Deuteronomy 8:1-10 Be conscientious about carrying out the entire body of commands that I am giving you today so that you may thrive and increase and you may go in and possess the land that the Lord promised by oath to give to your fathers. 2 Remember the whole journey on which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you and to test you, in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. 3 So he humbled you and allowed you to be hungry. Then he fed you manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known before, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. 4 The clothes you wore did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. 5 So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. 6 Therefore you are to keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by revering him.
7 For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of gullies filled with water, a land with springs and groundwater that flows out into the valleys and down the mountains, 8 a land with wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil, and honey, 9 a land where you can eat bread and not be poor, where you will not lack anything, a land whose rocks are iron and from whose mountains you can mine copper.
10 Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.
Praise to God, immortal praise, For the love that crowns our days. Bounteous Source of ev’ry joy, Let your praise our tongues employ. All to you, our God, we owe, Source whence all our blessings flow. (CW: 612 v1)
The father believed that his teenage son was getting spoiled and soft. When the boy asked to drive the family car to school on a sunny morning, dad decided enough was enough. “Son,” he scolded, “the school is only six blocks away. You don’t really have to take the car for that short a distance, do you? After all, why do you think the Lord gave you two feet?”
Without missing a beat, the teenager calmly replied, “One foot is to put on the brake, and the other foot is to put on the accelerator.”
That story makes me wonder why has the Lord given us the things we have?
Not just legs for walking or for controlling a vehicle. Why has the Lord given us anything? Our minds, our families, our friends, our vocations or our health. Martin Luther put it this way: “Everything that we need for our bodily welfare.”
It certainly isn’t because we’re such wonderful persons. We’re not. None of us are.
It’s something within the Lord that caused him to pour out his physical and spiritual blessings on us. For these blessings, we gather this evening to praise the Lord.
Moses is unable to enter the Promised Land of Canaan. So he preaches three final sermons. In the second of these three sermons, Moses preached: “Then you will eat, and you will be filled, and you will praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.”
This verse shows us that Thanksgiving wasn’t the Pilgrims’ idea in 1621. It had been God’s idea long before the Pilgrims ever came along. Like the people of Israel, the Pilgrims had come to a good land. They were grateful they had been preserved by God. Now it was time to praise the Lord for how he had blessed them. So let us give thanks to the Lord, our God. It is good and right so to do.
In those Thanksgiving celebrations, they would remember. That was an important part of it.
Moses reminded them: “Remember the whole journey on which the Lord your God led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you and to test you, in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. So he humbled you and allowed you to be hungry. Then he fed you manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known before, in order to teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
The forty years of wilderness wandering was a God-given period of training where God was instructing his people. As they wandered, hungered and thirsted, God humbled them and tested them. As he brought them face to face with their own weaknesses, he patiently and lovingly provided for their every need.
2020 has certainly been a year of testing and humbling. The virus. Lockdowns. Loneliness. Depression. Distrust. Anger. Anxiety. Local and national unrest. All this shows how much we need God. We cannot survive this mess on our own.
God uses hardships like wilderness wandering for the Israelites and the anxiety of 2020 to teach you. To teach you what? “To teach you that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
When you are in the emergency room or in hospice care or with your family at your loved ones’ funeral, the only thing you have to hold on to is God and the promises he gives you in his Word. Everything else may be taken away from you, but the Word of the Lord endures forever.
My grandparents’ generation had to survive a decade-long financial depression and World War II. Still, they were much more churchgoing than today’s generations. Perhaps not all hardships are bad if they humble us to make us realize our dependance on God. Perhaps the losses of some of our material things might inspire us to value more highly our spiritual treasures in Christ.
Perhaps seeing the earth for the broken place it really is will move us to lift up our eyes to look forward to the Promised Land of heaven.
Turkey, stuffing and Hawaiian sweet rolls tomorrow are all good. Gathering together with family and close friends around the dining table is something we all need right now. But God’s Word and Sacraments, sermon and song tonight are better and more beneficial. Gathering together with God’s family – whether in person or online – is what we all need to get us through this yucky year.
