My First Bible #1: Deuteronomy 8:17-18

The summer I was 17 years old I read my Bible cover to cover for the first time.  I was captivated and completed the whole thing in 4 months.  Although I clearly read it at quite a pace, I still jotted down passages that sprang out to me in my still relatively new faith.  I still have that Bible, and the scraps of paper are still there, bookmarking each verse.  So I decided to go through, 18 years later, and visit each of them.  They are from the Good News Bible.

So then, you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength.  Remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to become rich...  Deuteronomy 8:17-18

The book is Deuteronomy.  The scene: the people of Israel have wandered the wilderness for forty years, and are poised on the banks of the Jordan, ready to finally move into the promised land.  Moses is not to go with them - he will die before they cross the Jordan.  Deuteronomy is Moses' great sermon, where he recounts all that God has done since the Exodus and reminds the Israelites of God's covenant with them and his instructions on how they are to live.

In Chapter 8, after reminding the Israelites of all the blessings of the Covenant, he warns them not to forget God - particularly when things are prosperous.  A few sentences earlier he says: When you have all you want to eat and have built good houses to live in, and when your cattle and sheep, your silver and gold, and all your other possessions have increased, make sure that you do not become proud and forget the Lord you God who rescued you from Egypt, when you were slaves. (Deuteronomy 8:13-14)

By the age of 17 I had come through a period of poor mental health and things were looking up.  Materially, I had never wanted for anything, and was very aware of how fortunate I was.  This verse felt very counter-cultural - as all around was a narrative that say that your life is what you, and you alone, make of it, and it would be wrong not to give yourself a good pat on the back for what you had achieved.  I had been so recently humbled by learning the truth of the cross, and was realising more every day how all had come from him.  Every week in church I put my pound coin in the collection, a 10th of the 'pocket money' my parents gave me - a gift that was not earned - and joined with the congregation in saying: All things come from you, and of your own do we give you.

Reflecting on this all these years later, I think there's two main things that can happen when our material wealth increases:

1) We can become proud: 

We can start to think that it is all through our own efforts that we have all that God has given us.  Now, I know: privilege doesn't always come ready-activated.  Mine is an example: I was so fortunate to grow up with many opportunities for both education and employability - but I worked very very hard to make the most of those.  But even for someone like me, those opportunities I was able to make the most of, along with the energy and abilities that enabled me to do so, were still gifts from God in the first place.  And further still, I certainly hadn't earnt them for 'being good' and out of any moral worth I might have had.

When things go well, it's very tempting to give ourselves a pat on the back and convince ourselves it is purely because of how good we are.  Because if we do that, then we can look down on those less fortunate that us and start shaking our heads thinking: "well, if only they'd worked harder...".  And it's always a comfortable feeling - all of us like to think that, whatever our shortcomings, at least we're better than someone else.  When things don't go well, it's far easier to become angry and embittered when we believe that what is being taken away is our 'right' that has been earned.

But even if we have a secure theology of grace in our heads, it's just so easy to forget.  If we have to pray for our daily bread each day, then we won't forget where it comes from.  If it's just there - then we forget to pray, and then do not give thanks when God answers that prayer.

2) We can become distracted.

In the famous 'Parable of the Sower', taught by Jesus, some of the seed falls among the thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. Jesus explains: The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful (Matthew 13:22). Of all the different groups of people referenced in the parable of the sower, the ones compared to the seeds falling among the thorns are those with whom I identify the most.  Unless one is extremely wealthy (wealthy enough to have a PA and a housekeeper...), then more stuff usually means more work!  More cleaning, organising, and decluttering, and effort in keeping up with the Jones's.  It's very easy to become distracted.  The more we have, the more we have to worry about losing.  And if we seek ultimate fulfilment in all these things, then when they inevitably miss the mark, we keep on wanting more, never feeling satisfied. 

The blessings of wealth are not bad things.  If we approached them with clean hearts, unhampered by sin, then they would point us back to adoration and worship, whilst simultaneously causing an overflow of generosity towards our fellow human beings.  Poverty is not something to be idolised and romanticised - it is a bad thing that God can turn into good, but do not think that I am naïve enough to think that those in poverty have an easier spiritual ride!  But this post is not about poverty - it is about wealth.

Both of the pitfalls I described about ended in discontentment.  And the antidote to them both is this:  make sure that you do not become proud and forget the Lord you God who rescued you from Egypt, when you were slaves (Deuteronomy 8:14). What does this actually mean?  It means meditating on all that God has done in rescuing us not from Egypt, but from sin and death, and responding in prayer - in thanksgiving, praise, and petition, knowing all things come from him.  It might mean pausing each morning and evening and reflecting on all one's blessings, or constantly seeking ways in which the undeserved gift of material wealth can be passed on.  And without the continuous cycle of trying to have 'enough' to make us happy, or the effort of trying to cling furiously to what we 'deserve', the good things around us become so much more enjoyable when we enjoy them as gifts.