Extremely Tough Love.

Deuteronomy 21-22

Suppose a man has a stubborn, rebellious son who will not obey his father or mother, even though they discipline him. In such cases, the father and mother must take the son before the leaders of the town. They must declare: ‘This son of ours is stubborn and rebellious and refuses to obey. He is a worthless drunkard.’ Then all the men of the town must stone him to death. In this way, you will cleanse this evil from among you, and all Israel will hear about it and be afraid. – Deuteronomy 21:18-21 NLT

Chapters 21-22 of Deuteronomy are difficult at best. The content appears to be somewhat random and unrelated. It covers everything from how to properly marry a woman taken captive in the defeat of an enemy city to the proper resolution of manslaughter cases when you don't know who committed the crime. There's even some admonitions about home safety, cross dressing, and the care of animals. But all these topics have something to do with the fifth, sixth and seventh commandments. "Honor your father and mother." "You shall not murder." "You shall not commit adultery." Each of the situations covered in these chapters have something to do with illustrating in greater detail what these commandments really meant. These two chapters are practical, daily applications of these three laws. Yes, they seem a little odd to us at times, but they fit the context in which the people of Israel were living. They were real life events that took place every day.

But the one that struck a chord with me was the one on the rebellious son. As the father of two boys, I have actually used these verses to jokingly remind my sons how important it is that they obey. At times, when they have given me a hard time and disobeyed me, I have reminded them that in "Bible days" boys like that could have been stoned. Now hear me out. I never threatened to stone my kids and I was not trying to instill the fear of God into them. I was just kidding around. But as I read this passage again in its context, I am struck with how much this is NOT a laughing matter to God. Obedience is a serious matter to God. So is rebellion. In God's economy, parents are his legal representatives. They exercise authority over their children on His behalf. This is not a role we should take lightly. This passage is given as a last resort for parents who have exhausted all other avenues to restore their son to a right relationship with them and with God.

The fifth commandment states, "Honor your father and mother." This was a command that God took seriously. Disobedience to authority was a serious matter to God. A child that habitually disobeyed his parents would be a man who willingly and regularly disobeyed the commands of God and every other authority in his life. He would become a bane to society and a blot on the community. This passage was not intended to give parents the freedom to kill their rebellious sons, but to encourage them to do everything in their power to restore their child. But in the end, their love for God was to supercede their love for their child. This passage seems to indicate a son who had developed a habit of willful rebellion. The terms "stubborn and rebellious" are used to describe the son. They are the same terms used throughout the Old Testament to describe the nation of Israel in terms of their relationship with God. Whenever Israel disobeyed God, it was in effect saying, "You are not my God!" They were declaring by their actions that they rejected His authority over their lives. They were dishonoring Him as their rightful ruler and authority. In rejecting the authority of his parents, a son was doing the same thing. The son, in renouncing his relationship with his parents, has effectively declared, if not by his words, then certainly by his deeds, what the adopted son in the Mesopotamian adoption contracts says when he abrogates his contract, "I am not your son; you are not my parents."

As a parent, I am to place my love for God above my love for my child. I am not to excuse his behavior, but see his rebellion and disobedience as an affront to the authority and sovereignty of God. A rebellious child will grow up to be a rebellious man. To allow my son to habitually disobey my authority would be to encourage his future rejection of God's authority in his life. God seems to have given this regulation as a reminder of His ultimate authority and requirement of obedience, but also as an effective deterrent to disobedience and juvenile delinquency. No loving parent would have willingly brought their son to be stoned without first having done everything in their power to restore their son. But in the end, our love of God should even overshadow our love for our own children. Our desire to honor God should supercede our desire to tolerate our childrens' rebellious behavior. In his commentary on the book of Deuteronomy, Dr. Thomas L. Constable has this to say about this passage:

"It may appear at first that God was commanding the Israelites to exercise less grace with their own children than He showed the whole nation. However, God had previously promised never to cut off His people (Genesis 12:1-3). The Israelites were to be God's instruments of judgment in many specific situations, as we have seen in Deuteronomy. The punishment of sinners, be they Canaanites or Israelites, for specific types of sin was imperative for Israel to fulfill God's purpose for her in the world (Exodus 19:5-6). This legislation teaches us that parents should put their love for God above their love for their children."

Father, as a parent it is so easy to excuse little acts of rebellion or disobedience in my children. I have done it regularly over the years. And when I do, I fail to see that I am creating an environment of rebellion. I am encouraging a lifestyle of disobedience. I am allowing what I think is a love for my child to become a tolerance of unrighteousness. You have given me a position of authority with the responsibility to teach my children to obey me so that they might one day obey You. When I allow them to reject my authority, even in small ways, I am training them to reject Your authority in the future. Show me how to love You more than I love my own children. May I long to see them live lives of obedience so that they might grow up to obey You in all things. Amen

He Will Give You the Victory.

Deuteronomy 20

He will say, "Listen to me, all you men of Israel! Do not be afraid as you go out to fight today! Do not lose heart or panic. For the LORD your God is going with you! He will fight for you against your enemies, and he will give you victory!" – Deuteronomy 20:3-4 NLT

One of the realities facing the people of Israel was war. For them to enjoy all the blessings inherent in the Promised Land, they were going to have to do battle with the inhabitants of the land. This was not going to be a cake walk. It was not going to be easy. God was not just going to hand over the land with no effort expended by the people. Sure, He had given them the land. But they were going to have to fight for it in order to occupy it. So war was going to be a regular part of their life for the foreseeable future.

And the same is true for us as believers. We have been assured of a victory by Christ because of His death on the cross. We have been promised a life filled with joy, peace, contentment, and the daily, indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit. But we live in a land where the enemy hates us and is out to destroy us. We are under daily attack by that enemy. He is out to defeat us in any way that we can. Jesus promised us that He came to give us life more abundantly (John 10:10), but that does not mean we are going to have an easy go of it. He also promised trials and tribulations in this life. "I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world" (John 16:33 NLT).

In Deuteronomy 20, Moses reminds the people that they are getting ready to do battle. When they begin the process of possessing the land, it was going to involve war. And this was not a nation with a standing army. They were not trained to do battle. They had been farmers and shepherds in Egypt. They had been common laborers. But now they were going to have to prepare to do battle with nations much more numerous than them and with a lot more military experience. But Moses tells them, "When you go out to fight your enemies and you face horses and chariots and an army greater than your own, do not be afraid. The LORD your God, who brought you safely out of Egypt, is with you!" (Deuteronomy 20:1 NLT).

Do not be afraid! Instead, they were to remember that God was with them and to rely on His help with confidence regardless of the enemy's strength. As believers, we are called to trust God in the midst of the conflicts of this life. We are to recall God's past faithfulness and gain courage from His promises that He will be with us.

It is interesting that the priest had a role to play in preparing the people for battle. He even accompanied the army into battle. But before they engaged the enemy the priest was to remind the people by telling them, "Attention, Israel. In a few minutes you're going to do battle with your enemies. Don't waver in resolve. Don't fear. Don't hesitate. Don't panic. GOD, your God, is right there with you, fighting with you against your enemies, fighting to win. (Deuteronomy 20:3-4 MSG). The priest represented the Tabernacle of God, the place where the very presence of God dwelt. As a servant of God, the priest was to consecrate the people and represent the Tabernacle and God's name in the midst of the battle. The presence of the priest was a visual reminder of the presence of God. The priest didn't just give a pep talk and then send the people out to do battle. No, he went with them.

We must remind ourselves constantly that we are at war. We are engaged in an epic struggle between two kingdoms. And just because we know how the story ends and who the ultimate victor is, does not mean that the war is any less real. In a real sense, every one of us, as followers of Christ, are priests. We are His representatives. As such, we should remind one another daily that we are in battle, but that we can face and foe with faith and not fear because our God is with us. We don't need to fear, panic, or worry. Our God goes into battle with us. He fights alongside us. And we fight alongside one another.

