Today’s Devotion: Deuteronomy 8

God says in verse 2, “Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.”

Why does God lead us all the way through life? To humble and test us and know what is in our hearts and whether or not we would keep his commands.

The wilderness journey and wilderness march that Moses led is symbolic of the Christian life. Is there a Christian out there that disagrees with this statement? I’m in my early forties and I can tell you that I can look back over the last forty years and see the presence of God; I can even remember those years without the presence of God. Those years bring about the greatest humility in me because it realized God still loved me and cared about me end when I didn’t know Him and (honesty) was too self-absorbed to care about Him.

We also know that keeping His commands are impossible due to our sin, but we desire to keep His commands because of what He has done for us; His grace and mercy – unmerited favor. So if God is testing us by whether or not we keep His commands (or our desire to), that should get our attention. It sure does mine!

Nobody likes tests. I am especially anxious about tests. You can give me an auditorium filled with thousands of people and I can give a speech that will have them laughing, crying, clapping, or silent to the sound of a pin drop, but palease don’t sit me down in front of a multiple choice exam. I sweat like a baby and toil over every word.

God tests for authenticity. He already knows what’s in our hearts, He simply wants us to know what is in our hearts. In my opinion, marriage is the greatest area of God’s testing and forces me (daily) to evaluate my heart. When you’re married, it’s not about you anymore. God does some incredible revealing of what is in our hearts once you have taken a vow to have and to hold from that day forward.

All in all, this is for our good. When God makes us aware of what is in our hearts, it brings about perspectives. You’ve heard the phrase, “You can’t see the forest through the trees.” The Christian life can be that way. We can see what is in our own hearts if you are always looking outwardly at others.