Deuteronomy 8:2-3
“You shall remember all the way which the LORD your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. (3) “He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the LORD.”
During their journey to the promised land, Israel endured many discomforts for forty years, and they sinned a great deal too. However, God reminded them that He was with them during both good and bad times. He also makes it very clear that He Himself inflicted a great deal of pain on them, and that He did this for three specific reasons:
- To humble them
- To know what was in their hearts
- To teach them that man does not live by bread alone.
If He did these things to humble them, then it would mean that He did it to remove the pride from them. Pride motivated many of their sins. As a recurring theme in Scripture, God’s work to humble us is something to keep that thought, at the forefront of our minds. The author of Hebrews warns us, “Do not despise the chastening of the Lord” (Hebrews 12:5). He is deeply involved in our lives, and because He loves us dearly, He will correct us painfully when necessary (verse 6).
Deuteronomy 8 teaches that God humbles us to drive the pride of self-sufficiency far from us. When things go well, it is easy to forget God and ascribe success to natural abilities, learned skills, or even good luck. But when the body is not fed, it begins to weaken noticeably, and it soon begins to feel pain. The spirit, though, seems to weaken and “die” so slowly that it is almost imperceptible. As we spiritually deteriorate, we may even feel blessed and prospered by God! So He disciplines us with pain to warn us that all is not as well as our vanity is leading us to think.
