“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, lest when you have eaten and are full and have build good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have is multiplied, 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, who led 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, 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. Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his convenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord makes to perish before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord.” Deuteronomy 8:11-20

A month ago the Lord whispered to my heart the following, “I want you to cast out the cares of the world”. When we are satiated, we are more likely to look inward and around us instead of upward towards God. 

Look at verse 17 with me again, “Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth’. The definition of the word satiated is, “satisfied, as ones’ appetite or desire, to the point of boredom.” 

Who hasn’t been satisfied to the point of boredom? 

This world’s snare

The problem of being satiated is you always want more and more and more because of boredom. And wouldn’t you say that this is one of the big problems for us in the West? We have an insatiable need for more, a need for the newest gadgets, a need for better and bigger things, and a very dangerous need to always impress others. With the need to always look within and around, we have no time for God let alone a reverence for Him. So verse 18 reminds us, “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 this day.”

This world is passing away and there is no earthly wealth that we will take to heaven but God still graciously gives wealth; “… it is He who gives you power to get wealth…” 

Cast out the cares of the world. 

The only thing we should firmly hold on to is the triune God, all other things we hold on to outside of Him will prove to be a snare to our souls. 

Verse 19 warns us, “And if you forget the Lord your God and go after other gods and serve them and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish.” Moses doesn’t say that if we forget God and go after gods that we might perish, he clearly says, “you shall surely perish.” 

Forgetting God and serving other gods is no small thing, it will cost you your soul. “For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.” Deuteronomy 4:24 

Cast out the cares of the world.

Watch yourselves 

“But watch yourselves lest your hearts be weighed down with dissipation and drunkenness and cares of this life, and that day come upon you suddenly like a trap. For it will come upon all who dwell on the face of the whole earth. But stay awake at all times, praying that you may have strength to escape all these things that are going to take place, and to stand before the Son of Man.” Luke 21:34-36 

Have you ever considered, that the below three things weigh your heart down? 

    1. Dissipation
    2. Drunkenness 
    3. Cares of this life 

Every time we live with our eyes fixated on ourselves and the world around us we drift into dissipation, drunkenness, and the many cares of this life. 

“And Jesus said to them, “Take care, and be on your guard against all covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions.” And he told them a parable, saying, “The land of a rich man produced plentifully, and he thought to himself, ‘what shall I do, for I have nowhere to store my crops?’ And he said, ‘I will do this: I will tear down my barns and build larger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I will say to my soul, ‘Soul, you have ample goods laid up for many years; relax, eat, drink, be merry.” But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul is required of you, and the things you have prepared, whose will they be?’ So is the one who lays up treasure for himself and is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:15-21

Cast out the cares of the world and be rich toward God. 

In the mundane of your life, do you fall into the trap of just surviving that you forget that you are on a journey to meet the King of kings? Are you laying up for yourself treasures that will rotten your heart and soul? Today, is God telling you too, to cast out the cares of this life? 

Hard times wake us up

“Suffering makes us spiritually strong in precisely the same way heavy weights build muscles on the body builder.” Voddie Baucham 

What if I told you that the suffering and the hard times in your life are precisely there for your growth and to get you out of your complacency? 

“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 commandements or not.” Deuteronomy 8:2 

The Lord will test you to know what is in your heart, whether you will keep his commandments or not. 

Nothing like suffering and hard times will make you reevaluate if you will continue to follow God or not. 

“If a prophet or a dreamer of dreams arises among you and gives you a sign or a wonder, and the sign or wonder that he tells you come to pass, and if he says, ‘Let us go after other gods,’ which you have not known, ‘and let us serve them,’ you shall not listen to the words of that prophet or that dreamer of dreams. For the Lord your God is testing you, to know whether you love the Lord your God will all your heart and with all your soul. You shall walk after the Lord your God and fear him and keep his commandments and obey his voice, and you shall serve him and hold fast to him.” Deuteronomy 13:1-4 

It is rather easy to tell God that you love Him with all your heart and with all your soul when you are in abundance and He is answering all your prayers. 

The invitation before us is, will we be people who hold fast to our God in trials, suffering, and hard times, and proclaim to God and the whole world, “we love God will all our heart and with all our soul whatever comes our way”?

Hard times, wars, and persecution as our platform 

“Then he said to them, “Nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom. There will be great earthquakes, and in various places famines and pestilences. And there will be terrors and great signs from heaven. But before all this they will lay their hands on you and persecute you, delivering you up to the synagogues and prisons, and you will be brought before kings and governors for my name’s sake. This will be your opportunity to bear witness. Settle it therefore in your minds not to meditate beforehand how to answer, for I will give you a mouth and wisdom, which none of your adversaries will be able to withstand or contradict. You will be delivered up even by parents and brothers and relatives and friends, and some of you they will put to death. You will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But not a hair of your head will perish. By your endurance you will gain your lives.” Luke 21:10-18 

Hard times, wars, and persecution are our opportunity to bear witness to the sure-hope that is in us! 

Here is the MSG version for verse 17-18, 

“…every detail of your body and soul- even the hairs of your head!- is in my care; nothing of you shall be lost. Staying with it- that’s what is required. Stay with it to the end. You won’t be sorry; you’ll be saved.” 

When hard times leave you feeling like you can’t go on, and all you want to do is throw in the towel; please, remember this: by your endurance you will gain your life. 

Hard times are a glorious opportunity to show our God this: Lord, regardless of what we are going through, we love you with all our hearts and with all our souls. And we will walk with You Lord our God and we will fear You and keep Your commandments and obey Your voice, and we will serve You and hold fast to You. 

Lord God, thank You for mercy. Thank You for rebuking me in my sin. In Jesus’ name and the power of the Holy Spirit, I cast out any care of the world in me, God I want to hold firmly only to You. Thank You for the hard times that awaken me to the wonder of who You are. The hard times are really there for my endurance. God, please forgive my unbelief in hard moments and the self-pity I tend to succumb in. God, thank you for always re-introducing yourself to me in trials. God, thank you that you will never leave me to myself. God, with all my heart I truly say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes”. Psalms 119:71

God, be glorified in my pain and all the seasons of my life. In the mighty name of Jesus I pray and I believe, Amen!