Dear Church of the Open Bible,
Summer is here. I hope the pace of life has slowed, or will slow for you some, in the coming weeks. It is a good season to enjoy family and to reflect on God’s goodness. I say, God’s goodness because in times of plenty there can be the temptation to forget the source of that plenty. Last Sunday, in studying Deuteronomy 7-8, we saw Israel warned about how their hearts might respond in certain conditions. How their love for God might be affected in a Land of Substitutes, a Land of Scarcity, and a Land of Surplus. We can allow these conditions to deepen our trust in God or deteriorate that trust. I think the Land of Surplus holds the most temptation for loving God with all my heart.
…lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, then your heart be lifted up, and you forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery… Deut 8:12-14
It is my prayer that our hearts would not be lifted up against the Lord, forgetting the new life He had purchased for us in Christ. Let me encourage you to take time this summer to remember God in the hard times of the past and how He led you. And also that you would commit to not forget Him in the good times in the present or future. We have all that we need and could ever imagine in Christ.