Deuteronomy 8:10-14
By Drew Zuverink
"When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the Lord your God, failing to observe his commandments, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 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."
Moses knew something very important about the stubborn people he was leading. The Israelites were homeless in the wilderness at this point but soon their lives would greatly improve because they were about to take possession of the promised land. Moses knew that once their lives were going really well, the people would have a tendency to stop relying on God. Most humans are wired this way but as soon as we stop leaning on God, things fall apart.
When we are healthy, our bills are paid, our retirements are plush, and our moods are jolly, we might not feel a deep need to rely on God to meet our needs. While this isn't a good thing either, I wanted to focus on our sins. All of us have a few sins that we struggle with more than others. Whether it's an attitude problem, a sin of the tongue, an idol we pursue, or lust, most of us are very aware of the ones that have a strong grip on us. We can all attest that evil patterns are very powerful and so we often rightly turn to God for help. Since Jesus has defeated the power of sin, relying on him works! As Galatians 5:16 promises, "Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the desires of the flesh." Praise God for our helper!
However, when in our battle against sin, we have had a good week, month, or 6 months, we can be tempted to "become proud" and forget how much we need God's help. The truth is we will always have the capacity to do terrible things because sin will always be a part of our fallen nature. So even if our anger hasn't been a problem for half a year, it would be unwise to think that our anger problem is gone. Or if we haven't lusted in a while it would be foolish to think that we won't be tempted today. Our sin didn't go anywhere, it's still inside of us, and if the conditions are right - it will become a temptation again.
This doesn't mean we should live our lives in fear but it does mean that we should be aware, vigilant, and always reliant upon God. Romans 6:6 says, "We know that our old sinful lives were crucified with Christ so that sin might lose its power in our lives. We are no longer slaves to sin." It's good to not live in fear but it's also good to remember that we have a sinful nature that will be enticed many times each day. Most importantly, we need to ask God everyday to help us avoid evil. Don't allow successful weeks or months to lull us to sleep, rely heavily upon God each day and he will bring us out of our "Egypts" and out of our sinful slavery. He is the great deliverer.