There is light at the end of the tunnel. Some functional aspects of our society will return this week. Hopefully, we can begin attending church services again within the next month. But there is a concern even greater than a relapse of COVID-19?
The concern is we will forget, or better asked, how quickly we will forget the lessons God taught us during this time?
Today, Dr. Crawford Loritts of Fellowship Bible Church, addressed this very issue. Using Deuteronomy 8:1-5 as his text, Crawford pleaded with us not to make the same mistakes the Jewish people did as they were moving from the wilderness to the Promised Land. You can watch his incredible message in its entirety HERE.
The following are some of Crawford’s introductory comments:
- Our great God is good.
- It’s amazing how we can draw a curtain over tragedy and lose the equity God wants to teach us.
- If you don’t remember the lessons, you will experience a greater tragedy. Your heart will grow cold and you will compromise. You will transfer your hope to your resources rather than the source.
- Dark times are gifts from God.
The following are 4 Wilderness Lessons from your Quarantine, 4 Things God Will Want Us To Remember From The Coronavirus COVID-19 when we get back to “normal”:
You Need To Remember How God Led Us
“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 Lordyour God has led you these forty years in the wilderness.” – Deuteronomy 8:1-2
- Just because you do not know where you’re going doesn’t mean God isn’t taking you somewhere. It doesn’t mean He isn’t leading you.
- You don’t orchestrate and control your own life.
- God can shut us down.
- All He wants me to do is follow Him.
- Outline God’s favor in your life. How He led you. How He directed you. Those unforeseen moments in your life.
You Need To Remember How God Tested Us
“2 And you shall remember the whole way that the Lordyour 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.” – Deuteronomy 8:2
- When God gives a test it is for self-illumination.
- He tested the Israelites that He might humble them. That they might taste of humility.
- Left to yourself you are going to mess up.
- Even not passing the test is a message from God… The reality of dark experiences say this – God comes near to us not because of our strength and competence. He comes to us because of our weakness and dependance.
- We are broken people.
- We should come out of the coronavirus not strutting but limping.
- You need to take a dependent posture into the land of plenty.
You Need To Remember How God Provided For Us
“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[a] 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.” – Deuteronomy 8:3-4
- “I gave you sustenance you were not aware of.” – God
- You should never question whether or not your loving Heavenly Father will care for you.
- Don’t transfer your sense of dependance on God to your self-initiated prosperity… so when you have plenty, will you have a heart of gratitude or drift into entitlement?
- Who and what have you been trusting? Who has really been meeting your needs?
You Need To Remember How God Disciplined Us
“5 Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the Lord your God disciplines you.” – Deuteronomy 8:5
- God says I need you to remember the wilderness spankings.
- God’s gifts are called Consequences. Consequences for bad choices. Consequences for wrong behavior.
- Don’t forget consequence when you have more freedom.
- Don’t lose your discipline. Right is always right. Wrong is always wrong. The reason God disciplines us is because He loves us and wants our heart attached to His.
In closing, I repeat those four questions – How has God led you? How has God tested you? How has God provided for you? How has God disciplined you? Let the answers to these four questions sustain you during this time.
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