Keep your Prosperity in check

This morning I read in Joshua and found a parrallel to Deutoronomy that applies so well to our situation as a culture, nation, and generation today. 

Joshua 24:12-14 "I sent the hornet before you which drove them out from before you, also the two kings of the Amorites, but not with your sword or with your bow. I have given you a land for which you did not build, and you dwell in them; you eat of the vineyards and olive groves which you did not plant. Now therefore, fear the Lord, serve Him in sincerity and truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord!" 

The Israelites possessed a land for which their generation did not wield the sword for, cities for which their hands did not build, fruits for which they did not plant - And they therefore receive a the warning not to forget who gave this to them, not to forget the Lord. 

Deuteronomy 6: 10 "So it shall be, when the Lord your God brings you into the land of which He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give you large and beautiful cities which you did not build, houses full of all good tings, which you did not fill, hew-out wells which you did not dig, vineyards and olive trees which you did not plant - when you have eaten and are full - then beware, lest you forget the Lord who brought you out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage."

Here we see the same warning. 'When you have eaten and are full THEN beware lest you forget the Lord.' 

Voddie made a statement that went something like, "Trials have a way of sending us to our knees, but prosperity has a tendency to drive us away from worshipping God. Keep your prosperity in check."

 Keep your prosperity in check. 

One key piece here that stands out is free prosperity, or that which you did not earn yourself. The Israelites possessed a land with wells already dug and cities already built. 

Our generation possesses a land that we ourselves did not wield the musket to defend, we did not toil for its founding principles. Our prosperity for which we were born into has a way of driving us away from God. We should beware, lest we forget. 

Of more importance than just our Nation, what else did we not labor for, or earn? Our salvation. Not by our hands we received the greatest gift in the history of the universe. Let us not forget.