Links for today’s readings:
Read: Deuteronomy 8 Listen: (2:58) Read: 2 Corinthians 2 Listen: (2:13)
Scripture Focus: Deuteronomy 8:17-18
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.
Reflection: Count Your Hardships
By Erin Newton
Count your blessings. Typically people are meant to reflect on all the good things that have happened in their life. This usually produces gratitude. It’s not bad advice either. Reframing our experiences enables us to heal from past events.
It may even seem like Deuteronomy is offering the same advice. God calls his people to remember. Remember the manna. Remember the non-achy feet despite years of wandering. Remember the clothes that never needed mending. Lots of blessings to be counted.
He also tells them to remember the reason they left Egypt—their hardships and trials. Remember the venomous snakes and the waterless land. These don’t sound like blessings to be counted. But remembering redirects their hearts to God.
When they only look at their successes, or all the places where “things just worked out,” the temptation is to take credit. Moses could have flexed his muscles and relished in the glory of being the leader. Each family could sit down to another full table of quail and bread, considering themselves awfully proud to be such hard workers deserving of such a feast.
Success and fortune whisper self-congratulatory tales to our itching ears.
Even looking back on history, we conjure the idea that everything then was better. We are tempted to pat ourselves on the back. Look how far we’ve come! And with such ideas, we credit success to our own power and strength. We either whitewash the hardships or delve into pride.
But God asked them to remember the hard times. Remember the times they were hungry or thirsty. Remember the time they all nearly died. Why? It’s not to cultivate a spirit of depression or fear. Balanced with the various ways God provided, the anxiety-inducing “what-if” turns into the hope-filled “even-if.” Even if the land is waterless, God provides. Even if we are attacked by venomous snakes, God provides.
The stories do not end with, “We will pull ourselves up and make ourselves stronger!” There is no pep-talk to motivate the people into working more for their success.
Remembering the good and the hard allows us to see God at the center of our lives. Go ahead and count your blessings. Praise God for the modern manna. But take time to remember the hard times you’ve already endured. Remember these times by saying, “Even when…” and knowing God was working, is working, and always shall be working—for your good.
Divine Hours Prayer: The Refrain for the Morning Lessons
Be still, then, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations; I will be exalted in the earth. — Psalm 46.11
– Divine Hours prayers from The Divine Hours: Prayers for Summer
by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: Count Your Blessings – Hymns for Giving Thanks
Oatman’s famous hymn is a reminder to us all that God has blessed us immeasurably and it is up to us to be attentive to the gifts God has given us.
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