Gods Gracious Leading, No. 2
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty
years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in
thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled
thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth
not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the LORD doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
We have spoken about how the Lord says, “Thou shalt remember all the way which
the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.” We have
addressed the issue of how we must call to remembrance, and we must, as a cow
chews its cud, go over these things that the Lord has led us through. Many times
the Lord brings a rich blessing in us remembering what He has done.
Those who fear the LORD gather around to tell what the Lord has done for their
souls, and as we read in Malachi 3:16b: “And the LORD hearkened, and heard it,
and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD,
and that thought upon his name.”
The Lord is greatly pleased when His people come together and speak of those
things He has done. Many times these people came together to talk about what the
Lord had done for them, and where the Lord had led them in the humiliating way
that had brought them to this hour.
As they gathered around and “spake often one to another ... and … thought upon
his name,” they not only brought to remembrance those circumstances whereby the
Lord humbled them, they could also recall those times when the Spirit fulfilled
what Jesus said in John 16:14: “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of
mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
As the people of God come together and commune around the things of the Lord,
the Holy Spirit comes in their midst. The Lord is listening and takes notice of
what they are speaking about, and He writes it in His book of remembrance. The
Spirit glorifies Christ by revealing those things of His and will show them to
His people.
I want you to see this in Luke 6:21: “Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye
shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.” See the
harmony of this and what we read in Deuteronomy 8:3: “And he humbled thee, and
suffered thee to hunger.” One of the blessings the Lord grants us is when He
gives us that hungering in our soul after righteousness.
As we see these circumstances the Lord leads us through, our hearts sometimes
bleed and are cast down. We then read in Luke 6:22: “Blessed are ye, when men
shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall
reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.” This
is not according to the flesh. When the Lord works that humbling grace in our
hearts, we see it is a blessing that we are sorted out and that the world hates
us and that we cannot keep company with them. We see that it was a blessing that
the Lord led us in this way of humiliation because we see that this is
fellowshipping in the sufferings of Christ. Our hearts and minds can come into
harmony with the mind of Christ in these sufferings. It must be for the Son of
Man’s sake. It cannot be for our pride.
If the Lord has sent someone who has cast us out of his company, the one who is
blessed is the one who has been separated from their company for the Son of
Man’s sake. In other words, because they see Christ formed in you. That way of
humiliation, that way of the cross, has brought us to where Christ is formed in
us. The world can see this, and for this reason they put us out of their
company. Then the Lord says we are blessed.
There is such a blessed harmony between those circumstances the Lord brings us
into, and those the Holy Spirit brings to our attention of Christ’s example in
the way of the cross.
We read in 1 Peter 2:19: “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” If we are suffering for our
pride, if we are suffering for our stubbornness or if we are suffering for our
bitterness, that is not thankworthy. If we are suffering after having done them
good, and they reward us with hatred and bitterness, then we are suffering
wrongfully.
Continuing in verse 20 we read: “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted
for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” There is no glory in
taking patiently buffeting for your pride, arrogance or bitterness, or for
things you have done wrong.
The Lord is looking at our hearts. Do we have that Spirit of Christ? Do we walk
in the way of humiliation? Has He humbled us? If our hearts have truly been
humbled, then we can suffer wrongfully and take it patiently. We can be cheerful
under those circumstances.
Now watch what it says in verse 21: “For even hereunto were ye called: because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
steps.”
They put us out of their company because they cannot tolerate the Spirit of
Christ in us. We see that blessed harmony between what we suffer and what Christ
suffered in the way of humiliation. Christ humbled Himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross.
As our will is dissolved into the will of God, as the Spirit of Christ is formed
in us, we can patiently endure suffering wrongfully. We can humble ourselves
unto death, death to ourselves, death to everything of the flesh, death to sin,
death to the world. We are to follow in the footsteps of Christ.
The Creator of the universe is delighted when His dear family enters the kingdom
of God, and comes together to fellowship in the sufferings of Christ as we can
see from Malachi 3:16: “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to
another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his
name.”
They were speaking about the fellowship they had in the Lord Jesus Christ, how
they could fellowship in His suffering, how they could fellowship in His walk,
how they could follow His steps.
The Lord is so pleased because He sees that Spirit of Christ formed in the
heart. He sees that the humiliating process has worked its finished work. He
sees the purpose of all this humiliation that He has led us through.
Then it goes on in verse 17: “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts,
in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him.” These are the ones the Lord will identify with.
These are the ones the Lord will lay claim to. These are the ones who will shine
as jewels in His crown because they have followed in His footsteps. The key is
in those who serve Him.
Let me now show you Malachi 3:18: “Then shall ye return, and discern between the
righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him
not.”
See the harmony between this and the words of our text and that we have come to
live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. This is the purpose
of all this humiliating process. That is the purpose of all this refining in the
furnace of affliction. The Lord has brought us through this to “know what was in
thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no” (Deuternonomy
8:2).
All these trials of faith and humbling circumstances are to teach God’s dear
family what we read in verse 3: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to
hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers
know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” That was
His purpose for all this humiliation.
