Contradiction?

Sometimes the Bible blows my mind. Deuteronomy 31 starts off with Moses telling the Israelites that God and Joshua will go before them so they do not need to be afraid of the land where they are going. Bear in mind that this land is full of giants and all kinds of foreign people. And you are not just travelling through their land, you are literally going to take it from them!! So he tells them that God will neither leave them nor forsake them and all that good stuff. It is a land full of milk and honey and prosperity is their portion. Then God calls Moses and Joshua for the "changing of the guard" ceremony and proceeds to tell them that Israel will surely prostitute themselves to other gods and that he will hide his face and forsake them because of their sin. Now that sounds contradictory to me because I truly believe that God spoke through moses when he said he will neither leave them nor forsake them.

We must remember that God sees and knows everything. He is from everlasting to everlasting and knows us completely (Ps 139). What he is promising through moses is that he will indeed make sure that they possess the land and get to enjoy this land that flows with milk and honey. He will not leave them or forsake them as they endeavor to possess the land, but will go ahead of them and give them victory which they did. Now, because of his infinite knowledge of humanity he was also sure that once they settle into the land and live and eat well and prosper, they would indeed forget him and start walking in sin. So what he was explaining to Josh and Moses was the consequences of doing this.

We are the same way. Once God has settled us and our dreams come to fruition and money is no longer a challenge and our hearts are at peace, instead of blessing God and continuing under the shadow of his wing, we start to mess with things we shouldn't and forget God's goodness. May God give us the grace to know him for sure with or without prosperity. May we learn to praise him and to walk with him even after our dreams are accomplished and we are prosperous in all that we do according to his promise. Stay under the shadow of El Shaddai.