Deuteronomy 8:1–10 // God uses hunger to teach dependence // Chris Warszawski
Moses speaks to the people of Israel as they prepare to enter the land God promised them. They have wandered in the wilderness for forty years and have experienced hardship, hunger, and danger. Soon, however, they will face their greatest test: the temptation of self-sufficiency—which would ultimately lead them to forget and betray their God. So how does Moses prepare them for this temptation?
First, he gives them a command. Actually, he gives them “the whole command.” This single command encompasses all of God’s expectations for His people: wholehearted devotion to Him. This generation of God’s people would not experience the life God promised or fulfill the purposes He prepared for them without complete loyalty to Him.
Second, Moses reminds the people of God’s work in the wilderness. God has led them, guided them, and provided for them. He humbled them in order to discern the motivations of their hearts and to grow them in faithfulness. He allowed them to experience hunger so that they would truly understand their need for Him. He also disciplined them—in the same way a loving parent disciplines a child—so that they might walk humbly and rightly. God wanted His people to understand that just as physical food is necessary for life, obedience to His ways is necessary for them to flourish.
God used the long years in the wilderness to prepare His people for this moment. Moses calls them to put off the faulty thinking of self-sufficiency, to humble themselves before their faithful and loving God, and to embrace joyful dependence on Him.
You and I are invited into that same joyful dependence.
Lent is a season that echoes this purposeful wandering. The Israelites journeyed through those long, arduous years, and all the while God was forming them as His chosen people—for the sake of His glory revealed to the nations.
Jesus, too, wandered in the wilderness for forty days as His heavenly Father prepared Him for the earthly ministry that would fulfill God’s promise of a Savior to the world.
And you and I, as we wander in a world marred and broken by sin, look forward to celebrating Easter—the now-realized promise of salvation through Christ, His atoning death, and His resurrection. We also look ahead to the day when we will experience the Promised Land of the new heavens and the new earth.
Until then, our faithful and loving God continues His work in our lives. He calls us to be wholly devoted to Him. He humbles us and reveals the motivations of our hearts. Where there is sin, He calls us to repent—to turn toward Him, receive forgiveness, and walk in His better way. He leads us and guides us faithfully. And like the Israelites, He allows us to experience hunger and lack so that we might embrace joyful dependence on Him.
Question to Consider
Where in your life are you experiencing “hunger” right now? What might it look like to embrace joyful dependence on God in that place?
Prayer Prompt
Spend a few moments asking God to reveal areas in your heart or life where you are tempted toward self-sufficiency. Repent of that tendency, and ask Him to show you how He is inviting you to depend on Him more fully in those areas.