This life’s journey through the wilderness of sin is a proving ground, to know
what is in our hearts, to help determine whether we are building our foundation
upon the Rock, or whether we are building on the sand.
Jesus illustrated this in Matthew 7:24: “Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock.”
See the blessed harmony between this and the words of our text: “that he might
make thee know,” to prove whether you will live by every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of the Lord.
Notice verses 25 and 26: “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a
rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,
shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.”
God will “prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest
keep his commandments, or no.” Does this mean a legalistic keeping of the
commandments by the letter of the law? No. The Lord looks at the heart. Is it
totally dissolved into the will of God? Is it our heart’s desire to walk
according to the spirit of the law?
The spirit of the law is the law of love. Which commandments was He speaking
about when He said: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets” (Matthew 22:40)? What are they? To love God with all our heart, our
soul and our mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He is going to put us
to the test to prove whether or not we love Him.
Notice again in Luke 6:22-23: “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when
they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out
your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap
for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did
their fathers unto the prophets.”
The Lord is asking: Have you learned to keep that commandment of love? Can you
rejoice or do you become bitter and hateful when they put you out of their
company, when they push you out and say, We cannot keep company with you because
you have a heart that is tender for the will of God. This becomes such a reproof
to those who walk in known sin.
God will prove what is in our hearts by the circumstances He leads us through.
We read in Malachi 3:3: “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver:
and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that
they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”
The Lord Jesus Christ will purify our hearts and purge us in the furnace of
affliction. He will purify our corrupt hearts that our offerings will be with
our hearts, souls and minds in His service. We must have undivided hearts. Our
will must be totally dissolved in the will of God. The Lord tries the heart and
searches the reins through the circumstances He leads us into.
We read in Luke 6:27-28: “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do
good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you.”
That word bless means speak well of those who speak ill of you. Speak well of
those who curse you. To have charity means to see every man in his best light.
We will speak well of them. We will cover their sins. That is the commandment of
love. He will lead us through these humbling circumstances that we might learn
to do His will, that we will live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of the Lord.
This brings us to the light to see the secret counsels of our own hearts. We
read in John 3:20-21: “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought
in God.”
The Lord brings us to the light. In this wilderness journey, in this process the
Lord is leading us through, He wants to bring us to the light. Is the light our
condemnation, or do we come to the light that we might be made manifest, so that
every evil thought and every idle word might be brought to our attention, and
that we might be purged from it?
The light reveals the hypocrisy of the heart as well as the fear of God. When
the Lord shines His Word into our hearts, and the Lord speaks His Word with
power into our souls, it reveals our hypocrisy, wretchedness, bitterness and
hatred, as well as it reveals the fear of God. It reveals that humble desire and
that holy reverence we have to do the will of God. That does not mean we will
serve the Lord with perfection, but the Lord looks at the heart.
A person will never be bothered with pride until God humbles him. When we become
humble is when we first begin to see the Pharisee in our hearts. It is so easy
to see the pride in another person, and we can be so judgmental about other
people. When the Lord opens our eyes to see the Pharisee in our own heart, we
realize how proud we are, and we must be ready to come to the light that our
deeds might be made manifest, to see that they are wrought in God.
Has not the Lord touched your conscience with His finger to give you to know
what is in your heart? Have you noticed bitterness that rises up when someone
comes against your flesh? Have you noticed an unforgiving spirit? The Lord leads
us through circumstances to prove us. Have you found in your own heart that many
times you become critical of someone else? All these things are brought to the
light. Does it make us flee from the light because our deeds are being made
manifest, or does it bring us with a repenting spirit before the Lord, asking
Him to forgive us and to deliver us from the power of that sin? We need to pray:
Help us to be able to suffer wrongfully and take it patiently, that that
bitterness, and that judgmental spirit and that unforgiveness might be removed.
Have you been able to put your Isaac on the altar of sacrifice? Is your all on
the altar? This is the Lord’s proving ground. We are brought to a place where we
have to put everything on the altar to sacrifice for the Lord. Do we do it
grudgingly? Can we do these things? He is working in us to humble us and to
prove us.
See what God proved by calling Abraham to put his Isaac on the altar in Genesis
22:12: “And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing
unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son from me.” The Lord had told Abraham that He was going to
prove him. He said, Put your Isaac on the altar.
The Lord came to humble us and to prove us. How does He know that you and I are
humble? He does this by putting us to the test. Do we truly fear the Lord? The
fear of the Lord is to hate evil, to hate pride, arrogance and all evil ways.
The fear of the Lord is a holy reverence for His will. It is to live by every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
The Lord was testing Abraham. Do you truly fear the Lord? Do you truly reverence
every word I say to you? Put your Isaac on the altar.
The Lord proves us. He brings us through these proving grounds to test us. In
your travels through the circumstances God has for you to encounter in your
wilderness journey, there will be things from time to time “to prove thee, to
know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or
no.” Are we willing to obey the Lord? Are we willing to walk according to His
will? Can we crucify everything of our flesh? That is what the Lord has come to
prove. If He loves us, that proving ground will yet bring us to where we will
put our Isaac on the altar. We are not going to stop short of it if the Lord has
to bring us to the brink of eternity to do it. He will bring us to the point
where He will cut off all flesh.