Father, we are at war. The enemy is real and he is out to destroy us. But You have promised to fight with us and for us. You have given us the weapons of our warfare. You have equipped us with everything we need to live in this world victoriously and confidently. May we learn to remind each other daily that You are with us. There is no reason to fear. Amen

A Prophet Like Moses.

Deuteronomy 18-19

The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your fellow Israelites, and you must listen to that prophet. – Deuteronomy 18:15 NLT

Back in Exodus 19-20 we have recorded the incident where the people of God begged Moses to intercede with God on their behalf. They had seen the power and presence of God on the mountain top in the form of thunder, lightning, and smoke. God had just given His commandments to Moses and the people were terrified. So they told Moses, "Speak to us yourself and we will listen; but let not God speak to us, or we will die" (Exodus 20:19 NASB). Moses became their spokesman and intercessor. He communicated to them the words of God. He interceded on their behalf with God. Now in Deuteronomy 18, Moses lets the people know that there would be other prophets to come after him. There would be one in particular who would be raised up by God from among them. God would put His words in this individual's mouth and he would speak on behalf of God.

This statement by Moses clearly speaks of Jesus and His future coming. "But even as he said it, a bright cloud came over them, and a voice from the cloud said, 'This is my beloved Son, and I am fully pleased with him. Listen to him.'" (Matthew 17:5 NLT). In speaking to the Jews of His day, Jesus said, "Yet it is not I who will accuse you of this before the Father. Moses will accuse you! Yes, Moses, on whom you set your hopes. But if you had believed Moses, you would have believed me because he wrote about me. And since you don’t believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?" (John 5:45-47 NLT). Jesus made it clear that He spoke on behalf of God, just as Moses had predicted. "But all who reject me and my message will be judged at the day of judgment by the truth I have spoken. I don’t speak on my own authority. The Father who sent me gave me his own instructions as to what I should say. And I know his instructions lead to eternal life; so I say whatever the Father tells me to say!" (John 12:48-50 NLT). Peter, after the coming of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, told the Jews in the crowd, "Moses said, ‘The Lord your God will raise up a Prophet like me from among your own people. Listen carefully to everything he tells you.’ Then Moses said, ‘Anyone who will not listen to that Prophet will be cut off from God’s people and utterly destroyed.’" (Acts 3:22-23 NLT). Jesus was clearly the ultimate fulfillment of this prophesy. This prophesy is clearly a Messianic promise and Jesus fulfilled that promise in a number of ways::

He was spared in infancy (Exodus 2; Matthew 2:13-23)

He renounced a royal court (Hebrews 11:24-27; Philippians 2:5-8)

He had compassion for the people (Numbers 27:17; Matthew 9:36)

He made intercession for the people (Deuteronomy 9:18; Hebrews 7:25)

He spoke with God face to face (Exodus 34:29-30; 2 Corinthians 3:7)

He was the mediator of a covenant (Deuteronomy 29:1; Hebrews 8:6-7)

God had revealed Himself through Moses in the Old Testament period. But that role, as great as it was, would be surpassed by Jesus during the New Testament period. While Moses saved the people from slavery in Egypt, Jesus would provide salvation from slavery to sin and death. But while there are many similarities between Jesus and Moses, Jesus is superior. Moses was a prototype of what was to come. Jesus was the fulfillment. Moses was simply a shadow of the Light of the world. So here are seven ways in which Jesus was superior to Moses.

Jesus provided eternal salvation through His death

While Moses died in the wilderness, Jesus was resurrected from the dead

Jesus ascended into heaven and sits at the right hand of the Father

Moses job as prophet and intercessor ended with his death, but Jesus continued to speak on behalf of God after His death (through the New Testament prophets)

Jesus continues to intercede for us

Jesus will one day return for us

Jesus will ultimately bring us into God's presence

The writer of the book of Hebrews makes it clear that Jesus was and is superior to Moses. Moses was a man who spoke on behalf of God. Jesus is the God-man who came as the very image of God in human form, delivering God's message of redemption and reconciliation. Jesus didn't just deliver from physical slavery, but spiritual slavery. Jesus didn't just come to provide a land in which to live, but an eternity in which to dwell with God. "But Jesus deserves far more glory than Moses, just as a person who builds a fine house deserves more praise than the house itself. For every house has a builder, but God is the one who made everything. Moses was certainly faithful in God’s house, but only as a servant. His work was an illustration of the truths God would reveal later. But Christ, the faithful Son, was in charge of the entire household. And we are God’s household, if we keep up our courage and remain confident in our hope in Christ." (Hebrews 3:3-5 NLT).

Father, Your Son is the fulfillment of all things. He is the prophet Moses promised. He is the one who was to come, and He did come, delivering Your message of hope and healing. He was the ultimate sacrifice. He was the prophet, priest, and king. He was the deliverer and the One who was delivered up for my sake. His words are Your words. Teach us to listen to Him, just as Moses said. Amen

When God Was King.

Deuteronomy 16-17

Each year every man in Israel must celebrate these three festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters. They must appear before the LORD your God at the place he chooses on each of these occasions, and they must bring a gift to the LORD.– Deuteronomy 16:16 NLT

There is something interesting going on in these two chapters that I have never noticed before. At first glance, they appear to be disjointed and a little confusing. Moses seems to jump around from talk about festivals and feasts to judges, idol worship, and then kings. It's almost as if Moses suffers from ADD. He appears to be all over the map topically. And yet, after closer examination, the emphasis seems to be on the sovereignty and reign of God.

This section is all about God as king. In fact, when Moses reminds the people that they are to come before the Lord three times a year at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths, he is calling them to bring tribute to God as their king. This was a practice common among the nations who occupied the land. This requirement that the men of Israelreport to the central sanctuary three times a year had a parallel in the Near Eastern treaty requirements. It was common practice for suzerains to require their vassals to report to them periodically, in some cases three times a year, in order to renew their allegiance and to bring tribute. So God is calling His citizens to come before Him three times a year to renew their allegiance and to bring tribute to Him as king.

As king, God would appoint judges, just and righteous men to help settle disputes and dispense justice. "Let true justice prevail, so you may live and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you" (Deuteronomy 16:20 NLT). God wanted justice to flourish in His kingdom. And as king, He would not tolerate the worship or veneration of other gods. He demanded unflagging loyalty from His citizens. Unfaithfulness was to be punished. Justice was to reign in His land and among His people.

But Moses also alludes to a day coming when the people of God would demand a king other than God. In spite of the fact that God would allow the people to enter the land, possess it, and live in it, they would decide that they want a king like all the other nations. They would become dissatisfied with God as their king and determine to place a human king on the throne of Israel. God anticipates this event and even gives requirements regarding this eventual outcome. This king would be chosen by God. He would rule according to God's standards, and adhere to God's laws. His kingdom would only be as successful as he was faithful. Sadly, we know the outcome of this story. Israel would demand a king. And God would give them a king after their own hearts – King Saul. He would be all they ever hoped for – tall, good looking, a natural born leader. But also a lousy follower of God. He would disobey God and disappoint the people of God. God would eventually replace him with David. But David and his son Solomon would both violate the very requirements outlines in this passage. And their disobedience would lead to God's punishment on them and their kingdoms. Their legacy of less-than-perfect leadership would live on in the lives of the kings of Israel and Judah, most of whom were flawed and faithless kings and sorry replacements for the one true king – God Himself.

This is about God. It always has been and always will be. He is our God and we are His people. We owe Him tribute and honor. We are to live according to the rules of His kingdom, not our own. We are to remain faithful to Him and to be satisfied with His leadership in our lives.

