Moses gave his final discourse to the people of Israel just before they were to go into the land that God had promised to give them.
He told them of the many benefits of living in that good land and also of the dangers of living in the good land (Deut chapter 8 verses 7 to 20).
He reminded them that it was Lord God who was bringing them into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, a land of wheat and barley, of vines, and of fig trees, pomegranates, a land of olive oil and honey, a land whose stones are iron and out of whose hills you can dig copper.
Canada is a good land, a land of immense resources. One of our most valuable resources is water.
In Manitoba we have great inland seas of fresh water and, in the north, countless lakes and rivers. We could also mention the Great Lakes and the St. Laurence River, which contain huge volumes of water.
Furthermore the great oceans apparently cover 70 per cent of the earth’s surface and contain a mixture of liquid and chemicals finely tuned to support the abundant life that lives in and on them.
In 1976, Viking I was sent to explore Mars, followed by Viking II. The red soil was sampled to see if it was rust. It was hoped this would indicate water was present.
After all the probing, scratching and digging, no water was found, just barren rocks and dust.
Later exploration found frozen water and just lately scientists believe they have found evidence of running water.
In contrast to Mars, the planet Earth has water in abundance. An obvious fact should explode in the face of space scientists and to all of us that the Earth is a special place. God has put water here in abundance to support the life He created!
Our good land produces crops of great variety and in huge amounts. The main crop grown in the Prairies is grain: wheat, barley, oats, flax, rye, canola, sunflowers and mustard to name a few.
It takes mile-long trains with huge hopper cars to move the abundant grain harvest to markets around the world.
Our good land contains natural resources of coal, uranium, potash, oil, copper, zinc, gold, nickel and gravel. Why are these in the earth at all? How did they get there?
It is quite amazing that these precious resources are so placed in the earth that they are available, but not too available so it takes no effort to get them out.
Through the creative use of the human mind, technology and a workforce of multitudes of people, minerals can be extracted out of the earth.
Moses reminded the people that when they had eaten of the produce of the land and are full, they should bless and thank the Lord God Who gave it to them (Deut 8: 10).
We in Canada, having been blessed so richly by God, should also be a thankful people.
Moses also warned his people about forgetting God or just ignoring Him after they became prosperous (9 Deut. 8:11-14 and verse 17).
The heart may be lifted up, with people giving themselves all the credit for their prosperity and thinking, “My power and my strength brought me this gain” when in fact it is God who gave them power to get wealth.
Prosperity can be a snare to us as well. Most of us live very comfortably. Our sin would be to take all the credit for our success and prosperity, and congratulate ourselves then ignore God Who has given it.
We would do well to heed these ancient words that are so relevant for us today: “When you have eaten and are full, then you shall bless (thank) the Lord for the good land He has given you.”
Lorne Moorhead is a retired pastor living in
Flin Flon.
