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6/4 Reading Portions: Deuteronomy 8; Psalm 91; Isaiah 36; Revelation 6
Deuteronomy 8:2
“And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.”
HUMBLED
The LORD our God is omniscient, knowing all things; and God need not test us so He can know what is in our hearts and minds. YHVH God has said through the prophet,
“For I know the things that come into your mind.” Ezekiel 11:5
Reading today’s verse in Hebrew, God humbles us and tests us so that you and I might know whether you [and I] would keep His commandments or not. His testing strengthens our faith. Law and grace are only reconciled through the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. The corruptions of our flesh want to convince us that to be blessed by God, we must keep the commandments of God; in other words, earn our salvation and justify our continued sanctification by our good works. No! Our salvation was achieved upon the cross by the Lord Jesus Christ in His person and work. Every blessing we receive in Christ are contained within His gospel, as He alone fulfilled the law by His righteous and sinless life. Therefore, when we live outside the commandments of God’s law, or defy the instruction of His law, or despise and reject the rule of His law, we have stepped outside of the boundaries wherein gospel milk and honey overflow. Even in our gospel walk upon this earth, the Lord Jesus humbles us and lets us hunger and thirst for righteousness so we may be filled with the manna of His grace (Deut 8:3); and in this way, we may rely wholly upon Jesus, our Bread of Life, who is seated in heaven, trusting in His written Word for nourishment because His Word is all about Him (John 5:39). The Law reveals to us all we cannot do apart from Christ and God’s grace. The Law, now elevated beyond our reach because Jesus fulfilled it, is a grace for our gospel nourishment— for the written Word feeds our souls, since the crucified and living Word fills our souls, while the Bread of the Spirit frees our souls with the glorious truth of Christ and Him crucified contained in the Scriptures. Amen! Hallelujah! What a Savior!