Read & Reflect

A key feature of gratitude is remembering properly. Prosperity and pride can cause us to forget God and neglect our covenant with him.

Deuteronomy 8:1–18 (ESV)

¹ “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers. ² And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not. ³ And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.  ⁴ Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years. ⁵ Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you. ⁶ So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking   in his ways and by fearing him. ⁷ For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills, ⁸ a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, ⁹ a land in which you will eat bread without scarcity, in which you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you can dig copper. 10 And you shall eat and be full, and you shall bless the LORD your God for the good land he has given you.

¹¹ “Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, ¹² lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, ¹³ and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, ¹⁴ then your heart be lifted up, and you forget  the  LORD  your  God, who brought you out of the  land  of Egypt, out of  the house of slavery, ¹⁵who led you through  the  great and terrifying wilderness, with its fiery serpents and scorpions and thirsty  ground  where  there  was no water, who brought you water out of the flinty rock, ¹⁶ who fed you in the wilderness with manna that your fathers did not know, that  he  might  humble you and test you, to do you good in the end. ¹⁷ Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ ¹⁸ You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day.

Write your personal Deuteronomy 8.

Read & Reflect

One of the manifestations of a fallen mind is that we keep forgetting to consider what God has done. We do not marvel at it, nor pause to give him proper thanks.

Psalm 78:10–11 (ESV)

¹⁰ They did not keep God’s covenant,
    but refused to walk according to his law.
¹¹ They forgot his works
    and the wonders that he had shown them.

Psalm 106 (ESV)

¹ Praise the Lord!
Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good,
    for his steadfast love endures forever!
² Who can utter the mighty deeds of the Lord,
    or declare all his praise?
³ Blessed are they who observe justice,
    who do righteousness at all times![…]

¹⁹ They made a calf in Horeb
    and worshiped a metal image.
²⁰ They exchanged the glory of God
    for the image of an ox that eats grass.
²¹ They forgot God, their Savior,
    who had done great things in Egypt,
²² wondrous works in the land of Ham,
    and awesome deeds by the Red Sea.. […]

²⁴ Then they despised the pleasant land,
    having no faith in his promise.
²⁵ They murmured in their tents,
    and did not obey the voice of the Lord.

What are some lessons from today’s text, and how do they apply to your life?

Read & Reflect

Being disregarded is deeply offensive and hurtful. Yet, that is what a failure to give thanks to God amounts to. As you read today’s passages, think about why people, who owe their very existence to God, so regularly refuse to acknowledge him.

Isaiah 1:2–4 (ESV)

Isaiah 5:11–13 (ESV)

What works of God do you need to remember? What wonders of God do you need to consider? What are the works of his hands that you need to give thanks for?

Read & Reflect

Gratitude is at the core of man’s relationship with God.  However, a mixture of human moral corruption and pride causes a bent in the mind of man that refuses gratitude.

Romans 1:19–23 (ESV)

¹⁹ For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. ²⁰ For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. ²¹ For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. ²² Claiming to be wise, they became fools, ²³ and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Psalm 14:1-3 (ESV)

What are some lessons from today’s text, and how do they apply to your life?