There will be times you will say with Asaph in Psalm 73:1: “Truly God is good to
Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” Those with clean hearts are those
who have been purged and cleansed through the trials the Lord has led them
through.
Continuing in verse 2 he said, “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my
steps had well nigh slipped.” He saw the wretchedness of his own heart. He saw
the covetousness of his own heart. He saw how his heart was unclean before the
Lord. The Lord proved Asaph by bringing him into circumstances where he envied
the proud and saw that they had it so much better than him.
He said in verse 3: “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity
of the wicked.” The Lord had not prospered him like He did the wicked, and he
became foolish. The Lord led him into these circumstances to prove him, to try
his heart and to see what was in his heart.
Do these proving grounds humble us as they did Asaph? The Lord revealed to him
what was in his heart. See what he said in Psalm 73:21-22: “Thus my heart was
grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as
a beast before thee.” When the Lord proved Asaph, it humbled him.
As we gather around to call to remembrance “all the way which the LORD thy God
led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee,
to know what was in thine heart,” then what a blessing it is that we can tell
not only of our own failings, but of God’s faithfulness.
Asaph in Psalm 73 tells of his failings, but also of God’s faithfulness as we
see in verses 23 and 24: “Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast
holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward
receive
me to glory.”
See how such faithfulness of our God fills the hearts and mouths of His dear
family with His praises. We read in verses 25 and 26: “Whom have I in heaven but
thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my
heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
See the blessed fruit of this humbling, proving ground. After the Lord had
humbled him, see how the Lord filled his mouth with praise. Asaph saw that he in
himself was not sufficient for these things. He saw the blessedness of the
salvation of God.
It was only by bringing Asaph through such a proving ground that he was humbled.
The Lord humbles us by bringing us through these circumstances to take our eyes
off from ourselves, to get our eyes off of the things of this world. He brings
us into these places of humiliation. Asaph’s humility brought forth his songs of
praise.
We have to see the blessed harmony in the leadings of the Lord. After Asaph had
been humbled and he had seen that he was as a beast before God, the Lord showed
him His mercy and his portion in Christ. Then his heart was filled with praise.
He said: “My flesh and my heart faileth,” or for me everything of the flesh is
as nothing, “but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
All the circumstances the Lord brought Israel through are not only written in
His book of remembrance, but they were written for our learning. We read in 1
Corinthians 10:11-13: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
The Lord will send no temptation, trial or proving ground upon us except that
which is common to man. God gave Asaph a way of escape by opening the door of
the sanctuary, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. This way of escape is how we can
bear the humiliation the Lord brings upon us. This is how we can rejoice when we
are put out of their company. We see the reward that lies inside of that door.
We read in Luke 6:23: “Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold,
your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto
the prophets.” We have that rejoicing because our eyes are on the reward.
What a mercy it is for you and me that not only the failings of Israel are
recorded, but also God’s longsuffering love toward them when they confessed
their sin. We see in Jeremiah 3:13-14: “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that
thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to
the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the
LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:
and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to
Zion.”
This is what the Lord wants. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive. The door is open into that sanctuary. The Lord is pleading with us to
confess our sins and to acknowledge our iniquities and to humble ourselves
before the Lord that we might learn to know that man does not live by bread
alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
Oh beloved, what a mercy it is for you and me to be able to look back and
remember the times when God had brought us into circumstances where all we could
do was cry to the Lord saying, Lord, help me! I am not a stranger to that, and
maybe you are not either.
Then oh what a comfort we find in that which was left on record for the comfort
of Israel in Isaiah 41:10-16: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not
dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea,
I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they
that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be
as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them,
and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war
against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I the LORD thy
God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear
not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD,
and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”
Look at the promises. Look at the rich consolation that is left on record of
what the Lord had said to comfort the people after He had humbled them. Now we
see here these four and five times in such a few verses where the Lord says, I
will help you. You know, then the Lord does help, and He delivers us out of all
our troubles.
He goes on in verses 15 and 16: “Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing
instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry
them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the
LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.”
The Lord says He will deliver us from all our enemies, and we are our own worst
enemies. The Lord will give us a mouth having teeth, which means we will be able
to sing forth the praises of God. We will be able to shatter all those enemies,
and they will all disappear because the Lord will give us the victory over them.
All our enemies will be put to flight.
See how beautifully God has left on record for our comfort those circumstances
He has said He would lead His dear family into to humble them, but also His
blessed purpose in those circumstances in the following verses.
We read in Isaiah 41:17: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none,
and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of
Israel will not forsake them.”
I want you to see the difference between this and what we read in Exodus 15:24:
“And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”
Now after the Lord had led them 40 years in the wilderness, they cry unto the
Lord. They are not murmuring. They have been humbled. They have learned to see
and to understand what is in their hearts. Now when the Lord brings us into a
place of need, instead of rebelling and becoming bitter and murmuring, we turn
to the Lord. They were now calling on the Lord, and He heard them.
