After Pentecost Devotional - Day 31

“...and houses full of good things that you didn’t put there. Yahweh will give you wells that you didn’t have to dig, and vineyards and olive orchards that you didn’t have to plant. But when you have eaten so much that you can’t eat any more, don’t forget it was Yahweh who set you free from slavery and brought you out of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 6:11-12

Memory is a curious thing. Institutional and generational memory are even more complex. At times, we create memories of things that never happened, yearning for a return to a past that is mainly fiction. Institutions and cultures do the same thing, crafting interpretations of the past we would not have recognized at the time. On the other hand, memories and histories can help us understand the importance or significance of our past and that of our forbearers.

Perhaps one of the more difficult aspects of memory is understanding what led to specific results. Too often, we focus on the answers we would like to believe without doing the work of checking our presuppositions and biases. For Moses, this was something that was bound to happen. The people would enter the land Yahweh was giving them and quickly forget how Yahweh had introduced them into that same land. Moses was pretty sure this would happen.

Yahweh's plan would provide for the nation in part through the efforts the of the previous inhabitants. The Hebrews would enter a land that was already established. Houses were already built. Fruit bearing trees were already cultivated. Fields were already prepared for planting and harvesting. The most difficult and time-consuming issues of settling a land would already have been resolved. They would simply march in to take possession of the blessings of Yahweh.

Moses' knew they would forget that all this was being handed to them in grace. They had earned none of it. They would do nothing to earn it. A people who had recently escaped the oppression of slavery was being ushered into a new land where they would be the ruling class. Moses was concerned they would begin thinking of themselves as the powerful elite of Egypt, rather than a nation blessed generously by Yahweh's grace.

The Law provided that the land belonged to Yahweh. It established the understanding that the people were to act as stewards of Yahweh's blessings. It declared that as Yahweh was providing the land, they needed to assume responsibility to utilize the resources in accord with Yahweh's requirement that the land benefit all those living upon it. The trouble was that as we are so prone to forget the blessings of grace, we allow ourselves to believe that all God's blessings are actually the product of our own industry and action. We claim responsibility for our successes and blame God for our failures.

Moses wanted them to remember that all of their resources were the result of God's action on their behalf. They were to utilize those resources accordingly. The celebrations of Passover, Sabbath, and Jubilee were to be reminders of that very same principle. We live due to the grace and provision of God and are therefore responsible to God for how we use the blessings given us

Do your actions make sufficient acknowledgment of God's redeeming provision?

"Lord, make me more aware of how you provide and how I should honor you in all my life."

—©Copyright 2016, Christopher B. Harbin

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