Do not forget the Lord

Deuteronomy 8:18 - 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. [NIV]

Moses was speaking to the Israelites and preparing them to enter the promised land.  He reminds them of all what God has miraculously done in bringing them out of Egyptian slavery and during their wilderness wanderings over the last forty years.  Moses gave the people a warning to not forget God.  There will come a day when they have success and wealth, and they are supposed to remember God on that day.  They are not supposed to think that they have done it all on their own.

The Israelites who were once incapable of doing anything to sustain themselves would soon think that their own power and the strength of their hand and not the limitless power of the covenant keeping God had made them prosperous.  For this reason, Moses reminded the people that every gift comes from God.  He exhorted them to remember the Lord Almighty is the One who is giving the ability to make wealth.  Israel’s wealth (wisdom, power, imagination, material resources, skills, and strength) was a direct blessing from God.

God gives us the ability to be a success story for Him when, in all that we do, we do it for Him.  We need to continually remember and acknowledge that it is God who has given us the ability to create wealth and do everything that we have done and are doing.  And not forgetting that it is God who brought us where we are today and given us everything that we have today.  Let us remember the Lord our God today and always.