Continuing in verses 18 and 19 we read: “I will open rivers in high places, and
fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of
water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the
cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the
desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together,”
The water is from the fountain we read of in John 4:10, where Jesus is speaking
to the woman of Samaria: “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the
gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
Continuing in verses 13 and 14 we read: “Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
That wilderness heart of ours turns into a flowing fountain, the symbol of the
Spirit of God. The Lord is telling us how that dry and thirsty soul will become
a spring of living water.
We read in Isaiah 41:20: “That they may see, and know, and consider, and
understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy
One of Israel hath created it.”
This brings you and me back to the words of our text in Deuteronomy 8:3: “And he
humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man
doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of the LORD doth man live.”
The Lord is telling you and me that we are going to come to where we feed upon
the Word of God, that it becomes our food by night and day, that we do not live
by the things of this life, but we live by every word that proceeds from the
mouth of the Lord.
As God leads His dear family through this wilderness journey He will teach them
to rightly understand the authority of His Word. See what the Apostle Paul said
in Romans 7:9-12: “For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the
commandment holy, and
just, and good.”
As we have learned to understand the authority of God’s Word, we will understand
why the carnal heart would reason as the Jews in Mark 1:22: “And they were
astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and
not as the scribes.”
When the Lord speaks, He speaks with authority, and this is the basis and
central theme of the leading of the Lord. We must come to understand the
authority of His Word. We must come to where we tremble at His Word, not with a
slavish fear, but with a holy, reverential awe. All authority is given to the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is no authority outside of the Word of God.
This is the distinction between those who live by human reasoning, and those who
live by “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD.”
If we are going to live by human reasoning then we can gainsay the Word of God,
but if we are going to understand what it is that we live “by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD,” then we stand in holy reverence at the
authority of His Word. We cannot alter one word of His.
Jesus says what it is to live by every word that proceeds out of His mouth in
Luke 6:46: “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
Why do you call me Lord and you do not see that I have the authority to be Lord?
Continuing in verses 47 and 48 He said: “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my
sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man
which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and
when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not
shake it:
for it was founded upon a rock.”
This man dug deep into the Word of God to know what is every word that the Lord
is saying. You do not waver when you are built solid on the Word. You cannot be
shaken.
Continuing in verse 49 He said, “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a
man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the
stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house
was great.”
When we start building on human reasoning, when we do not build on every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, we are building on sand. When we do
not understand the authority of God’s Word, we do not understand the Gospel.
Then we have a humanistic Gospel.
The Lord leads us in circumstances to humble us and to prove us and to know what
is in our hearts, whether we will keep His commandments or no. He brings us into
this proving ground where we are going to have to sacrifice everything of
ourselves and everything of the flesh to obey.
We are going to be put out, and our names are going to be reproached and cast
out as evil, but in that day we will rejoice.
It says in Luke 6:24-28: “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received
your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you
that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall
speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. But I say
unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless
them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”
Are we living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord? This is
what we must dig deep into the Word of God to find out, so we understand for
ourselves what the Lord is telling us so we can walk and live by His every word.
And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty
years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in
thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled
thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest
not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth
not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of
the LORD doth man live (Deuteronomy 8:2-3).
We have spoken about how the Lord says, “Thou shalt remember all the way which
the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness.” We have
addressed the issue of how we must call to remembrance, and we must, as a cow
chews its cud, go over these things that the Lord has led us through. Many times
the Lord brings a rich blessing in us remembering what He has done.
Those who fear the LORD gather around to tell what the Lord has done for their
souls, and as we read in Malachi 3:16b: “And the LORD hearkened, and heard it,
and a book of remembrance was written before him for them that feared the LORD,
and that thought upon his name.”
The Lord is greatly pleased when His people come together and speak of those
things He has done. Many times these people came together to talk about what the
Lord had done for them, and where the Lord had led them in the humiliating way
that had brought them to this hour.
As they gathered around and “spake often one to another ... and … thought upon
his name,” they not only brought to remembrance those circumstances whereby the
Lord humbled them, they could also recall those times when the Spirit fulfilled
what Jesus said in John 16:14: “He shall glorify me: for he shall receive of
mine, and shall shew it unto you.”
As the people of God come together and commune around the things of the Lord,
the Holy Spirit comes in their midst. The Lord is listening and takes notice of
what they are speaking about, and He writes it in His book of remembrance. The
Spirit glorifies Christ by revealing those things of His and will show them to
His people.
I want you to see this in Luke 6:21: “Blessed are ye that hunger now: for ye
shall be filled. Blessed are ye that weep now: for ye shall laugh.” See the
harmony of this and what we read in Deuteronomy 8:3: “And he humbled thee, and
suffered thee to hunger.” One of the blessings the Lord grants us is when He
gives us that hungering in our soul after righteousness.