The Children of Israel would remember God’s deliverance – how he had delivered them from their slavery in Egypt. They would remember his provision – the miraculous manna he provided when they were hungry; the water he provided when they were thirsty; the fact that for forty years in the wilderness their clothes did not wear out.
“The clothes you wore did not wear out, and your feet did not swell these forty years. So know in your heart that just as a man disciplines his son, so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore you are to keep the commandments of the Lord your God by walking in his ways and by revering him.” Forty years in the same sandals. Forty years in the same clothes. Forty years without blisters and swelling. These were further signs of the Lord’s blessings on their journey. All these examples displayed the love of a father for his children as he provides for their needs and admonishes them when they become careless concerning his will.
Jesus teaches us to pray continually for our daily bread. Martin Luther teaches us what that daily bread is. “Daily bread includes everything that we need for our bodily welfare, such as food and drink, clothing and shoes, house and home, land and cattle, money and goods, a godly spouse, godly workers, godly and faithful leaders, good government, good weather, peace and order, health, a good name, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.” These blessings of daily bread do not wear out. These blessings are new every morning.
Recently, I visited with a strong Christian man who is in hospice care. The end of life causes a Christian to look forward to the blessings of heaven and look backward at the blessings of earth. In his reflection, he said he treasured his wife, son, and grandsons. He was blessed with a good job for four decades and fairly good health until the end. He treasured his baptism, coming to church and receiving the Lord’s Supper often. He didn’t regret anything, because the Lord had blessed him with more than he could have ever asked for.
This aged saint is a good example for all of us other saints.
Moses reminded the Israelites: “For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of gullies filled with water, a land with springs and groundwater that flows out into the valleys and down the mountains, a land with wheat and barley and vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees for oil, and honey, a land where you can eat bread and not be poor, where you will not lack anything, a land whose rocks are iron and from whose mountains you can mine copper.” After wandering in the desert, the children of Israel would have fertile land, flowing rivers, mountains and fields. The ground would be filled with vital metals like iron and copper.
If you’ve ever been able to travel around the United States, you know how spacious and magnificent different parts of the country are. We are blessed in America with all the physical blessings we need right here in our own country.
Though we don’t keep God’s commands, our heavenly Father doesn’t justly punish us right away. Instead, he lovingly disciplines us. He humbles us so that we look to him in repentance. We plead for his mercy. In that mercy, God places our sins upon his only begotten Son. As God delivered his people from their slavery in Egypt, so God’s Son has delivered us from the slavery to sin. Egypt’s Pharaoh was drowned in the Red Sea. God drowns the old evil foe in the waters of our baptism. God fed his hungry people with manna from heaven. God invites you to sit at his Eucharist – his Thanksgiving sacramental feast – seated with the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven.
Because of what Jesus accomplished on the cross and out of the grave, as Christians we are blessed with all kinds of spiritual blessings in the coming country. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a perfect land with green pastures and quiet waters, that surround the new city of Jerusalem. You will be wearing white robes and golden crowns that never wear out. You will sit at the eternal marriage feast of the Lamb. You will never experience pain again or even shed a single tear. Like Moses, you will be gathered to your people.
Unlike that teenager who didn’t want to walk six blocks, I understand that you don’t need two feet for driving – unless your vehicle is stick shift. Let’s thank God tonight, tomorrow and always for all the blessings he gives us. Thank the Lord for legs, arms and for life in general. Thank the Lord for Baptism, God’s Word and the Lord’s Supper. Thank the Lord for your faith, church and school. Thank the Lord for Jesus Christ, who lovingly humbles you now, so you can share in his glory in the Promised Land of heaven.
Praise the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you. Amen.
As your prosp’ring hand has blest, May we give you of our best And by deeds of kindly love For your mercies grateful prove, Singing thus through all our days: “Praise to God, immortal praise.” (CW: 612 v4)