"You shall remember all the way which the Lord your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord."
Dueteronomy 8:2-3
Any good parent knows it does not benefit our children if we do not allow them to suffer consequences for wrong doing whether intentional or unintentional from ignorance. Whether we are training a dog, horse, or a child, we know proper discipline is a great part of maturing correctly. Sadly adversity is a great teacher and we need it in our lives to learn compassion and to get outside ourselves in order to think of others.
I learned this from my own parents who allowed me to suffer consequences of immature decisions. For example, they seldom had to tell us it was bedtime. We could stay up later when we got older, but we knew we would be up before 6:00 to milk cows before school no matter what time we chose to go to bed. It didn’t take many times staying up late to teach me early to bed and early to rise makes a child healthier, wiser, and more productive in life.
But more importantly as an adult I learned from the Word of God.
Hebrews 5:8-9 informs us:
"Although He was a Son, He learned obedience from the things which He suffered. And having been made perfect, He became to all those who obey Him the source of eternal salvation."
In order to follow Christ we will all have our desert experiences as the Israelites did in Deuteronomy. Moses also spent forty years enduring the school of the desert before he fulfilled his destiny as a leader of the Israelites.
We know from reading Matthew 4:1-11 that Jesus was led by the Holy Spirit to be tested by the devil. After He had fasted forty days and nights satan shows up to tempt Him with all this world has to offer, which he is prince of. Notice satan quoted half truths of scripture to Jesus. Jesus overcame by declaring the whole counsel of God. Please go back and read of the account.
Discipline and testing are very much a part of being a disciple of Christ This is not a popular truth today, but it is a necessary one in all our lives to fulfill the person God intends us to be. We must follow His Son’s example, and His example as a Father to the Son.
Scriptures I read often to my own children came from Proverbs 3:11-12
My son, do not despise the Lord’s discipline, and do not resent His rebuke, for whom the Lord loves He reproves, even as a father corrects the son in whom he delights."
Perhaps the writer of Hebrews says it best. Hebrews 12:3-11 declares:
For consider Him who has endured such hostility by sinners against Himself, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart. You have not yet resisted to the point of shedding blood in your striving against sin; and you have forgotten the exhortation which is addressed to you as sons,
"My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor faint when you are reproved by Him; for those who the Lord loves He disciplines, and He scourges every son whom He receives."
It is for discipline that you endure; God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom his father does not discipline? But if you are without discipline, of which all have become partakers, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. Furthermore, we had earthly fathers to discipline us, and we respected them; shall we not much rather be subject to the Father of spirits, and live? For they disciplined us for a short time as seemed best to them, but He disciplines us for our good, so that we may share His holiness. All discipline for the moment seems not to be joyful, but sorrowful; yet to those who have been trained by it, afterwards it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness.
Please do not quickly read these verses regarding them lightly. This is why God told His children in Deuteronomy man cannot live from bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God. He humbled them and tested them to see what was in their hearts. We know when gold is tested and refined by fire, it surfaces impurities. It is the same for us. We must learn to embrace the discipline of God if we ever want to share in His holiness, and experience the peaceful fruit of righteousness This is God’s desire for all His children, but so few desire, or respond to the fires of life that humbles them, and reveals our great need for the Words of God in order to live the life He intended for us while on this earth. You cannot be a follower of Christ unless you are devouring His Words daily. There is no wisdom or knowledge this world has to offer that can change your life to resemble the One who created you. Dear friends, please join me today in humbling ourselves, bowing our knees to the One true God, and come in agreement that man cannot live from bread alone, but by EVERY word that proceeds from the mouth of God. Then we shall live holy lives as He is holy in the grace, mercy, and goodness of our God.
In His love.
Teresa Roberts
Masterpiece Fitness
276-237-6680
Some of my happiest moments in life is to be able to recapture treasured memories of my children’s childhood! This kayaking trip with my oldest son, John David, and my youngest Stephen, was one of those times! So grateful to God for giving us this day!
