Deuteronomy 8:1-20
"Thou shalt remember . . . remember!" It is like the main heading for this book. For the heart of Israel, like our own, is quick to forget God, His acts of deliverance, His promises, His commandments (cf. Mark 8:17 . . .). The LORD had carried His people "as a man doth bear his son" (Deuteronomy 1:31). Here He chastens them "as a man chasteneth his son" (v. 5). To be carried and chastened are two privileges of the child of God (Hebrews 12:5 . . .). The second one appears to us to be more difficult to accept than the first. But what is God’s purpose in allowing these experiences in the wilderness? That is repeated three times: "to humble thee" (vv. 2, 3, 16). A man in need is more likely to turn to his Creator and that is exactly what God expects, for the trial is never an end in itself, rather a means "to do thee good at thy latter end" (v. 16). What a contrast between the wilderness which Israel has just passed through, "drought, where there was no water" (v. 15) and the "good land", filled with streams, fountains and depths into which Israel is about to enter! What a contrast, too, between the food in Egypt (Numbers 11) and the rich and plentiful fruits of the land of Canaan giving strength, joy, health and sweetness and calling to mind the fruit of the Spirit set out in Galatians 5:22-23!