Deuteronomy 11: 8 – 17 “You shall therefore keep every commandment I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and possess the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden. But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven. It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.
So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.
But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.”
Strength to possess the land and long life to enjoy God’s blessings – these are the promises God is making to those who will keep every commandment that He is giving. The verses that follow are some of the loveliest descriptions of country ever given; they practically sing all by themselves.
“a land flowing with milk and honey” For milk to be plentiful, there must be extensive amounts of grazing available for cows, goats, and sheep; otherwise, they won’t give milk at all. In ancient times, people gathered wild honey rather than keeping bees. For the honey to flowing in huge quantities, there must be lots of wild flowers and rain to sustain them.
“For the land that you are entering to possess is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated on foot, like a vegetable garden. But the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven. It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.”
The flooding of the Nile and irrigation – these were the two main sources of water for crops in Egypt. The Egyptians worshiped the Nile as a deity because they believed that the Nile gave them new soil each time it flooded. (https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Hapi_(Nile_god) Even in ancient Egypt there were irrigation canals in the narrow green belt that surrounded the Nile River. It was in these flat places that both the Egyptians and the Israelites lived.
In this passage, God is making a distinction between the life the Israelites have known in Egypt and the life they will live in the Promised Land. This new land “is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks in the rain from heaven.” The Israelites are going to depend on rainy seasons for their water, and they must depend on the Lord to send them rains. “It is a land for which the LORD your God cares; the eyes of the LORD your God are always on it, from the beginning to the end of the year.” God is promising to watch over their land continually. There are few more beautiful promises than this one. But there are conditions.
So if you carefully obey the commandments I am giving you today, to love the LORD your God and to serve Him with all your heart and with all your soul, then I will provide rain for your land in season, the autumn and spring rains, that you may gather your grain, new wine, and oil. And I will provide grass in the fields for your livestock, and you will eat and be satisfied.
But be careful that you are not enticed to turn aside to worship and bow down to other gods, or the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you. He will shut the heavens so that there will be no rain, nor will the land yield its produce, and you will soon perish from the good land that the LORD is giving you.”
In Egypt, the Nile would flood every years whether or not the Egyptians were faithful to their gods. But in the Promised Land, the Israelites must rely on God for their rains. If the Israelites prove faithful, God pledges to bless them abundantly, but if they are faithless, the rains will cease, famine will come, and the Israelites will be exterminated.
APPLICATION: The scenery may have changed, but one fact remains the same: If we want God to bless us, we must first learn what He wants by studying His Word, follow His commands, and worship Him “in spirit and in truth.”
We are God’s children, and God wants to give us good things. But when we turn our backs on God and worship ourselves, our professions, our achievements, our families, or any other created thing, we block our own blessings. So many times when things go wrong in our lives, we choose to blame God, even though we have ignored Him and have flouted His commandments. We are the sources of our own problems.
Many of us smoke too much, take too much alcohol, overeat, and fail to exercise, only to blame God when we develop health problems related to these abuses. We drive motorcycles and vehicles recklessly, only to blame God when we are injured in accidents. God does not promise to shield us from every bad thing that might happen in our lives; however, God cannot bless us when we are going in the wrong direction.
Today, find a quiet place and then pray, asking God to show you what He wants you to do with your life. God promises that if we ask for wisdom, He will give it. Eventually, the Israelites did get evicted from the Promised Land, only to return after many years. But those sufferings were not God’s perfect will; had the Israelites remained faithful to God, He would have blessed them just as He promised.
PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to follow hard after You all the days of our lives. Thank You that when we follow You faithfully, You will bless us. Help us to realize that every good thing in our lives comes only from You and from no other source. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.
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