Father, You are king. I am to answer to You and You alone. But so often I fail to obey You and I seek others kings in my life. Help me to remember that I owe all my allegiance to You. I am to worship You and You alone. I am to live according to Your rules and the terms of Your kingdom. You are a faithful and just king who rules with fairness and dispenses justice. There is no reason I should ever doubt You or dethrone You from my life. Amen

Distinctively Different.

Deuteronomy 14-15

You have been set apart as holy to the LORD your God, and he has chosen you to be his own special treasure from all the nations of the earth. – Deuteronomy 14:2 NLT

The people of Israel were no different than anybody else. At least when it came to their worthiness. They were no better than any other nation. They were no more deserving of God's love than any other people group on the planet. There was nothing about them that set them apart except for the fact that God had set them apart – for Himself. These chapters are all a reminder to the people of God that they belong to Him. As they get ready to go into the Promised Land and occupy it, Moses is reminding them that they are to live distinctively different lives. They have a different standard by which to live. God has called them to live lives that are reflective of their unique relationship with Him. Rather than blend in and fit in with the surrounding culture, they were to stand out and be set apart from it. In every area of their lives. The external appearance of the people should reflect their internal status as the chosen and holy people of God.

From the food they ate and the clothes they wore to the way they worshiped, everything was to be different. They were not free to eat anything they wanted. They were not free to dress like the surrounding nations. All of these rules and regulations seem highly restrictive to us, but they were really God's way of ensuring that His people stood out from the crowd. They were designed to keep the people of God from living like the Canaanites and other people groups who occupied the land. God did not want them eat like them, act like them, worship like them, or treat one another the way they did. So God provided the people of Israel with divine standards for everything from food consumption to debt reduction. Even their treatment of the poor was to be distinctive. God was blessing them so that they might be a blessing. That was part of the original Abrahamic covenant. They were going to be enjoying the blessings of God in the land, so they were required to pass that blessing along to those in need. "…as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them" Deuteronomy 15:14b NET). Even to the point of suspending or forgiving debt. This would have been unheard of among the people who lived in the land. Word of this kind of relationship between brothers and sisters would have spread quickly among the pagan nations. News of forgiveness of debt and compassionate care for the poor would have gotten the attention of all the neighbors of Israel. It would have set them apart as different and distinct. But it would have also illustrated the heart of God.

We are called to live lives that are set apart. Not to inconvenience us, but to mark us as belonging to God. We are His and as such, we are to live lives that illustrate our unique relationship as His called out ones. We only are a people holy to GOD, our God; GOD has chosen us out of all the people on Earth as His cherished personal treasure. And we should live like it.

Father, You have called us out and set us apart. Yet so often we fail to live distinctively different lives. We would rather blend in than stand out. We would prefer to reflect the world's standards than live according to Yours. Forgive us and continue to call us out. Show us how to be in the world but not of it. May our lives reflect our unique relationship as Your sons and daughters. Amen

A Crime Worthy of Death

Deuteronomy 13

Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery. – Deuteronomy 13:10 NLT

So just how serious was God about His people keeping the first commandment? It seems that when He said that they were not to have any other gods in place of or besides Him, He meant it. Deuteronomy 13 is an explanation of what was to happen to anyone who tried to tempt the people of God to worship idols. Whether it was a prophet, brother, son or daughter, wife, or even a best friend who tried to entice the worship of false gods, the penalty was the same: death by stoning. In God's eyes, these individuals were counseling rebellion against Him. God had called the people of Israel to follow Him, fear Him, keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him (Deuteronomy 13:4). God required faithfulness and fidelity from His people, and unfaithfulness was not to be tolerated. God saw idolatry as spiritual sedition. It was rebellion against His rule and authority in their lives, and it was a serious crime that carried a serious punishment.

But today we have softened our stance on idolatry. We seem to believe that we are safe and secure because we don't have any idols in our lives. After all, we don't worship totems or golden statues on the mantel of our homes. We don't pray to other gods or offer sacrifices in pagan temples. But are we idol-free? Have we kept the first commandment fully and completely? In his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller helps us see that idol worship is a lot more evident in our lives than we might like to admit.

"The Bible often speaks of idols using the religious metaphor. God should be our true Savior, but we look to personal achievement or financial prosperity to give us the peace and security we need. Idols give us a sense of being in control, and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares. What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living? We make 'sacrifices' to appease and please our gods, who we believe will protect us. We look to our idols to provide us with a sense of confidence and safety. The Bible also speaks of idols using a political metaphor. God should be our Lord and Master, but whatever we love and trust we also serve. Anything that becomes more important and non-negotiable to us than God becomes an enslaving idol. In this paradigm, we can locate idols by looking at our most unyielding emotions. What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious, or despondent? What racks us with a guilt we can't shake? Idols control us, since we feel we must have them or life is meaningless."

So you see, idols are more prevalent in our lives than we might like to admit. And when you couple that fact with God's hatred for them, we have to take this as a wake-up call. We must see our tendency to seek other source of satisfaction and fulfillment as a serious crime against God. It is nothing less than spiritual sedition. God is to be our sole source of comfort, security, safety, strength, hope, satisfaction, joy, and fulfillment. Any time we seek for those in something or somebody else, we have made that thing or individual an idol in our lives. And God will not tolerate it. Is He asking us to stone one another today for our acts of idolatry? Probably not, but He is testing us. "The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul" (Deuteronomy 13:3 NLT). He wants to see if we will worship Him and Him alone. Will we remain faithful. Are we willing confess our love affair with other things and return to Him? If we do, He promises to bless us. Because He is faithful even when we are not.

Father, I have so many idols in my life and I ask Your forgiveness for allowing myself to turn to them in place of You. The sad thing is that they never really deliver what they promise. They disappoint all the time, but I keep going back to them. But You are always faithful and true and never let me down. Help me see the seriousness of my sin. Help me to take idolatry seriously and see it as rebellion against Your rule and authority in my life. Amen

No Other Gods!

Deuteronomy 11-12

So have love for the Lord your God, and give him worship, and keep his laws and his decisions and his orders at all times. – Deuteronomy 11:1 BBE

We are entering a portion of the book of Deuteronomy where Moses begins to unpack the commandments of God in practical ways. He is preparing the people for entering the land and giving them a recap of the Law that God had given them back at Sinai. He is explaining in greater detail the meaning of the various Ten Commandments and helping the people understand how they will apply to their life in the Promised Land. But in revisiting the commands of God, Moses is giving them and us a glimpse into the heart, mind, and will of God. We see how He thinks, how He relates, and what His desires are for the people He chooses. Chapter 11 is a call to love and obey God, to keep His commandments, to walk in His ways, and to hold onto Him. "Be careful to obey all the commands I give you; show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and clinging to him" (Deuteronomy 11:22 NLT). It paints a picture of blessings and curses based on obedience or disobedience to the commands of God. Chapter 12 is really an elaboration of the first commandment: "You must not have any other gods besides me" (Deuteronomy 5:7 NET). Moses is making sure the people understand the commandments fully so they can keep them completely and enjoy the blessings of God.

God gives the people very explicit instructions regarding the worship of Him when they arrive in the land. He makes it clear what they are to do and not do. They are to completely purge the land of all alters, high places, and shrines to false gods. They are not to leave any remnants of them in the land. Why? Because God knew the people would be tempted to worship these gods in place of Him or in addition to Him. They had to worship the one true God, not the god of their choice. They were not to worship their version of the one true God, but only God Himself. And not only were they to worship God and God alone, they had to worship Him correctly. They couldn't worship Him using an alter built for a false god. They couldn't worship Him in a place other than the one designated and determined by God. The bottom line is that God is very specific about how we are to worship Him. So He tells the people that it is going to be very different when the arrive in the Promised Land. He even tells them, "Today you are doing whatever you please, but that is not how it will be" (Deuteronomy 12:8 NLT). They were going to play by His rules and live according to His standards, not their own.