As we see these circumstances the Lord leads us through, our hearts sometimes
bleed and are cast down. We then read in Luke 6:22: “Blessed are ye, when men
shall hate you, and when they shall separate you from their company, and shall
reproach you, and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake.” This
is not according to the flesh. When the Lord works that humbling grace in our
hearts, we see it is a blessing that we are sorted out and that the world hates
us and that we cannot keep company with them. We see that it was a blessing that
the Lord led us in this way of humiliation because we see that this is
fellowshipping in the sufferings of Christ. Our hearts and minds can come into
harmony with the mind of Christ in these sufferings. It must be for the Son of
Man’s sake. It cannot be for our pride.
If the Lord has sent someone who has cast us out of his company, the one who is
blessed is the one who has been separated from their company for the Son of
Man’s sake. In other words, because they see Christ formed in you. That way of
humiliation, that way of the cross, has brought us to where Christ is formed in
us. The world can see this, and for this reason they put us out of their
company. Then the Lord says we are blessed.
There is such a blessed harmony between those circumstances the Lord brings us
into, and those the Holy Spirit brings to our attention of Christ’s example in
the way of the cross.
We read in 1 Peter 2:19: “For this is thankworthy, if a man for conscience
toward God endure grief, suffering wrongfully.” If we are suffering for our
pride, if we are suffering for our stubbornness or if we are suffering for our
bitterness, that is not thankworthy. If we are suffering after having done them
good, and they reward us with hatred and bitterness, then we are suffering
wrongfully.
Continuing in verse 20 we read: “For what glory is it, if, when ye be buffeted
for your faults, ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer
for it, ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God.” There is no glory in
taking patiently buffeting for your pride, arrogance or bitterness, or for
things you have done wrong.
The Lord is looking at our hearts. Do we have that Spirit of Christ? Do we walk
in the way of humiliation? Has He humbled us? If our hearts have truly been
humbled, then we can suffer wrongfully and take it patiently. We can be cheerful
under those circumstances.
Now watch what it says in verse 21: “For even hereunto were ye called: because
Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his
steps.”
They put us out of their company because they cannot tolerate the Spirit of
Christ in us. We see that blessed harmony between what we suffer and what Christ
suffered in the way of humiliation. Christ humbled Himself and became obedient
unto death, even the death of the cross.
As our will is dissolved into the will of God, as the Spirit of Christ is formed
in us, we can patiently endure suffering wrongfully. We can humble ourselves
unto death, death to ourselves, death to everything of the flesh, death to sin,
death to the world. We are to follow in the footsteps of Christ.
The Creator of the universe is delighted when His dear family enters the kingdom
of God, and comes together to fellowship in the sufferings of Christ as we can
see from Malachi 3:16: “Then they that feared the LORD spake often one to
another: and the LORD hearkened, and heard it, and a book of remembrance was
written before him for them that feared the LORD, and that thought upon his
name.”
They were speaking about the fellowship they had in the Lord Jesus Christ, how
they could fellowship in His suffering, how they could fellowship in His walk,
how they could follow His steps.
The Lord is so pleased because He sees that Spirit of Christ formed in the
heart. He sees that the humiliating process has worked its finished work. He
sees the purpose of all this humiliation that He has led us through.
Then it goes on in verse 17: “And they shall be mine, saith the LORD of hosts,
in that day when I make up my jewels; and I will spare them, as a man spareth
his own son that serveth him.” These are the ones the Lord will identify with.
These are the ones the Lord will lay claim to. These are the ones who will shine
as jewels in His crown because they have followed in His footsteps. The key is
in those who serve Him.
Let me now show you Malachi 3:18: “Then shall ye return, and discern between the
righteous and the wicked, between him that serveth God and him that serveth him
not.”
See the harmony between this and the words of our text and that we have come to
live by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord. This is the purpose
of all this humiliating process. That is the purpose of all this refining in the
furnace of affliction. The Lord has brought us through this to “know what was in
thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no” (Deuternonomy
8:2).
All these trials of faith and humbling circumstances are to teach God’s dear
family what we read in verse 3: “And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to
hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers
know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by
every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” That was
His purpose for all this humiliation.
This life’s journey through the wilderness of sin is a proving ground, to know
what is in our hearts, to help determine whether we are building our foundation
upon the Rock, or whether we are building on the sand.
Jesus illustrated this in Matthew 7:24: “Therefore whosoever heareth these
sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built
his house upon a rock.”
See the blessed harmony between this and the words of our text: “that he might
make thee know,” to prove whether you will live by every word that proceeds out
of the mouth of the Lord.
Notice verses 25 and 26: “And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the
winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a
rock. And every one that heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them not,
shall be likened unto a foolish man, which built his house upon the sand.”
God will “prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest
keep his commandments, or no.” Does this mean a legalistic keeping of the
commandments by the letter of the law? No. The Lord looks at the heart. Is it
totally dissolved into the will of God? Is it our heart’s desire to walk
according to the spirit of the law?
The spirit of the law is the law of love. Which commandments was He speaking
about when He said: “On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets” (Matthew 22:40)? What are they? To love God with all our heart, our
soul and our mind, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. He is going to put us
to the test to prove whether or not we love Him.
