Don’t Take Credit for What God Gave You | Deuteronomy 8:17 Devotional + Workout

Devotional

“Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’”

It is important to remember that all good things come from God. To provide context for this verse, for those who may not know, Deuteronomy is a collection of speeches by Moses that serve to remind the Israelites of the care that God showed them in their journey to Canaan. It reiterates many laws written earlier in the Pentateuch, or the first five books of the Old Testament.

Deuteronomy 8 instructs the Israelites to remember the Lord and His unwavering care for them during the hardships they endured in the wilderness for forty years. Throughout these trials, the Lord tested their obedience to His commandments, yet He treated them with the same love and compassion as a father would his children. Deuteronomy 8:4 states, “Your clothing did not wear out on you, and your foot did not swell these forty years.”

Hard times can be incredibly challenging, and it’s easy to lose hope and give up. It’s important to remember that the Israelites were promised abundant resources, including herds, flocks, silver, gold, and all other earthly possessions, which would multiply. Despite these promises, many Israelites forgot their savior who provided them with these blessings.

Even after experiencing great abundance, they failed to recognize the source of their prosperity.

While Deuteronomy chapter 8 references wealth and the overwhelming prosperity granted to the Israelites, the commandment itself applies to everything. Applied to the weight room, I truly believe that we achieve our goals because Christ allows it. Finally hitting a new personal best in squats or a mile run may feel self-gratifying, but it’s important to understand who blessed us with the ability to achieve this goal.  Like our verse of the day says, beware or you will choose to believe that you are the reason you achieved your goals.

Workout

Below is the workout for the day.

Two things to consider when completing this workout:

1) Always push your dips as hard as your bench. Do these weighted, if possible.

“Think of the dip as the upper body squat; you can’t beat it” - Mike Mentzer

2) Rear-delt exercises are often overlooked, while front delt exercises tend to be more common. With this being said, feel free to take the rear-delt fly to failure while sticking strictly to the rep scheme of the front raise.

Barbell Bench Press

3 sets of 4 reps

3 sets of 1 rep

Dips

4 sets of 8 reps

Cable Tricep Pushdown

4 sets of 12 reps

Superset

Dumbbell Underhand-Grip Front Raise

4 sets of 12 reps

Cable Single-Arm Bent Over Rear Delt Fly

4 sets of 12 reps