Deuteronomy 8:17

"And lest thou say in thy heart. My power, and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. But thou shalt remember Jehovah thy God, for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he sware unto thy fathers, as at this day. And it shall be, if thou shalt forget Jehovah thy God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that ye shall surely perish. As the nations that Jehovah maketh to perish, before you, so shall ye perish; because ye would not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah your God."

Daniel 4:28 has a remarkable statement of the conceited pride that comes to men of great wealth. Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, was congratulating himself upon what he had done:

"He was walking in the royal palace of Babylon. The king spake and said, Is not this great Babylon, which I have built for the royal dwelling-place, by the might of my power, and for the glory of my majesty?" (Daniel 4:28).

Of course, in that very hour of Nebuchadnezzar's conceited self-congratulations, he began that seven years' sojourn with the beasts of the field as God had warned him through Daniel. Scott pointed out that this stern warning from Moses against high-mindedness and arrogant conceit is more and more urgent today than ever before. "The very generosity of God in the growing wealth of civilization may have its end defeated by blindness of heart."[24]

In the form of such conveniences as electricity, the average family today has the equivalent of what would have been half a dozen full-time servants just a few decades ago, but is this increased wealth and leisure time used in the worship and service of God? Certainly not! America this very day is in the process of doing the very thing that ruined ancient Israel. "They are forgetting God." It is our prayer that America will do what God warned Israel here to do: "REMEMBER!" Remember the hardships and dangers of the colonial period. Remember the heart-breaking sufferings of the Revolution. Remember the agonies of a Civil War. Remember the wars we have won, and that it has always (for us) been the other fellow's land and cities that were devastated. And remember that arrogant conceit will have the same result for us that it has always produced in every people who ever indulged it.

Lord God of hosts, be with us yet;

Lest we forget; lest we forget!