And you shall remember the whole way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
In school, I learn there are many types of education. There was physical education, which i did badly in primary school, there’s also moral education, religious education, and art education. Recently i got to know there’s also financial education for children here in Singapore.
When I read Deu 8, I thought, God does similar thing, he is doing, heart education. And that’s probably the toughest education in life. For me in particular, lesson on humility seems the hardest part. Just when I thought i have learnt my lesson, I realize, I’m not as humble as I should be…
The passage reminded me when one day i thought i’ve reached something in life. When first time I left home, I left with nothing. I had only money sufficient to pay my tuition fees, and I had to work and earn some money for extra food & accomodation. I had only with me one luggage clothes & my old violin. Then slowly the Lord add my possession….that after 10 years, i had 26 boxes + a sum of money in my bank account. Today, i had certainly more…and though i’m not a millionaire or rich person, certainly i have much more than i was before……
The passage reminded me, how God warns his people, when they have eaten, satisfied, had plenty, not lacking in anything, and their posessions multiplied……..their hearts become “lifted up”. I know it is true…my heart became lifted up too. I thought, finally I made it. From nobody, to somebody……
And the way God deals with this particular area, is very painful. In Deu 8, it’s said God “humbled” them for 40 years. In some other translations God “brought their hearts low”, “afflicted”, “mold their hearts”, through hardships & trials……
In short, God caused them to hunger…then feed them…so they know that their lives solely depended upon God’s mercy. They can’t feed themselves. Or the moment God stopped his mercies, they would die. Such humbling lesson.
That’s what particularly I’m dealing at moment. God has to remove or strip away everything…till nothing left, and I’ve nothing to depend on. Nothing for me to say, “I have done it, I have made it”. Apart from the grace of God, I’m nothing.
If there’s prayer I pray today, “Lord make me humble.” I realize that humility is not in words we say. It’s not what we say to ourselves, to others, or to God that makes us humble. But our heart attitude towards everything in life. A humble person takes no credit for himself, and he accepts everything, because he doesn’t see himself deserving. He knows, apart from grace of God, he is nothing……..merely a breath as Moses put it.