The heart of the matter

Deuteronomy 8
Do Not Forget the LORD
1 Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land that the LORD promised on oath to your forefathers. 2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 4 Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. 5 Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you.
6 Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in his ways and revering him. 7 For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land—a land with streams and pools of water, with springs flowing in the valleys and hills; 8 a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; 9 a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills.
10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, "My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me." 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.
19 If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. 20 Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

What is Deuteronomy 8 about? If you read it carefully you will understand that God’s purpose for us, in this life, is to determine if you will recognize God as the one true God and place yourself in His service at His beck and call or if you will recognize yourself as God and only pay lip service to the one true God, or even ignore Him altogether.

Why? God only wants those who have truly submitted to Him to rule and reign at His side. He only wants those with an unshakable will to follow Him to stand with Him forever.

How? God looks on the heart to measure a person. Maybe He finds out what is on the inside by squeezing you to see what comes out. He leads you into circumstances that will reveal where your heart is truly. How you react will determine if you are with God in your heart or serving your own self interests.

Doesn’t God already know? Yes. But he knows because you were tested and He knows the results of the test before it even happened. God is not limited by the constraints of time that we are. He knew everyday of your life before you were born because He was there. God is not limited by time and can see the end of your days before the first day of your life. He has led you through life’s troubled waters. He has sifted you such that you would reveal to Him the true measure of your heart. He knows this all before you are born because He has played your life like one who plays a video. He has fast forwarded, rewound and even made changes to the setting or the circumstances and played the scenario again to see how you react each time. Some of this sounds a bit Gene Roddenberry, but if you think about it, it makes some sense. If you were God and not limited by the laws of physics or the constraints of time, what kinds of miraculous things could you accomplish. Then, think about how God might use such things. Then, read Deuteronomy 8 again and see if you see another message.