Notice again in Luke 6:22-23: “Blessed are ye, when men shall hate you, and when
they shall separate you from their company, and shall reproach you, and cast out
your name as evil, for the Son of man’s sake. Rejoice ye in that day, and leap
for joy: for, behold, your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did
their fathers unto the prophets.”
The Lord is asking: Have you learned to keep that commandment of love? Can you
rejoice or do you become bitter and hateful when they put you out of their
company, when they push you out and say, We cannot keep company with you because
you have a heart that is tender for the will of God. This becomes such a reproof
to those who walk in known sin.
God will prove what is in our hearts by the circumstances He leads us through.
We read in Malachi 3:3: “And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver:
and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that
they may offer unto the LORD an offering in righteousness.”
The Lord Jesus Christ will purify our hearts and purge us in the furnace of
affliction. He will purify our corrupt hearts that our offerings will be with
our hearts, souls and minds in His service. We must have undivided hearts. Our
will must be totally dissolved in the will of God. The Lord tries the heart and
searches the reins through the circumstances He leads us into.
We read in Luke 6:27-28: “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do
good to them which hate you, Bless them that curse you, and pray for them which
despitefully use you.”
That word bless means speak well of those who speak ill of you. Speak well of
those who curse you. To have charity means to see every man in his best light.
We will speak well of them. We will cover their sins. That is the commandment of
love. He will lead us through these humbling circumstances that we might learn
to do His will, that we will live by every word that proceeds out of the mouth
of the Lord.
This brings us to the light to see the secret counsels of our own hearts. We
read in John 3:20-21: “For every one that doeth evil hateth the light, neither
cometh to the light, lest his deeds should be reproved. But he that doeth truth
cometh to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest, that they are wrought
in God.”
The Lord brings us to the light. In this wilderness journey, in this process the
Lord is leading us through, He wants to bring us to the light. Is the light our
condemnation, or do we come to the light that we might be made manifest, so that
every evil thought and every idle word might be brought to our attention, and
that we might be purged from it?
The light reveals the hypocrisy of the heart as well as the fear of God. When
the Lord shines His Word into our hearts, and the Lord speaks His Word with
power into our souls, it reveals our hypocrisy, wretchedness, bitterness and
hatred, as well as it reveals the fear of God. It reveals that humble desire and
that holy reverence we have to do the will of God. That does not mean we will
serve the Lord with perfection, but the Lord looks at the heart.
A person will never be bothered with pride until God humbles him. When we become
humble is when we first begin to see the Pharisee in our hearts. It is so easy
to see the pride in another person, and we can be so judgmental about other
people. When the Lord opens our eyes to see the Pharisee in our own heart, we
realize how proud we are, and we must be ready to come to the light that our
deeds might be made manifest, to see that they are wrought in God.
Has not the Lord touched your conscience with His finger to give you to know
what is in your heart? Have you noticed bitterness that rises up when someone
comes against your flesh? Have you noticed an unforgiving spirit? The Lord leads
us through circumstances to prove us. Have you found in your own heart that many
times you become critical of someone else? All these things are brought to the
light. Does it make us flee from the light because our deeds are being made
manifest, or does it bring us with a repenting spirit before the Lord, asking
Him to forgive us and to deliver us from the power of that sin? We need to pray:
Help us to be able to suffer wrongfully and take it patiently, that that
bitterness, and that judgmental spirit and that unforgiveness might be removed.
Have you been able to put your Isaac on the altar of sacrifice? Is your all on
the altar? This is the Lord’s proving ground. We are brought to a place where we
have to put everything on the altar to sacrifice for the Lord. Do we do it
grudgingly? Can we do these things? He is working in us to humble us and to
prove us.
See what God proved by calling Abraham to put his Isaac on the altar in Genesis
22:12: “And he said, Lay not thine hand upon the lad, neither do thou any thing
unto him: for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing thou hast not withheld
thy son, thine only son from me.” The Lord had told Abraham that He was going to
prove him. He said, Put your Isaac on the altar.
The Lord came to humble us and to prove us. How does He know that you and I are
humble? He does this by putting us to the test. Do we truly fear the Lord? The
fear of the Lord is to hate evil, to hate pride, arrogance and all evil ways.
The fear of the Lord is a holy reverence for His will. It is to live by every
word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
The Lord was testing Abraham. Do you truly fear the Lord? Do you truly reverence
every word I say to you? Put your Isaac on the altar.
The Lord proves us. He brings us through these proving grounds to test us. In
your travels through the circumstances God has for you to encounter in your
wilderness journey, there will be things from time to time “to prove thee, to
know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or
no.” Are we willing to obey the Lord? Are we willing to walk according to His
will? Can we crucify everything of our flesh? That is what the Lord has come to
prove. If He loves us, that proving ground will yet bring us to where we will
put our Isaac on the altar. We are not going to stop short of it if the Lord has
to bring us to the brink of eternity to do it. He will bring us to the point
where He will cut off all flesh.
There will be times you will say with Asaph in Psalm 73:1: “Truly God is good to
Israel, even to such as are of a clean heart.” Those with clean hearts are those
who have been purged and cleansed through the trials the Lord has led them
through.
