Context No. 3571 of 4322 · Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 8:11-20: in context

11Beware lest you forget the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you today; 12lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and lived in them; 13and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14then your heart might be lifted up, and you forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; 15who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, with venomous snakes and scorpions, and thirsty ground where there was no water; who poured water for you out of the rock of flint; 16who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn’t know, that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end; 17and lest you say in your heart, “My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth.” 18But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as it is today. 19It shall be, if you shall forget the LORD your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you today that you shall surely perish. 20As the nations that the LORD makes to perish before you, so you shall perish, because you wouldn’t listen to the LORD your God’s voice.

Moses warns of a subtle danger that comes not with hardship but with prosperity: take care lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built fine houses and your wealth has multiplied, your heart be lifted up and you forget the LORD your God. Success can quietly make us forget the God who gave it.

And Moses names the exact lie that prosperity whispers: you may say in your heart, my power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth. That is the great temptation of success, to take all the credit, to imagine we made ourselves what we are. But Moses corrects it plainly: you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth. Everything we have achieved, we achieved by ability and strength that came from him in the first place. Prosperity is a spiritual test more dangerous than poverty, precisely because it tempts us to forget our dependence on God and to take the glory for ourselves.

When I prosper and succeed, do I remember that God gave me the very ability to gain it, or do I quietly take the credit and forget him?

Sources

Deuteronomy 8:17: "And lest you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth."
Deuteronomy 8:18: "But you shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth."
Deuteronomy 8:11: "Beware lest you forget the LORD your God, in not keeping his commandments."