LIVING WATERS
For the proclamation of the Gospel and the edification of the Body of Christ
The Cycle of Death
"Lest thou eat and be satisfied, and build good houses to dwell in, and thy herds and thy flocks increase, and thy silver and thy gold multiply, and all that thou hast increase; and thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage ... If thou shalt forget the LORD thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and bow down unto them, I testify against you this day, that ye shall surely perish" (Deut. 8:12-14, 19).
In this fragment, the cycle that the people of God can fulfill in their derangement is shown: "Prosperity - pride - forgetfulness of God - destruction". This cycle was unfortunately followed again and again by Israel, and has also been followed by the church.
But, undoubtedly, what reaches a whole people, begins with the individual. It is in the heart of the particular man that evil is generated and then spreads and contaminates others.
The beginning of everything is prosperity. Undoubtedly, God desires His people to have prosperity (Deut. 10:13); however, prosperity carries with it a great risk, and that is pride of heart. This has been demonstrated by countless Christians, and also by the long history of the church itself. Abundance of goods makes us self-sufficient with respect to God, makes us self-confident.
There is a prosperity that does no harm, and it is that which rests in a heart sufficiently treated so as not to be puffed up. Who can attain it? They are very few; the fewest, no doubt.
Prosperity is followed by pride, pride of heart. The proud man says: "My power and the strength of my hand have brought me this wealth" (Deut. 8:17). This is precisely what a heart hardened by prosperity usually does. Has it ever happened to you, even if your prosperity has been small? A small share of greatness is enough to trouble a small heart.
Pride is followed by forgetfulness of God: why God, if I can fend for myself? That is why the poor have been the greatest beneficiaries of the gospel. "Has not God chosen the poor of this world, that they should be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him?" (James 2:5). The inspired writer also says: "Let the brother who is of low estate glory in his exaltation; but he who is rich, in his humiliation; for he shall pass away as the flower of the grass" (James 1:9-10).
Finally, there is the destruction, the fall. What can logically happen to the above but to perish? When one is far from God one acquires strange customs, and strange gods. The true God is replaced by that which does not profit. Life is filled with weariness and heaviness. Nothing truly satisfies. Thus the cycle of death closes.
God's word exemplifies this with Israel, and history, with all those who have gone before us, so that we may make contentment and humility our way of life. So that the cycle of death does not reach us, but the cycle of life.