You are now about to enter a time of abundance so give thanks to the Lord.
Israel, the next generation here should definitely give thanks to the Lord. It is God who is providing for them in the desert when they have nothing and they are thankful. It is God also who will provide for them in Canaan when they have something. They need to remember this. In their abundance, they need to remember to celebrate their thanksgiving to God. God, through Moses, says that in the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 8:10-14:
Israel, the next generation here should definitely give thanks to the Lord. It is God who is providing for them in the desert when they have nothing and they are thankful. It is God also who will provide for them in Canaan when they have something. They need to remember this. In their abundance, they need to remember to celebrate their thanksgiving to God. God, through Moses, says that in the Promised Land, Deuteronomy 8:10-14:
When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.
This is important. The book of Judges again and again repeats a similar refrain to Judges 2:10-11, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…” The very next generation after God delivers his people into the salvation of the Promised Land, instead of thanking God for all that He is providing, they reject Him but even then God is still gracious enough to hand them over to their enemies so that they will return to Him. But alas when things start going well for them again they again forget that all that abundance comes from the Lord and they reject Him again.
Deuteronomy 8:12-14: ‘…when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…’
Canada was founded upon the Word of God. O Canada is a hymn that can be found in many Canadian hymnals complete with a second verse offering praise to the Lord. After the horrors of the 18 Century’s Atheist (or Deist) Revolutions,[4] Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley insisted that Canada be founded on the Word of God. Our motto, A Mari usque ad Mare, is based on Psalm 72 and it declares that God shall have dominion in this land from sea to sea. In 1879, Canada officially legislated a day of Thanksgiving to the Lord and in a generation previous to our current one, on Thursday, January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament specifically proclaimed: “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” Our forefathers and mothers have given thanks to our Lord in this country for what He has done and for what He has provided.
We need to continue to do so but I fear that now, like with the Israelites when they settled in the Promised Land, another generation is growing up who neither knows the Lord nor what He has done in Canada. God has allowed Canada to become one of the most prosperous countries in the history of the earth but, instead of thanking Him for this, we seem to have forgotten this and we seem to have forgotten Him.
God’s Name and the Gideon Bibles are quickly being removed from our schools. The Lord’s Prayer that was spoken in the schools in my memory, even in secular British Columbia, is no more. I was teaching in the schools when we were instructed to remove all reference to Christ and even all reference to Christmas. We needed to refer to the Christmas time as a winter festival or something like that. Even in our time in Saskatchewan in recent years, I have responded to people who have publicly called for Jesus’ name to be deleted from Remembrance Day ceremonies[5] and when Susan was conducting a service in the Tisdale hospital a few years ago, they handed her all their Bibles and said, ‘we don’t need these anymore.’
Deuteronomy 8:12-14: ‘…when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…’
Is this happening here today? Now that Canada is well-off, are we wallowing in our wealth and neglecting our Lord and our neighbour? If so what can you do to change that?
This is important. The book of Judges again and again repeats a similar refrain to Judges 2:10-11, “After that whole generation had been gathered to their fathers, another generation grew up, who knew neither the LORD nor what he had done for Israel. Then the Israelites did evil in the eyes of the LORD…” The very next generation after God delivers his people into the salvation of the Promised Land, instead of thanking God for all that He is providing, they reject Him but even then God is still gracious enough to hand them over to their enemies so that they will return to Him. But alas when things start going well for them again they again forget that all that abundance comes from the Lord and they reject Him again.
Deuteronomy 8:12-14: ‘…when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…’
Canada was founded upon the Word of God. O Canada is a hymn that can be found in many Canadian hymnals complete with a second verse offering praise to the Lord. After the horrors of the 18 Century’s Atheist (or Deist) Revolutions,[4] Sir Samuel Leonard Tilley insisted that Canada be founded on the Word of God. Our motto, A Mari usque ad Mare, is based on Psalm 72 and it declares that God shall have dominion in this land from sea to sea. In 1879, Canada officially legislated a day of Thanksgiving to the Lord and in a generation previous to our current one, on Thursday, January 31, 1957, the Canadian Parliament specifically proclaimed: “A Day of General Thanksgiving to Almighty God for the bountiful harvest with which Canada has been blessed.” Our forefathers and mothers have given thanks to our Lord in this country for what He has done and for what He has provided.
We need to continue to do so but I fear that now, like with the Israelites when they settled in the Promised Land, another generation is growing up who neither knows the Lord nor what He has done in Canada. God has allowed Canada to become one of the most prosperous countries in the history of the earth but, instead of thanking Him for this, we seem to have forgotten this and we seem to have forgotten Him.
God’s Name and the Gideon Bibles are quickly being removed from our schools. The Lord’s Prayer that was spoken in the schools in my memory, even in secular British Columbia, is no more. I was teaching in the schools when we were instructed to remove all reference to Christ and even all reference to Christmas. We needed to refer to the Christmas time as a winter festival or something like that. Even in our time in Saskatchewan in recent years, I have responded to people who have publicly called for Jesus’ name to be deleted from Remembrance Day ceremonies[5] and when Susan was conducting a service in the Tisdale hospital a few years ago, they handed her all their Bibles and said, ‘we don’t need these anymore.’
Deuteronomy 8:12-14: ‘…when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God…’
Is this happening here today? Now that Canada is well-off, are we wallowing in our wealth and neglecting our Lord and our neighbour? If so what can you do to change that?
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