In the introduction to his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller makes this sobering statement: "Our contemporary society is not fundamentally different from those ancient ones. Each culture is dominated by its own set of idols. Each has its 'priesthoods,' its totems and rituals. Each has its own shrines – whether office towers, spas and gyms, studios, or stadiums – where sacrifices must be made in order to procure the blessings of the good life and ward off disaster. What are the gods of beauty, power, money, and achievement but these same things that have assumed mythic proportions in our individual lives and in our society?" We are called to love and worship God and Him alone. We are commanded to have no other gods beside Him. Yet each of us struggles daily with the temptation to offer our time, talents, money and attention on something other than God. We worship at the shrines of power, position, pleasure and possessions. We have taken the idols of our culture and made them our own. We seek satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, and contentment from them. We expect them to deliver what only God Himself is capable of providing. And we suffer as a result. We are disillusioned, disappointed, dysfunctional, dissatisfied, and distant from the very God who wants to bless us beyond our wildest dreams. But our God wants to be our only god. He wants us to worship Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. He wants our undivided attention and love.

Father, You have called me to love and obey You. But to do that I must remove all the other gods in my life. And there are a lot of them. I worship anything and everything, including myself sometimes. And even though none of these things really deliver on their promises, I find myself going back to them time and time again. You have told me to have no other gods before me. You have commanded me to remove all these idols from my life. Give me the strength and determination to do just that. So that I might worship You and You alone. Amen

God Chose Me!

Deuteronomy 10

Look around you: Everything you see is GOD's – the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. But it was your ancestors that GOD fell in love with; he picked their children – that's [you]! – out of all the other peoples. That's where we are right now. – Deuteronomy 10:14-15 MSG

I have to be honest. Sometimes I don't fully understand or appreciate the reality that the God of the universe has chosen to have a relationship with me. For some reason I lose sight of just how incredibly awesome that fact is. I take it for granted. I even convince myself that I somehow deserve to have a relationship with God. But I know I'm not alone. The Israelites had the same problem, and Moses knew it. That's why he has spent the last few chapters reminding them of all the great things God has done for them. Now in chapter 10 he gives them a not-so-subtle reminder that God chose them, not the other way around. The Creator of all things, the God of the entire universe, "set His affection" (NASB) on Abraham and his descendants. He showed them favor. He delighted in them. All so He could express His love for them. His choosing of Abraham had nothing to do with Abraham himself. It was not based on anything Abraham had done or not done. God chose Abraham. And God chose Abraham's descendants. And God chose the Israelites who found themselves standing on the edge of the Promised Land, waiting to inherit the blessings of God, in spite of their stubborn hearts and rebellious spirits.

And God chose me! Not because I deserved to be chosen. He just chose me. That ought to blow my mind every time I think about it. But instead, I have grown so accustomed to the reality of it, that it sometimes carries no weight with me at all. I use phrases like "child of God" so flippantly and casually, not realizing or appreciating the remarkable nature of my relationship with the Almighty God, creator of all things. When I think about the reality of my relationship with God, it should blow me away. And it should engender a response, much like the one Moses encouraged the people of Israel to have. To fear Him, obey Him, love Him, and serve Him with all my heart and soul. "So now Israel, what do you think GOD expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve GOD, your God, with everything you have in you" (Deuteronomy 10:12 MSG). I am to serve Him with everything I have in me. But I will never do that fully if I don't come to realize just how marvelous it is that He chose me! Moses describes God in these amazing terms: "GOD, your God, is the God of all gods, he's the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome" (Deuteronomy 10:17 MSG). That same God chose me! He wants to have a relationship with me. He put HIS Spirit within me. He calls me His child. He has made me His heir. That incredible reality should produce in me a desire to obey Him, love Him, follow Him, fear Him, listen to Him, and more than anything else, appreciate the fact that I can have a relationship with Him.

Father, thank You for choosing me! What more can I say? Thank You, thank You, thank You. Amen

The Danger of Disregarding God.

Deuteronomy 8-9

After the LORD your God has done this for you, don’t say to yourselves, "The LORD has given us this land because we are so righteous!" No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is doing it. – Deuteronomy 9:4 NLT

Excessive self-reliance and self-importance can destroy our concept of God. We can become so self-consumed that we turn God into a caricature of Himself. He becomes less the all-powerful, Holy God than a personal valet who meets our desires and rewards us for our good deeds. This is a risk the Israelites faced and it is one that confronts us today. In chapters eight and nine, Moses covers two themes with the people: remembering/forgetting and wilderness/Promised Land. He warns them to remember all that God has done for them during their years in the wilderness. He led them, fed them, humbled them, tested them, taught them, and disciplined them. Then he warns them not to forget all that God has done for them once they arrive in the Promised Land. Moses knew that they would have a tendency to think they somehow deserved all they are getting because of their own righteousness. In spite of their track record of rebellion and sinfulness. They would develop short-term memory loss and forget what the incident of the golden calf and their habit of grumbling and complaining against God. Instead, they would falsely think of themselves as righteous and somehow deserving of all the blessings found in the land of promise. They would wrongly conclude that all this was all because of THEM. So Moses wants to remind them of their own sin, so they would understand God's mercy and grace.

While there is an extreme form of pride that completely leaves God out of the picture and tends to attribute success and prosperity self-effort, there is another kind of pride that is more insidious and dangerous. It comes disguised as a false sense of humility expressing gratitude to God for all His blessings. But hidden behind the veneer of gratefulness and admissions of God undeserved goodness is a subtle belief that we somehow deserve what we are getting. His blessings are somehow proof of our own righteousness. Like the Israelites we say, "Because of my righteousness the Lord has given me this land." In other words, we can acknowledge God's goodness while basing it on our own righteousness. God is good to us because we are good!

This kind of thinking tends to distort and disregard the true nature of God. He was a sovereign God who had chosen them, not because of anything special about them, but because He chose to do so. They were no more deserving of His goodness than any other nation. He was displacing the Canaanites and other people groups because of their own rebellion and sinfulness, not because of the righteousness of Israel. Whenever we begin to think that we somehow deserve or have in any way earned God's favor, we diminish God. He devalue His grace and mercy. We make ourselves the hero and God the dispenser of rewards for our righteousness. And in doing so we fail to remember the truth: We are sinners saved by grace. We are rebels who deserved death, but have been given life and righteousness. We are a stubborn and stiff-necked people whom God has chosen to redeem, in spite of us, not because of us.

Father, we are so prone to take credit for all You have done for us. We want to somehow think we deserve Your blessings. We want to believe that we have earned Your good favor by our good actions. But we are a stubborn and stiff-necked people. We suffer from short-term memory loss and a false sense of self-worth. Forgive me for devaluing all You have done by wrongly valuing what I have done. You get all the credit all the time. Amen

Small Victories. Steady Growth.

Deuteronomy 7

No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the LORD your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. The LORD your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, for if you did, the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you. – Deuteronomy 7:21-22 NLT

Transformation takes time. But we live in a quick-fix society that wants everything to happen instantaneously. Whether it's losing weight or gaining wealth, we don't want to wait. TV shows like The Biggest Loser give us glimpses into the lives of individuals attempting to lose significant amounts of weight, but collapse the entire process into a single season of 30-minute shows. We love before-and-after images of people who have been transformed. We like stories about people who have gone from rags to riches, obscurity to fame – seemingly overnight. Every day millions of people waste their hard-earned money playing the lottery in the hopes of winning big and getting rich quick. And if we're honest, many of us as Christians approach our spiritual transformation with the same results-while-you-wait mentality. We are in a hurry to get where we think we need to be. But God doesn't seem to be in a rush. He is in no hurry. Instead He seems willing to slowly and methodically work out His plan of spiritual transformation in our lives.

