“For the Lord thy God bringeth thee into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and depths that spring out of valleys and hills . . . a land wherein thou shalt eat bread without scarceness, thou shalt not lack any thing in it. . . . Beware that thou forget not the Lord thy God . . . lest when thou hast eaten and art full, and hast built goodly houses . . . and when thy herds and thy flocks multiply, and thy silver and thy gold is multiplied . . . then thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage . . . and thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth” (Deuteronomy 8:7-14, 17)).
The Lord is speaking here not only to Israel but to us today. The purpose of their test in the wilderness was never in doubt: it was “that he might humble thee, and that he might prove thee, to do thee good at thy latter end” (Deuteronomy 8:16). He had to teach Israel how to handle all the goodness He was about to pour out upon them. And God will test us the same way He did them.
You see, although the children of Israel were blood-secured and delivered, supernaturally guided and the object of God’s love and miracle-working power, they lacked one thing: They were not dependent upon God!
The blood can cover your sins, but it does not make you dependent on Him. Miracles can deliver you from Satan’s power, but they can’t make you dependent. You can be led by God and still not lean wholly upon the Lord.
God has to strip us of all self-assurance and destroy all that remains of self-righteousness, spiritual pride and boasting. He must (and He does) humiliate all who are destined to inherit His great spiritual blessings.
He will take a Saul of Tarsus—self-assured, self-righteous, consumed with a knowledge of the Scriptures, full of God’s zeal, ready to die for Jehovah—and strike him blind! Saul had to be humiliated before the world, led around like a child and waiting helplessly for days, until God moved. He was humiliated to a point of total dependence!
