Devotion Booklets for Seasons of the Church Year Lent 2018 | Page 26

Remember the Lord
Tuesday, March 6th
Deuteronomy 8:10-18
A number of years ago a pastor began serving a congregation in Canada. The pastor needed to contact
some of his fellow pastors to see if they wanted to serve in various capacities in their pastors’
conference. It was a Monday morning in October and the pastor figured it was a good time to find his
fellow pastors in their studies so he began to make some phone calls. When he made the first call the
phone rang and rang and rang and finally the answering machine picked up. He tried the next name on
his list. Same result. Call after call there were no answers. He began to wonder why no one was picking
up the phone. On his next call he got his answer. After a good number of rings a real live person
actually picked up on the other end. “Good morning,” the pastor said, “is pastor so-and-so there?” “He
is,” the voice on the other end answered, “but can he call you back after the service? It is
Thanksgiving.” You see in Canada Thanksgiving is celebrated on the second Monday of October.
Because the pastor was familiar only with Thanksgiving Day in the United States, he had missed
Thanksgiving.
When you think about it, the idea of missing thanksgiving is something that is not uncommon to us
living in this country today. The abundance which God provides can lull us into a sense of complacency
and self-satisfaction. There are always groceries on the shelf and gas at the station. We have jobs which
we work hard at to earn our money. We can start to think that we are the reason for all of our blessings.
It was my sweat and labor. It was my intellect. Maybe you’ve never said those things but when you fail
to give thanks to the Lord, your true heart is revealed. When times are good it’s easy to forget about the
Lord. Where prosperity and wealth abound right relationships with God tend to suffer. Why? God’s
gifts are so amazing that those gifts often become gods to those who receive them.
That is why God reminded his Old Testament people as they were about to enter the Promised Land to
be careful not forget the LORD. These people had been greatly blessed by the LORD, rescued from
Egypt, and given a land flowing with milk and honey. Even more, God had promised them spiritual
blessings beyond compare in a Messiah who was coming. These are the same blessings God has
provided to us. He gives us the ability to work and earn a living. He provides us with blessings from
sources we never knew existed. And, even more than that, he kept his promise to send the Messiah into
the world to secure our eternal blessing by his life, death, and resurrection. Remember where our true
security – both temporal and eternal – comes from. It comes from God’s gracious hand alone.
Remember the LORD, thank him, and give yourselves to him in faithful service.
Prayer: Lord, help us remember where everything comes from. Then let us live lives of thanksgiving to
you. Amen.
Activity: Come up with a list of gifts God has given to your family. Thank God for them and discuss how
you can use them in thankful service.
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