“And you shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you in the wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. And He humbled you and let you be hungry and fed you with manna which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh.” (Deuteronomy 8:2–3, LSB)

Who would choose to be “humbled?” I wouldn’t and apparently Israel didn’t choose this path either, but the Lord God chose it for them as He led the people through the wilderness and forty long years of lessons for the greater good of His people.

The word “humble” can stir up different connotations in people’s minds. You might picture a quiet person, someone who looks down at the floor to avert their eyes away from direct contact. Perhaps they are poorer, and a little ashamed of their status in life. Whatever your picture of humility might be, the word used in Deuteronomy 8:2-3 would better be understood as “humiliated.” The Hebrew verb (‘nh) can refer to one who is “bowed down, afflicted, wretched, emaciated.” Such a person fits with the person who is described above–except the passage above states that it was the Lord who actively brought about this humiliation. It is connected to the testing of Israel for the Lord to know the true condition of their heart as a nation.

There is a lot to unpack here, such as why God, who knows all things, would seek to discover the heart condition of His people. What I want to focus on has to do with the fact that God actively allowed the hardship and difficult conditions of Israel in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness. Why would He do that?

During that time, Israel needed to learn some lessons that can only be learned by experience. The people had been in Egypt as slaves for a long time and they had picked up some bad habits and practices. Although God had promised their forefather Abraham that He would save them out of slavery, they had grown accustomed to their situation and dependence upon their captors. Their exposure to the gods of Egypt also apparently had an impact upon them as well since they seemed alarmingly prepared to put pagan gods in the place of their God, as they did with the golden calf incident.

In addition to their longing to return to slavery in Egypt, they had also become proficient in discontentment and complaining. As slaves, we would think that they would be happy to be free, but the biblical record shows that this wasn’t the case. Even as slaves, they felt their lives were easier than they were in their freedom.

To help rid them of these sinful habits and attitudes, the Lord gave put them in a place where they had nothing. No homeland, no farmland, no buildings, no water, no food, no clothes, nothing. When they became hungry, they couldn’t go to the garden, the river, or the market. When they became thirsty, they couldn’t go to the well or the river. They could not plant crops because they constantly were on the move, and the wilderness was inhospitable and waterless. When they cried that it was better in Egypt, this wasn’t an exaggeration.

But the people of Israel needed to have everything taken away so they could be “bowed down, afflicted, wretched, emaciated.” As weak and broken people, they were needy. Even in their slavery, they were a proud people. Don’t believe me? When Jesus told the Jews that the truth would make them free, they answered this way: “They answered Him, ‘We are Abraham’s seed and have never yet been enslaved to anyone. How is it that You say, You will become free?’” (John 8:33, LSB). Never been enslaved? They had been enslaved many times! But to the proud people of Israel, their physical captivity did not reflect their outlook.

This was why God needed to humble them. Their hunger and thirst made them dependent in a way that they had not been dependent upon their Egyptian masters. But their Master, the Lord God was using this humiliation for their greater good. When they needed water, He richly supplied it. When they needed food, He gave it to them daily. He did not allow their clothing or shoes to wear out for their entire captivity, and He gave them godly leaders in Moses, Aaron, and the elders of Israel.

The lessons learned in the wilderness were more than the fact that God supplied their needs. The biggest lesson that they were taught, and one we need to learn as well, is that we need God. Not “need,” like we need wifi internet service. No, “need” like we need oxygen to breathe. We are dependent upon Him moment by moment for everything. And for life, this especially means we need to hear from Him, from “everything that proceeds from the mouth of Yahweh.” And if that requires going through some humbling circumstances so He can get our attention, we shouldn’t grumble and complain, but rather we should thank Him for the fact that He cares for us so much that He pursues us even when we have become distracted by so many other things in this world.