ Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷ For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, ⁹ a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. ¹⁰ You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.

There’s a blessing in remembering. And there’s a special blessing in remembering our blessings. As the people of God were just about to cross over into their Promised Land, Moses reached a sermon where he recounted the blessings of the past 40 years. They had manna to eat each day. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell. They needed to remember how God had blessed them. And now, they were getting ready to take possession of a land flowing with milk and honey. They had depended on God in the lean times. They needed to count their blessings and praise God in the good times ahead.

Prayer

God, help me never to forget how it is you who provides. Let me count on you for my daily bread. And let me give you the glory when my cup overflows! Amen.