Only God Can Truly Satisfy Our Needs
Scripture Passage: Deuteronomy 28:36-46 (NASB)
36 The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, made of wood and stone. 37 And you will become an object of horror, a song of mockery, and an object of taunting among all the peoples where the Lord drives you.
38 “You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locust will devour it. 39 You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor bring in the harvest, because the worm will eat it. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will drop off prematurely. 41 You will father sons and daughters but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. 42 The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground. 43 The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.
45 “So all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 And they will become a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever.
SUMMARY
Moses continues to declare the warning messages of disobedience. He says Israel will end up losing its nation and the people and their king will serve gods of ruling nation. Israelites will become “a horror, a proverb, and a taunt.” He also mentions harvest from their land will be very scarce although the people plant, cultivate and toil. Moses ends this passage by saying that all the horrible curses that will come upon the Israelites will serve as a sign and a wonder on them and their descendants forever as a mark of their disobedience to God.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
As I was reading this passage, I noticed that there was often an abundance of things around the people like “much seed, vineyards, olive trees, and sons and daughters” as Moses brought up such matters. However, when it came to the people themselves, there was a scarcity in their harvest from their labor in planting seed, cultivating vineyard and growing olive trees. Although they were able to have sons and daughters, they would go into captivity. It seems ironic that the passage says "you shall have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, for your olives will drop off" (vs 40) “You shall plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor gather the grapes, for the worm will devour them." (vs 39) In both cases, the people put in the work, but they never saw the fruit because they were serving the wrong gods in the land. They were in a "nation which neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods..." (vs 36) This reminded me of times when I put in so much effort to my work and saw little results. I wonder if it is because I am working or serving in the wrong place, or if my heart is not truly there to serve God.
It made me realize that even if I have an abundance of things around me, true value and worth is only found if Christ is present in the same place with me. Otherwise, I will put in all the work myself for reasons other than God, and in the end it will have little fruit to show.
APPLICATION
Lately at work and in my personal life, I have been feeling very lazy and unmotivated. Looking around, I realized that I have an abundance of His blessing and lack nothing physically just like the Israelites in this passage. However, just like them, I am in a foreign land without God. I am trying to navigate my life on my own. I think that is why I feel like I am toiling without clear direction even though I am not lacking anything physically. When the Israelites were disobedient, they ended up being under other nation which made them serve other gods instead of Him. When the Israelites were in this land serving other gods, I bet they might have longed for those times when they were wandering in the desert and had nothing, yet God provided. Following God is actually the true blessing, not the other way around. Lately, I have been looking back to my past and found a similar pattern in myself. When I lacked confidence and hope, Jesus provided. But now that I have more than enough security and resources around me, I feel like nothing I do provides a rich return or satisfaction. This reminded me that having God is the most important thing, and only through Him, we can truly be satisfied richly in all the things that He provides—not necessarily worldly things, but knowing that I am fully provided for, loved, and cared for, regardless of the circumstances.
PRAYER
Dear God, thank you for allowing me to be part of your family and help me to walk with you and be in your presence in all areas of my life. I realized that in areas where I think I have abundance and riches, I try to manage on my own. However, I now know that it is actually where I need you the most. Help me to rely on you instead of my own resources trusting and waiting for you to provide. Help me to have a thankful heart, to realize that having your presence with me is a gift of your grace. Help me to turn away from self reliance and worldly security and turn towards you instead knowing that in you there is true and lasting strength.
Amen!
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