Continuing in verse 2 he said, “But as for me, my feet were almost gone; my
steps had well nigh slipped.” He saw the wretchedness of his own heart. He saw
the covetousness of his own heart. He saw how his heart was unclean before the
Lord. The Lord proved Asaph by bringing him into circumstances where he envied
the proud and saw that they had it so much better than him.
He said in verse 3: “For I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity
of the wicked.” The Lord had not prospered him like He did the wicked, and he
became foolish. The Lord led him into these circumstances to prove him, to try
his heart and to see what was in his heart.
Do these proving grounds humble us as they did Asaph? The Lord revealed to him
what was in his heart. See what he said in Psalm 73:21-22: “Thus my heart was
grieved, and I was pricked in my reins. So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as
a beast before thee.” When the Lord proved Asaph, it humbled him.
As we gather around to call to remembrance “all the way which the LORD thy God
led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee,
to know what was in thine heart,” then what a blessing it is that we can tell
not only of our own failings, but of God’s faithfulness.
Asaph in Psalm 73 tells of his failings, but also of God’s faithfulness as we
see in verses 23 and 24: “Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast
holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward
receive
me to glory.”
See how such faithfulness of our God fills the hearts and mouths of His dear
family with His praises. We read in verses 25 and 26: “Whom have I in heaven but
thee? and there is none upon earth that I desire beside thee. My flesh and my
heart faileth: but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
See the blessed fruit of this humbling, proving ground. After the Lord had
humbled him, see how the Lord filled his mouth with praise. Asaph saw that he in
himself was not sufficient for these things. He saw the blessedness of the
salvation of God.
It was only by bringing Asaph through such a proving ground that he was humbled.
The Lord humbles us by bringing us through these circumstances to take our eyes
off from ourselves, to get our eyes off of the things of this world. He brings
us into these places of humiliation. Asaph’s humility brought forth his songs of
praise.
We have to see the blessed harmony in the leadings of the Lord. After Asaph had
been humbled and he had seen that he was as a beast before God, the Lord showed
him His mercy and his portion in Christ. Then his heart was filled with praise.
He said: “My flesh and my heart faileth,” or for me everything of the flesh is
as nothing, “but God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever.”
All the circumstances the Lord brought Israel through are not only written in
His book of remembrance, but they were written for our learning. We read in 1
Corinthians 10:11-13: “Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples:
and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are
come. Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall. There
hath no temptation taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the
temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it.”
The Lord will send no temptation, trial or proving ground upon us except that
which is common to man. God gave Asaph a way of escape by opening the door of
the sanctuary, which is the Lord Jesus Christ. This way of escape is how we can
bear the humiliation the Lord brings upon us. This is how we can rejoice when we
are put out of their company. We see the reward that lies inside of that door.
We read in Luke 6:23: “Rejoice ye in that day, and leap for joy: for, behold,
your reward is great in heaven: for in the like manner did their fathers unto
the prophets.” We have that rejoicing because our eyes are on the reward.
What a mercy it is for you and me that not only the failings of Israel are
recorded, but also God’s longsuffering love toward them when they confessed
their sin. We see in Jeremiah 3:13-14: “Only acknowledge thine iniquity, that
thou hast transgressed against the LORD thy God, and hast scattered thy ways to
the strangers under every green tree, and ye have not obeyed my voice, saith the
LORD. Turn, O backsliding children, saith the LORD; for I am married unto you:
and I will take you one of a city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to
Zion.”
This is what the Lord wants. If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to
forgive. The door is open into that sanctuary. The Lord is pleading with us to
confess our sins and to acknowledge our iniquities and to humble ourselves
before the Lord that we might learn to know that man does not live by bread
alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.
Oh beloved, what a mercy it is for you and me to be able to look back and
remember the times when God had brought us into circumstances where all we could
do was cry to the Lord saying, Lord, help me! I am not a stranger to that, and
maybe you are not either.
Then oh what a comfort we find in that which was left on record for the comfort
of Israel in Isaiah 41:10-16: “Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not
dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea,
I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Behold, all they
that were incensed against thee shall be ashamed and confounded: they shall be
as nothing; and they that strive with thee shall perish. Thou shalt seek them,
and shalt not find them, even them that contended with thee: they that war
against thee shall be as nothing, and as a thing of naught. For I the LORD thy
God will hold thy right hand, saying unto thee, Fear not; I will help thee. Fear
not, thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the LORD,
and thy redeemer, the Holy One of Israel.”
Look at the promises. Look at the rich consolation that is left on record of
what the Lord had said to comfort the people after He had humbled them. Now we
see here these four and five times in such a few verses where the Lord says, I
will help you. You know, then the Lord does help, and He delivers us out of all
our troubles.
He goes on in verses 15 and 16: “Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing
instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small,
and shalt make the hills as chaff. Thou shalt fan them, and the wind shall carry
them away, and the whirlwind shall scatter them: and thou shalt rejoice in the
LORD, and shalt glory in the Holy One of Israel.”