We see the same no-hurry mentality when it comes to God's plan for the people of Israel possessing the land of Canaan. Moses reminds the people that their God is great and awesome. He is powerful and fully capable of doing whatever He sets His mind to do. But that same powerful God was NOT going to give the instant access to the land and immediate victory over all their enemies. No, this was going to be a slow and steady process. God was going to clear away the nations little by little – one step at a time. When it comes to the renovation of our lives, we can sometimes get intimidated by the sheet size of the task ahead of us. There seems to be so many things we need to work on. We have so many flaws and faults that stand in the way of our transformation. It can be easy to get overwhelmed and lose heart. God knows this about us. He knew it about the people of Israel. He also knew that giving them instantaneous victory would have been disastrous. They wouldn't have been able to handle the success. And neither can we. So God works slowly and methodically. He gives us small victories and steady glimpses of growth taking place. He wants us to move forward one step at a time. He wants us to be faithful and to face our fears knowing that He is with us. He chose us. He loves us. And He is going to change us. On His time frame and in His own unique way. We can count on it.

Father, You are transforming me daily. Forgive me for the many times I get impatient or even upset that You are not working fast enough. Your plan is perfect and Your timing is impeccable. Help me to rest in You and wait on You. Help me to recognize the change that is taking place each and every day. Amen

The Great Commandment.

Deuteronomy 6

And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength. – Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT

Sounds a bit familiar doesn't it? Here in chapter six of the book of Deuteronomy, we have the words that Jesus quoted in answer to the question, "Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?" Jesus replied, "You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment" (Matthew 22:37-38 NLT). But the love of God must include obedience to God. That is what Deuteronomy chapter six is all about. Here Moses unpacks the first commandment to love the Lord your God. He expands on it and gives the Israelites a more in-depth understanding of just what that love must include. It must include a healthy fear of God. The fear of God is the respect that comes from an appreciation of His character. He is holy, righteous, just, pure, and yet faithful, constant, consistent, loving, and forgiving. As we have seen, God is a covenant-keeping God. He follows through on His promises. He can be trusted. The love of God also includes fidelity on our part. We must remain faithful and true. We must not have any other gods, or worship anything other than God Himself. The love of God includes obedience. To love Him is to obey Him. Even Jesus said, "If you love me, obey my commandments" (John 14:15 NLT). He went on to say, "Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them" (John 14:15 NLT).

Loving God also includes bragging about God. Moses told the people of Israel to tell their children all the wonderful things God had done for them. When their sons and daughters asked them about the meaning behind all the laws and commandments, the people were to respond, "We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with amazing power. Before our eyes the LORD did miraculous signs and wonders, dealing terrifying blows against Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people. He brought us out of Egypt so he could give us this land he had solemnly promised to give our ancestors. And the LORD our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to fear him for our own prosperity and well–being, as is now the case" (Deuteronomy 6:21-24 NLT). And in the same way, we're to tell our kids about the incredible things God has done in our lives. We obey Him because He delivered us. We obey Him out of delight, not duty.

We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Nothing has changed. That is still the expectation. It is still the Great Commandment. But it is so easy to love other things. It is so easy to give our affections to someone or something else. It is so easy to disobey and to fail to fear God, refusing to show Him the proper respect His character deserves. We can easily become complacent and forgetful of all He has done. We can become self-sufficient and self-satisfied. But He has called us to express our love to Him through obedience, fear, faithfulness, and a desire to talk about Him constantly because of all He has done.

Father, I want to continue to learn what it means to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I want to show that love to You in tangible ways. I want to express my love for You in a life of obedience, faith, and fear, telling others of Your powerful presence in my life. Amen

A Covenant Breaking People.

Deuteronomy 4-5

What I wouldn't give if they'd always feel this way, continuing to revere me and always keep all my commands; they'd have a good life forever, they and their children! – Deuteronomy 5:29 MSG

As we saw yesterday, the theme of the book of Deuteronomy seems to be the covenant-keeping aspect of God. The covenant is mentioned over and over again. It comes up again in our two chapters for today. Moses reminds the people once again of the covenant God had made with them. He had promised to give them the land of Canaan – the Promised Land. But His covenant with them had a clause that required them to obey. As part of His covenant, He provided them with the Ten Commandments, as a set of rules or regulations for them to keep. Moses reiterates the requirements at the beginning of chapter four. "And now, Israel, listen carefully to these laws and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you from the LORD your God. Just obey them" (Deuteronomy 4:1-2 NLT). Then at the beginning of chapter five, he goes back over the original Ten Commandments again.

Moses repeatedly tells the people to keep, to obey, to do them, to beware, to watch themselves, and to remember. He reminds them of God's faithfulness and His compassion. But he also warns them that their failure to obey will result in their destruction and ultimate captivity. What is amazing is that God is predicting through Moses exactly what was going to happen. God knew the people were going to fail to keep His commandments. He knew they were going to be unfaithful and rebel against Him. He knew He was going to have to follow through on His threat to send the into captivity. But in spite of all this, God was going to prove His unfailing faithfulness yet again. "From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. When those bitter days have come upon you far in the future, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. For the LORD your God is merciful––he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors" (Deuteronomy 4:29-31 NLT). Even in the midst of the punishment for their rebellion, God would make Himself known to them. He would not abandon them or destroy them. Instead He would show compassion and mercy. He would remember the covenant He had made and keep it.

God didn't want to bring destruction on His people. He didn't want to send them into captivity. He longed that His people would have a heart for Him. "Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! (Deuteronomy 4:29 NASB). God knew His people would break the covenant. He knew they would rebel. He knew they did not have the capacity or capability to hold up their end of the covenant. But it did not change His commitment to them. In fact, God would eventually provide a way for all mankind to keep His law and fulfill His commands – through the provision of His own Son. He knew we were incapable of keeping His law. So He sent His Son to do it for us, and to pay the price for our sin. He is the covenant-keeping God. He is faithful, even when we are not.

Father, I would not be here if not for You. I would not even have chosen to have a relationship with You if not for Your Holy Spirit drawing me to You. I can't thank You enough for Your faithfulness and mercy. Amen

Our Covenant Keeping God.

Deuteronomy 2-3

The LORD your God has blessed everything you have done and has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and provided for your every need so that you lacked nothing. – Deuteronomy 2:7 NLT

The first few chapters of the book of Deuteronomy are a recap of the events of the past 40 years. In an effort to set up the real theme of this book, Moses recounts everything that has happened in the lives of the Israelites up until this point. In chapters two and three we have a review of the early days of the conquest of the land. But at the heart of the story is God Himself. He is the hero. It is all about Him and His faithfulness to fulfill and complete what He began all those years ago in His call of Abram out of Ur. He made a covenant with Abram and He has been fulfilling it all along. He made a promise and He was keeping it. God had promised Abram a land, a seed, and a blessing. He had already given him a seed in the form of a great multitude, now He was going to give the descendants of Abram the land He had promised.

God had taken care of them all those years they had wandered in the wilderness. They had not lacked a thing, except the ability to be obedient and to not complain. But in spite of their unfaithfulness, God had remained faithful. And now He was giving them the very land He had promised to their father Abraham all those years ago. Their conquest of Canaan was going to be God-directed and God-blessed. "Beginning today I will make all people throughout the earth terrified of you. When they hear reports about you, they will tremble with dread and fear" (Deuteronomy 2:25 NLT). God was not leaving it up to chance. He was going to complete what He began and fulfill what He promised. Because He is a covenant keeping God.  The Hebrew word translated "take possession" (v. 21), is used more than 50 times in Deuteronomy.  It always refers to the Promised Land and expresses God's great desire for His people that they possess what He had promised them. God wanted them to take possession of the promised land. He had promised it, now they must possess it. "The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it…" (Deuteronomy 3:18 NASB).

