“But you shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He who is giving you power to make wealth, that He may confirm His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as it is this day.”
Deuteronomy 8:18
Is it possible that our present circumstances are teaching tools God uses to educate us in the Lord’s school of discipleship?
One answer to this question is found in Deuteronomy 8, where we catch a glimpse of how God trains His people.
Indeed, packed at the beginning of this chapter, tucked away in the second giving of the Law, God lovingly reveals three ways He instructs and sustains His fellowship with those who are His: (1) prove to know, (2) humble to understand, and (3) discipline to know.
(1) Prove to Know
“You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not” (Deut. 8:2).
The first time this Hebrew word, prove (or test), appears in the Scriptures is about Abraham in Genesis 22:1. In that passage, God told Abraham to take his son of promise to an altar and lay him down as a sacrifice to God. This act would “prove” Abraham’s faith. What’s interesting is that when Abraham did, in fact, prove his faith by preparing Isaac for sacrifice, the angel of the Lord declared, “…for now I know that you fear God.”
In the same way God tested Abraham, He is now (400+ years later) testing the ancient Israelites in the wilderness to know (1) what was in their hearts and (2) whether they would obey God’s commands. They would prove their faithfulness to God as they obeyed God’s Law. This faithfulness would vindicate or evidence their heart for God; thus, God would know their hearts. A second lesson of understanding followed.
(2) Humble to Understand
“He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3).
God humbled (literally afflicted) these people and then supernaturally fed them mysterious food so that they would understand that God’s provision is beyond satisfying their hunger pangs. It follows that as His people living in the promised land, they must continually make the connection between God supernaturally meeting their physical needs and Him supernaturally meeting their spiritual needs. Logically, if God supernaturally meets physical needs, He can supernaturally meet spiritual needs (namely, restoration to fellowship with God). Then, God reminds them of His filial (family) care.
(3) Discipline to Know
“Your clothing did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years. Thus you are to know in your heart that the Lord your God was disciplining you just as a man disciplines his son” (Deut. 8:4-5).
Discipline in this familial context means to instruct or bring up. It’s the same word used in Proverbs 31:1, where King Lemuel’s mother teaches her son essential matters of life. Thus, while living as nomads in a harsh desert environment for four decades, their clothes did not wear out, nor did their feet swell. God cared for His people like a good Father cared for his son. Once again, by supernaturally meeting physical needs, God analogously teaches Israel that in the same way a good father cares for his children, He cares for them.
What is the overarching purpose?
To confirm His covenant with their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (Deuteronomy 8:18).
In other words, God’s gracious dealings with His covenant people in Moses’ time extended four centuries back to a promise He made to their fathers, and was being experienced in their present circumstances.
How Does This Apply To Us Today?
- God uses present circumstances to teach Christians more about Him, us, and others.
- He does this because He made relational promises to us in Christ.
- Thus, in Christ, we faithfully press on with joy, hope, and rest, knowing and understanding that the Lord’s school of discipleship includes proving, humbling, and disciplining!
Amen, we press on!
— June 12, 2024