The Temptation to Forget God in Prosperity
….when thou shalt have eaten and be full; Then beware lest thou forget the Lord, which brought thee forth out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” (Deuteronomy 6:11–12 KJV)
Prosperity in all its forms is God’s will for His people, but scripture repeatedly admonishes us to be cautious of the temptations that come with material prosperity. This devotional will examine one of such warnings: beware of forgetting God when all is well with you.
God warned Israel not to forget Him when they begin enjoying the fruit of the land flowing with milk and honey. Forgetting God does not mean removing Him from memory. Instead, it means losing His love, fear, and reverence in our hearts, which causes us not to obey His commandments. Wealth, or financial prosperity, hardens our hearts with pride and a sense of complacency.
Sadly, Israel forgot God in the promised land. Besides, what happened to Israel continues today and can happen to us. It is a bleak reality of the flesh—we turn to seek God in trouble and fall into complacency when we are at ease. In fact, there are God’s precious children today that He knows if He gives them the wealth they are crying for, they will lose their spiritual lives forever. Resist the temptation to forget God in good times.
Paul spoke the following words by the Spirit as an inspiration, encouragement, and admonition to us:
“.. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little” (Philippians 4:12 NLT).
Would you continue to love God with the same fire, pray with the same zeal, seek Him with the same passion or engage in His work with the same earnestness after you become a millionaire, have that dream job, marry that man or woman of your dream, etc.? God forbids that prosperity should make us forget God!
What does it mean to “forget God” in our verse above?
Solomon said prosperity destroys fools( Prov. 1:32). I need not recount how money has destroyed ministries, relationships, or lives. When we eat and are full from the abundance of God’s blessings, we should resist the temptation to forget Him—our love should not grow cold, neither should our zeal fade or our reverent fear of Him diminish.
Ask the Father to help you love and serve Him when all is well with you.
Read & Watch
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