We can't look past all that had taken place to get the people of God to this point. The call of Abraham. The betrayal of Joseph by his brothers. Joseph's ultimate elevation to prominence in Egypt. The relocation of Jacob and his family to Egypt. The blessing of God on the descendants of Jacob and their miraculous proliferation in the land of Egypt. The subsequent abuse of the Israelites at the hands of the Egyptians. The birth and rescue of Moses. His exile and ultimate call by God. The redemption of the people of God by God. The Passover. The exodus. The wilderness wanderings. And now, the conquest of the land. The common theme throughout this entire time line is the covenant-keeping ability of our God. He was responsible for it all. He is faithful. He will do what He promises to do – whether we hold up our end of the bargain or not.

Father, You are the covenant-keeping God. You are faithful and true. You do what You promise. You finish what You start. You complete what you begin. Thank You for reminding me of that fact. Because there is another promise You are going to fulfill – the return of Your Son and the restoration of all things. I can trust You to do what You said You would do. In spite of what I see happening all around me. Thanks for that word of encouragement. Amen

An Ignorance of God.

Deuteronomy 1

But even after all he did, you refused to trust the LORD your God. – Deuteronomy 1:32 NLT

How well do you know God? As we begin reading through the book of Deuteronomy, let me challenge you to read it with new eyes. The danger is that you will read it with a familiarity that can breed a kind of contempt or spiritual laziness. After all, you've read through Exodus and Numbers, and this book contains a lot of the same stories. But this time, try to read with your eyes focused on God. Look for Him in these passages. See what you can discover about Him as you read these familiar stories from the lives of the Israelites. These people had been delivered, led and fed by God, yet even as early as chapter one we see that they really didn't know Him. Chapter one recaps their unwllingness to go into the very land God had promised. Verse 32 puts it bluntly. They refused to trust Him. And they refused to trust Him because they really didn't know Him.

Take a look at verse 27. "You complained among yourselves privately and said, 'Because the Lord hates us he brought us from Egypt to deliver us over to the Amorites so they could destroy us!'" (Deuteronomy 1:27 NET). Do you see what these verse reveals about their knowledge and understanding of God? They had determined that God hated them and had brought them out of Egypt for the sole purpose of destroying them. What a warped view of God. We read that and think, "What is wrong with these people? What are they thinking?" But the truth is, we tend to have the same distorted view of God in our own lives. We take a look at our circumstances and we determine that God must be angry at us, because things have not turned out quite the way we think they should. We tend to view our God through the lens of our circumstances, rather than the other way around. When things are not going well, it is easy to conclude that our God is angry, vengeful, and out to get us. We can end up denying the very goodness of God. We can lose sight of His big picture plan for us. We forget that He has already delivered us and falsely conclude that he is out to destroy us. The truth is, we always fail to trust what we do not understand. Our lack of understanding of who God is leads us to trust Him for who He is. So we disobey Him. We rebel against Him. We refuse to do what He tells us to do. Because we don't understand or trust Him.

As we read through Deuteronomy together, let's look for God. Let's try and see His character on display and learn more about Him. Because as we grow in our knowledge of Him, we will grow in our dependency on and trust in Him. We will learn to believe Him when He says, "Don’t be afraid! The LORD your God is going before you. He will fight for you, just as you saw him do in Egypt" (Deuteronomy 1:29-30 NLT).

Father, I want to know You better so that I might trust You more. Open my eyes and help me see You in the pages of the book of Deuteronomy. Show me Your love, faithfulness, goodness, greatness, power, trustworthiness, and providential plan for my life. Amen

A Future Perspective and A Corporate Concern.

Numbers 36

Just as the LORD had commanded Moses, so the daughters of Zelophehad did. – Numbers 36:10 NLT

The book of Numbers ends on a seemingly strange note with the story of the five daughters of Zelophehad. According to the law of inheritance, these women would be given the land of their father Zelophehad, since they had no brothers. But the tribe of Manasseh brought up a potential problem to Moses. Since these women were going to inherit the land of their father upon his death, what would prevent them from marrying a man from another tribe and the land then transferring ownership from one tribe to another? In other words, what would happen if the heiress to her father's property married someone from a different tribe? In that case the land of their father would become the property of another tribe and the tribal allotments would become intermixed and confused.

God had a solution to this problem, but this chapter raises another interesting question: Why did God have Moses end the book of Numbers with this story? Why was the entire book concluded with a story about the daughters of Zelophehad? I think it has to do with a couple of things. First of all, the book of Numbers is about the future. From the very outset, it has been a history of the people of Israel and their journey from Egypt to the Promised Land, but the real focus was not on the past or the present, but the future. As the book closes, the concern behind the question that the tribe of Manasseh raises has to do with the future. They seem to understand that this is a long-term situation. The land they are all inheriting is not just for those who are living at that time, but for future generations. There is a future aspect to this matter that causes them to be concerned and speak up.

The other issue is that this is not about the individual. While it was wonderful that these daughters were going to be able to inherit the land of their father, it ultimately was not about them. It was not even just about their tribe. It was about the people of God. And God's concern was for the corporate well-being of His people. If these women had been left free to marry whoever they wanted to, the allotment of the land could have been potentially altered with dramatic consequences for the future. One tribe could have ended up with more land than another. Jealousy and fighting between the tribes could have resulted. So God comes up with a plan by which the daughters are free to marry, but within certain constraints. They had to marry someone from within their own tribe.

In our world of independence and self-centered philosophy, this concern for the corporate good is foreign to us. It's all about me! I have to do what is best for me. The thought of sacrificing for the team is unheard of these days. Even our sports stars are all about themselves. Self-promotion and self-preservation are the norm. But God reminds us that it isn't all about us. It is about the family of God. And while we are to live in the moment, we are to keep our eyes focused on the future. If not, we can develop a live-for-the-moment mentality that sacrifices the future for pleasures of today. The daughters of Zelophehad weren't willing to do that. They did just as Moses directed them. They obeyed. They understood that God had their best interests and the interests of the people of God in mind. And they lived with their eyes on the future. Which is what each of us is called to do as children of God. It isn't all about me and my happiness. This is about the people of God. This is about the future. Any sacrifice God calls me to make is for the good of the team.

Father, it has always been about the future for You. You have the end in mind. I can get caught up in the here and now and lose sight of the finished work You have in mind. I can also become so self-focused that I forget that You have a plan for the people of God as a whole. It is not all about me. Give me a future perspective and a corporate concern that allows me to listen to You instead of my own selfish desires. Amen

A Place of Refuge.

Numbers 35

These cities are for the protection of Israelites, resident foreigners, and traveling merchants. Anyone who accidentally kills someone may flee there for safety. – Numbers 35:15 NLT

The cities of refuge. God instructed Moses to set aside six different cities, spread throughout the land of Canaan, and designate them as cities of refuge. Occupied by Levites, these cities were strategically placed and easily accessible from all parts of the land. Their purpose was to provide a safe-haven to anyone who had accidentally committed murder.  In other words, if an Israelite inadvertently and unintentionally caused the death of a fellow Israelite, he could flee to one of these cities and seek refuge from the avenger. It was up to the relatives of a murdered individual to seek vengeance. This "blood avenger" (Numbers 35:19) was not just free to kill the murdered, he was obligated to do so (Numbers 35:19, 21). It was his duty. He was called the "avenger of blood."

But in order to prevent the blood avenger from taking the life of an innocent man, the cities of refuge were established. If a man accidentally killed someone else, he could run to one of these cities and hide. As long as he was there, he was protected from the blood avenger. It was up to the residents of the city (mostly Levites) to help determine whether this individual was a manslayer or murderer. If it was determined that he had killed the other premeditatedly and intentionally, he was to be handed over to the blood avenger who could seek retribution. But if it was determined that the death was unintentional and accidental, then the "manslayer" would be allowed to stay in the city of refuge until the high priest died. In essence, the city became his prison. If he ever left, he would be guilty of violating his sentence and the blood avenger could seek his death. All of this sounds very barbaric to us, but you have to remember that Israel had no police force for carrying out justice or enforcing laws. Murder was wrong and justice must be served. Killing someone accidently also had to be dealt with, but in a different manner. So that is why these cities were established. God was protecting the innocent.

