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Truths to Live By - One Day at a Time
Devotional: September 11th

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“Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God…when all that thou hast is multiplied.” (HYPERLINK "javascript:" ; Deuteronomy 8:13)

As a general rule, God’s people cannot stand material prosperity. They thrive much better under adversity. In his parting song, Moses predicted that Israel’s prosperity would ruin them spiritually: “But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation”.

The prophecy was fulfilled in Jeremiah’s day, when the Lord complained, “…when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery, and assembled themselves by troops in the harlots’ houses”.

Again we read in HYPERLINK "javascript:" , “According to their pasture, so were they filled; they were filled, and their heart was exalted; therefore have they forgotten me”.

After returning from exile, the Levites confessed that Israel had not responded properly to all that the Lord had done for them: “…so they did eat, and were filled, and became fat, and delighted themselves in thy great goodness. Nevertheless they were disobedient, and rebelled against thee, and cast thy law behind their backs, and slew thy prophets which testified against them to turn them to thee, and they wrought great provocations” ( Nehemiah 9:25 b, 26).

We tend to look upon material prosperity as an undeniable evidence of the Lord’s approval of what we are and do. When profits in our business soar, we say, “The Lord is really blessing me.” It would probably be more accurate to look upon those profits as a test. The Lord is waiting to see what we will do with them. Will we spend them on self-indulgence? Or will we act as faithful stewards, using them to send the good news to the uttermost parts of the earth? Will we hoard them in an effort to amass a fortune? Or will we invest them for Christ and His cause?

Said F. B. Meyer, “If it should be debated as to whether sunshine or storm, success or trial, were the severer test for character, the shrewdest observers of human nature would probably answer that nothing so clearly shows the real stuff of which we are made as prosperity, because this of all tests is the severest.”

Joseph would have agreed. He said, “God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction”. He profited more from adversity than he did from prosperity, although he conducted himself favorably under both circumstances.

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