Adversity and Prosperity

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Opening Prayer

Loving Lord, let my heart be steadfast in pain and prosperity, in need and in plenty. Let nothing blind me to what is of true worth.

Read Deuteronomy 8:1-20

^[1] Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the LORD promised on oath to your ancestors. ^[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. ^[3] He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. ^[4] Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. ^[5] Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the LORD your God disciplines you. ^[6] Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. ^[7] For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land-a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills; ^[8] a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees, pomegranates, olive oil and honey; ^[9] a land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills. ^[10] When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. ^[11] Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. ^[12] Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, ^[13] and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, ^[14] then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. ^[15] He led you through the vast and dreadful wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. ^[16] He gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test you so that in the end it might go well with you. ^[17] You may say to yourself, “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.” ^[18] But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your ancestors, as it is today. ^[19] If you ever forget the LORD your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. ^[20] Like the nations the LORD destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the LORD your God.

Meditate

“There is no gift, however precious, that after having been a help, will not become a snare and a hindrance to the soul that rests in it” (Francois Fenelon).

Think Further

John Wesley, in his later years, worried that the Methodist revival in eighteenth-century Britain would suffer the same fate as all revivals. A revival produces personal and social transformation. Godly people exercise frugality and discipline. Then they become wealthy and eventually proud and self-sufficient. And their faith dissipates over time.

In this passage the difficult years that Israel experienced wandering in the desert for 40 years are contrasted with the plentiful years that they were about to experience in the Promised Land. In adversity they were tested to reveal what sort of people they were, whether they would still obey the Lord (2). Most of their disobedient forefathers failed the test, dying along the way. Now, entering the Promised Land, they would be tested not by adversity but by prosperity. They would be tempted to forget God when they had plenty to eat and were satisfied (10,11), when they had “fine houses” and multiplying wealth (12,13). They would be tempted by their own proud self-talk: “My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me” (17). If they succumbed to such arrogant self-congratulation, their hearts would become the breeding ground for all kinds of idols and they would be destroyed (19,20).

Satan can use both adversity and prosperity to tempt us (Prov. 30:8,9). The poor may be tempted to stop trusting God and steal, thus breaking God’s law. The rich may disown God. The temptation, in either case, is to forget the Lord (11,14,18,19). The Lord must be remembered in the slums as well as in the palaces. We must remember God in both adversity and prosperity, because he is the one who rescues us and provides for all our needs. He alone is to be trusted (Psa. 62:1,8) and glorified (Isa. 42:8).

Apply

Make a plan to get alone with the Lord for an extended period. Don’t be put off by what it will cost to make this happen.

Closing prayer

Every hour of every day, help me to remember You, Lord, so that my heart may be Your dwelling place where trust and obedience can be found.

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