So what does all this have to do with us? What lessons can we learn from this chapter? Well, the cities of refuge are a picture of Christ. He provides shelter for the sinner from judgment. We all stand guilty before God. We are condemned sinners, and as such, we deserve judgment. Yet God has provided a place of refuge, a place where we can run and seek shelter and protection from the blood avenger. Rather than having to fear condemnation, we find protection in Christ. "So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1 NLT).

In the case of someone seeking refuge in one of these cities, if they remained there until the high priest died, they were forgiven for their sin. They walked away free and clear. The death of the high priest had atoning value just as Jesus death for us atones for our sins. No one could accuse this person once the high priest had died. And we stand as unaccused and uncondemned because of what Christ has done for us. "Who dares accuse us whom God has chosen for his own? Will God? No! He is the one who has given us right standing with himself. Who then will condemn us? Will Christ Jesus? No, for he is the one who died for us and was raised to life for us and is sitting at the place of highest honor next to God, pleading for us" (Romans 8:33-34 NLT).

We can take refuge in Christ. He is our high priest and He has died for us. His death has set us free once and for all. "God also bound himself with an oath, so that those who received the promise could be perfectly sure that he would never change his mind. So God has given us both his promise and his oath. These two things are unchangeable because it is impossible for God to lie. Therefore, we who have fled to him for refuge can take new courage, for we can hold on to his promise with confidence. This confidence is like a strong and trustworthy anchor for our souls. It leads us through the curtain of heaven into God’s inner sanctuary. Jesus has already gone in there for us. He has become our eternal High Priest in the line of Melchizedek" (Hebrews 6:17-20 NLT).

Father, You have provided Your Son as my city of refuge. I have run to Him and He has died in my place. His death atoned for my sins and as a result, I stand uncondemned before You. I was once guilty, but now I am forgiven. Thank You. Amen

Occupy the Land!

Numbers 33-34

…you must drive out all the people living there. You must destroy all their carved and molten images and demolish all their pagan shrines. Take possession of the land and settle in it, because I have given it to you to occupy. – Numbers 33:52-53 NLT

They're almost there. The day they've been waiting for so long is about to arrive. The people of God stand on the edge of the Promised Land and are just days away from entering it. It has been a long time in coming. There has been a lengthy (40 year) delay, but now it's time to enjoy what God had promised so long ago, way back in the land of Egypt. But as with most things associated with God, the blessing is tied to a requirement. He has one last instruction to give them before they enter and occupy the land. And it is a pretty significant requirement. They must drive out all the people who are living there. On top of that they have to destroy all their idols and pagan shrines erected to the gods of the land. They've got to smash every idol they find. In other words, they've got to clean house before they set up house. Sounds simple enough doesn't it? But if you're the least bit familiar with the story of the Israelites, they didn't exactly follow God's instructions to the letter. They took a few liberties. It's almost as if the enemy (Satan) was standing there just like he was in the garden of Eden, asking the question, "Surely, God has not said…"

I can just hear Satan whispering in their ears, "You don't have to get rid of ALL the idols, just most of them." Or maybe he worded his temptation this way, "You might want to leave one of the pagan shrines intact, just in case Yahweh doesn't come through for you." And as far as ridding the land of all its occupants, Satan probably did his best to convince the people of God just how politically incorrect and insensitive this kind of thing could come across to the rest of the people in the region. "You don't want to get off on the wrong foot with your neighbors, do you?"

And God seemed to know that the people would have second thoughts about His command, so He warned them what would happen if they failed to obey."But if you fail to drive out the people who live in the land, those who remain will be like splinters in your eyes and thorns in your sides. They will harass you in the land where you live. And I will do to you what I had planned to do to them" (Numbers 33:55-56 NLT). Disobey me, God says, and you will live to regret it. This is not a suggestion, but a command. God expects them to do what He says. He has a good reason for what He is asking them to do. He knows exactly what will happen if they choose to disobey Him. And its not good. If they fail to remove the land's occupants, they will become a constant threat and a thorn in their side. They will not learn to live amicably together. Cleansing was critical for spiritual survival.

In his commentary on the book of Numbers, Dr. Thomas Constable has this to say, "The repetition of 'all' (Numbers 33:52) stresses the importance of completely clearing the land of its inhabitants and their religious paraphernalia. God wanted to clean up the land spiritually and to make it a 'holy land.' The land was a gift from God to His first-born son, Israel (Numbers 33:53). God warned the Israelites what would happen to them if they were not completely obedient (Numbers 333:55-56). The Canaanites would be a constant source of irritation to them, and God would deal with His people as He planned to deal with the Canaanites."

God wanted to clean up the land spiritually and make it a holy land. That reminds me of what God wants to do with my life. He wants to clean it up spiritually and make it holy. He is about removing anything and everything in my life that would defile or defeat me. He wants to clean house. But I tend to want to hang on to certain remnants of my past. I want to give the enemy some footholds in my life where he can live at peace. I want to keep some of the idols that were there before God came to occupy the land. I find the idols comforting. They bring me a little bit of peace and assurance. But God wants to purge my life of any vestiges of the past. He wants to make all things new. To receive all the blessings the Promised Land had to offer, the people had to obey God fully. The same thing is true for us today. To enjoy all the blessings out new life in Christ offers, we must obey God fully. God makes this clear in His Word.

"…throw off your old evil nature and your former way of life, which is rotten through and through, full of lust and deception." – Ephesians 4:22 NLT

"Don't lie to one another. You're done with that old life. It's like a filthy set of ill-fitting clothes you've stripped off and put in the fire." – Colossians 3:9 MSG

"The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So don’t live in darkness. Get rid of your evil deeds. Shed them like dirty clothes. Clothe yourselves with the armor of right living, as those who live in the light. We should be decent and true in everything we do, so that everyone can approve of our behavior. Don’t participate in wild parties and getting drunk, or in adultery and immoral living, or in fighting and jealousy. But let the Lord Jesus Christ take control of you, and don’t think of ways to indulge your evil desires." – Romans 13:12-14 NLT

God is looking for change. He wants us to purge and purify. To rid the landscape of our lives from any and all vestiges of the past. If we do, we will be blessed. If we don't, we will always find ourselves doing battle with past enemies and tempted to worship former idols. Cleansing is the key to blessing.

Father, show me the idols in my life that I have left up. Open my eyes and help me see any enemies I have left occupying the landscape of my life. I want to clean house. I want to enter the land of Your promise and enjoy all the blessings You have in store for me. But I know I have some house cleaning to do. Amen

Be Sure Your Sins Will Find You Out.

Numbers 32

But if you fail to keep your word, then you will have sinned against the LORD, and you may be sure that your sin will find you out. – Numbers 32:23 NLT

This chapter contains one of those verses we've all heard before, but probably never knew where it came from. We've probably found ourselves using part of the verse without even knowing the context or the real meaning behind it. "Be sure your sins will find you out!," are words that have probably flowed from our lips in one form or another. And if we're parents, they were more than likely directed at one of our kids. So this morning as I read through chapter 32 of Numbers, I was a little surprised to see these familiar words in their original context. I had forgotten (if I had ever known) just why these words were first spoken by Moses. As the people of God prepared to enter the Promised Land, the land of Canaan, Moses is approached by the tribes of Reuben and Gad. They have a lot of flocks and have noticed that the land east of the Jordan has some great pastureland. So they make a request to Moses asking him for permission to remain on the east side of the river instead of crossing over with everyone else to the actual land of promise. Moses is flabbergasted by their request. It is eerily reminiscent of the time 40 years earlier when the people refused to enter the land, but instead listened to the bad report from the spies. That decision resulted in God's wrath and punishment. Now 40 years later, that generation has died off and their descendants stand on the brink of entering the land. When Moses hears their request to settle outside the land of promise he is incensed. "Are you trying to discourage the rest of the people of Israel from going across to the land the LORD has given them? This is what your ancestors did when I sent them from Kadesh–barnea to explore the land" (Numbers 32:7-8 NLT). For Moses, this is deja vu all over again. He reminds them what happened to the last group of people who made this kind of decision.

