“…When you have eaten your fill in this land, be careful not to forget the Lord” 

(Deuteronomy 6:11-12, NLT)



Too much of something is not enough, what a paradox. How can having too much be not enough? When life is easy it is often most difficult to follow God.  And the Bible gives us so many examples of this.  First Adam, he lived in a perfect world and had a perfect relationship with God. He had everything but fell into Satan’s lies.  Then Noah, he and his family survived the flood and the whole earth was theirs. But shamed himself by getting drunk and cursed his son Ham.  The nation of Israel was given the Promised Land but soon after Joshua died fell into the idolatrous practices of the Canaanites.  David in the midst of his prosperity fell into adultery with Bathsheba and murdered Uriah. And Solomon; he had power, wealth, fame and wisdom. But he had many wives and allowed himself to indulge in their idolatrous practices. And so on. They all suffered the consequences of their sins.  Adam and Eve were banished from the Garden of Eden.  Noah embarrassed himself in front of his sons. And the nation of Israel remains up to this time in conflict with the Palestinians and its neighbor’s. David’s family was in trouble – Absalom murdered Amnon (both were his sons) among other things. Later in his reign while Solomon gained the admiration of foreigners, he was hated by his own people.  

This serves to warn us that grave things happen when we forget God. When we have too much we can easily become self-sufficient and less sensitive to our need for God.  We often take credit for our prosperity and become proud in times of plenty. We become too busy collecting and managing our wealth and push God right out of our lives. We forget that everything we have belongs to God.  Remember, we came into this world naked from our mother’s wombs? We had nothing.  And we are God’s workmanship and we did not create ourselves, God created us and along with everything around us. Therefore, our skills and even our abilities come from God who made us.  Ought we to not think that God just allows us to manage the things that we have for Him? 

Here’s the truth as it was said to the Israelites before: 

…man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. (Deuteronomy 8:3)

According to Moses real life comes from a total commitment to God, the one who created life itself.