The Lord says He will deliver us from all our enemies, and we are our own worst
enemies. The Lord will give us a mouth having teeth, which means we will be able
to sing forth the praises of God. We will be able to shatter all those enemies,
and they will all disappear because the Lord will give us the victory over them.
All our enemies will be put to flight.
See how beautifully God has left on record for our comfort those circumstances
He has said He would lead His dear family into to humble them, but also His
blessed purpose in those circumstances in the following verses.
We read in Isaiah 41:17: “When the poor and needy seek water, and there is none,
and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the LORD will hear them, I the God of
Israel will not forsake them.”
I want you to see the difference between this and what we read in Exodus 15:24:
“And the people murmured against Moses, saying, What shall we drink?”
Now after the Lord had led them 40 years in the wilderness, they cry unto the
Lord. They are not murmuring. They have been humbled. They have learned to see
and to understand what is in their hearts. Now when the Lord brings us into a
place of need, instead of rebelling and becoming bitter and murmuring, we turn
to the Lord. They were now calling on the Lord, and He heard them.
Continuing in verses 18 and 19 we read: “I will open rivers in high places, and
fountains in the midst of the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of
water, and the dry land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the
cedar, the shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the
desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together,”
The water is from the fountain we read of in John 4:10, where Jesus is speaking
to the woman of Samaria: “Jesus answered and said unto her, If thou knewest the
gift of God, and who it is that saith to thee, Give me to drink; thou wouldest
have asked of him, and he would have given thee living water.”
Continuing in verses 13 and 14 we read: “Jesus answered and said unto her,
Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of
the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.”
That wilderness heart of ours turns into a flowing fountain, the symbol of the
Spirit of God. The Lord is telling us how that dry and thirsty soul will become
a spring of living water.
We read in Isaiah 41:20: “That they may see, and know, and consider, and
understand together, that the hand of the LORD hath done this, and the Holy
One of Israel hath created it.”
This brings you and me back to the words of our text in Deuteronomy 8:3: “And he
humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou
knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man
doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth
of the LORD doth man live.”
The Lord is telling you and me that we are going to come to where we feed upon
the Word of God, that it becomes our food by night and day, that we do not live
by the things of this life, but we live by every word that proceeds from the
mouth of the Lord.
As God leads His dear family through this wilderness journey He will teach them
to rightly understand the authority of His Word. See what the Apostle Paul said
in Romans 7:9-12: “For I was alive without the law once: but when the
commandment came, sin revived, and I died. And the commandment, which was
ordained to life, I found to be unto death. For sin, taking occasion by the
commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me. Wherefore the law is holy, and the
commandment holy, and
just, and good.”
As we have learned to understand the authority of God’s Word, we will understand
why the carnal heart would reason as the Jews in Mark 1:22: “And they were
astonished at his doctrine: for he taught them as one that had authority, and
not as the scribes.”
When the Lord speaks, He speaks with authority, and this is the basis and
central theme of the leading of the Lord. We must come to understand the
authority of His Word. We must come to where we tremble at His Word, not with a
slavish fear, but with a holy, reverential awe. All authority is given to the
Lord Jesus Christ. There is no authority outside of the Word of God.
This is the distinction between those who live by human reasoning, and those who
live by “by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD.”
If we are going to live by human reasoning then we can gainsay the Word of God,
but if we are going to understand what it is that we live “by every word that
proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD,” then we stand in holy reverence at the
authority of His Word. We cannot alter one word of His.
Jesus says what it is to live by every word that proceeds out of His mouth in
Luke 6:46: “And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?”
Why do you call me Lord and you do not see that I have the authority to be Lord?
Continuing in verses 47 and 48 He said: “Whosoever cometh to me, and heareth my
sayings, and doeth them, I will shew you to whom he is like: He is like a man
which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock: and
when the flood arose, the stream beat vehemently upon that house, and could not
shake it:
for it was founded upon a rock.”
This man dug deep into the Word of God to know what is every word that the Lord
is saying. You do not waver when you are built solid on the Word. You cannot be
shaken.
Continuing in verse 49 He said, “But he that heareth, and doeth not, is like a
man that without a foundation built an house upon the earth; against which the
stream did beat vehemently, and immediately it fell; and the ruin of that house
was great.”
When we start building on human reasoning, when we do not build on every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord, we are building on sand. When we do
not understand the authority of God’s Word, we do not understand the Gospel.
Then we have a humanistic Gospel.
The Lord leads us in circumstances to humble us and to prove us and to know what
is in our hearts, whether we will keep His commandments or no. He brings us into
this proving ground where we are going to have to sacrifice everything of
ourselves and everything of the flesh to obey.
We are going to be put out, and our names are going to be reproached and cast
out as evil, but in that day we will rejoice.
It says in Luke 6:24-28: “But woe unto you that are rich! for ye have received
your consolation. Woe unto you that are full! for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you
that laugh now! for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you, when all men shall
speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets. But I say
unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which hate you, Bless
them that curse you, and pray for them which despitefully use you.”
Are we living by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord? This is
what we must dig deep into the Word of God to find out, so we understand for
ourselves what the Lord is telling us so we can walk and live by His every word.
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