But the Reubenites and Gadites assure Moses that they are not abandoning the people of God or attempting to persuade them from entering the land. They simply want to take advantage of the better pastureland on the east side of the river. They are willing to fight alongside their brothers and assist them in conquering the land of Canaan until every tribe has a possession in the land. They will not settle east of the Jordan until that happens. This assurance calms Moses' fears, but he still issues them a warning, "But if you don't do what you say, you will be sinning against GOD; you can be sure that your sin will track you down" (Numbers 32:23 MSG). Moses expects them to keep their word and reminds them that if they don't, their sin will be against God, not the people. And God will remember their sin. God would deal with them severely if they broke their commitment.

In the end, these tribes did hold up their end of the bargain (Joshua 4:12-13, 22), but their plan was not necessarily God's plan. It was motivated by greed and self-interest that overshadowed the promise that God had made to provide them with an abundant land on the west side of the Jordan.  Like Lot, they were attracted to what looked good physically and materially. Rather than wait for what God had promised, they chose what they could see with their own eyes. There seems to be an assumption on their part that there might not be any land on the west side of the Jordan useful for raising flocks. So they selfishly put their dibs on the land outside of Canaan. This decision, while approved by Moses, would prove to be a problem in the years to come. Distance from the other tribes would end up producing misunderstanding and disunity later (Joshua 22). It also created a hole in the defensive lines of the Israelites. This area was often the first to experience invasion, and Israel would lose control of it several times in her later history (2 Kings 15:29).

So what's the point for me? First, that there is truth to the adage that my sins will find me out. They will track me down. They will ultimately come back to haunt me. I need to take my commitments and my sins seriously because God does. Also, I need to look closely at the motivation behind my decisions. Why am I doing what I am about to do? Am I being motivated out of selfishness and greed? What will be the long-term ramifications of my decision if it is wrongly motivated. My sins will find me out. So will my selfish decisions. And both can have a tremendous impact on others.

Father, I know that my sins are forgiven because of Christ's work on the cross, but it does not change the fact that my sins have ramifications. So do my decisions. Help me to see the motivation behind my decisions. Am I being motivated by greed and selfishness? If so, expose it and help me to see it. I want to continue to learn to trust you instead of just relying on what I can see. Amen

The Fight of Faith.

Numbers 30-31

Take vengeance on the Midianites for leading the Israelites into idolatry. After that, you will die and join your ancestors. – Numbers 31 :2 NLT

This is a difficult chapter. As I read it this morning I was struck by the seeming violence and barbaric nature of the scene it portrays. Something about it jars our modern-day senses as we read about an entire civilization being wiped out, of innocent women and children being slaughtered. It seems reminiscent of the tribal warfare and genocide taking place in remote places around the world and chronicled in the media. Yet this is the story of the people of God doing the will of God. In reading this story we run the risk of being repulsed by the violence and becoming judgmental of a God who would justify such actions. Or we can become callous and insensitive to the very real battle the people of God found themselves in as they attempted to live as a people of faith in the midst of a fallen world. Either extreme is wrong. Many have rejected the God of the Old Testament as a blood-thirsty god who slaughtered indiscriminately and almost joyfully. Others have reduced the details surrounding the lives of the Old Testament characters as simply moralistic stories that have lost their vitality and any sense of reality. These were real people living real lives and having to fight real battles. The fight of faith was real.

To understand what was going on, we have to step outside of our modern context. We have to immerse ourselves in the culture into which the Israelites were entering as they prepared to take possession of the land. This was not Disney Land. This was a hostile environment inhabited by pagan people groups who were vehemently opposed to Israel and their God. The NET Bible makes the following comment regarding the nature of the war that God commanded Moses to wage against the Midianites: "The command in holy war to kill women and children seems in modern times a terrible thing to have been done (and it was), and something they ought not to have done. But this criticism fails to understand the situation in the ancient world. The entire life of the ancient world was tribal warfare, necessitating warfare. God's judgment is poured out on whole groups of people who act with moral abandonment and in sinful pursuit."

The Midianites had led the people of Israel into sin. We read about it in chapter 25. The Midianite women had seduced the men of Israel into sexual immorality and idolatry. They had convinced the people of God to turn their backs on God. They were a moral threat, not necessarily a militaristic threat. But that is what made them dangerous. They would destroy the people of God from within, without ever having to raise a sword. So God commanded that they be destroyed. Otherwise their presence would be a constant threat to the spiritual well-being of the people of God. The danger was real and the solution was sobering. God was not going to tolerate the potential threat. He was willing to get rid of it. But the people of God were more tolerant. Even when they had defeated the Midianites, the men of Israel brought back the women and children. Moses reacted with disbelief and anger. "Why have you let all the women live? These are the very ones who followed Balaam’s advice and caused the people of Israel to rebel against the LORD at Mount Peor. They are the ones who caused the plague to strike the LORD’s people" (Numbers 31:15-16 NLT). The men of Israel were willing to live with the Midianite women in their midst, even though they posed a threat to their safety. They were the very women who caused them to rebel against God to begin with.

God called the people to action. He demanded that they deal with the threat to their spiritual safety. And they did. This was an act of faith. In fact, every battle the Israelites fought was an act of faith. They were not a warring people. They had been slaves. For the last 4o years they had been wandering vagabonds. They had no military training. They had never fought a battle before. So to form an army and fight against the Midianites was an act of faith. And God rewarded their faith. It is interesting that the preceding chapter outlines the sheer numbers of sheep, goats, and bulls the people were required to offer in sacrifice to God each year. Then this chapter outlines the number of sheep, cattle, and donkeys the people took as plunder from the Midianites.

675,000 sheep

72,000 cattle

61,000 donkeys

It seems that the sacrifices were all about faith. They were to offer to God their best, even thought it cost them dearly. The battle was all about faith, trusting God to lead them in an endeavor they had no skills for. But the result was the reward of God. He repaid their faithfulness with abundance. God gave them back far more in the way of livestock than they ever had to give to Him. He was testing their obedience. He wanted to see if they would step out in faith and obey what He told them to do. And He is asking us to do the same today. He is asking us to sacrifice, even when it seems costly. He is asking us to do battle with the things in our lives that threaten us, to remove things that tempt us to rebel against Him. If we will, He will reward us. He will bless us.

Father, Your Word is full of not-so-subtle reminders of the need for faith in my life. I doubt You. I disobey You. But You ask me to trust You and to step out in faith and do what You command me to do. You have a reason for Your requirements. You know what is best. May I learn to trust You more and disobey You less. Amen

An Expensive Proposition.

Numbers 29

Sacrifice these to GOD as a congregation at your set feasts: your Whole-Burnt-Offerings, Grain-Offerings, Drink-Offerings, and Peace-Offerings. These are all over and above your personal Vow-Offerings and Freewill-Offerings. – Numbers 29 :39-17 MSG

Reading through chapter 29, I was struck by the sheer number of offerings required by the people of Israel to make. This chapter only covers the seventh month, which was the seventh month of the ecclesiastical year, but the first month of the civil year. When the people came into the land this would be the time of year when they had the most leisure time, because it would fall between the harvest and seeding time. So God seemed to fill it with a wider array of sacrifices and solemn occasions. But in this one chapter alone you have outlined the observances for the Feast of Trumpets on the first day of the month, the Day of Atonement on the tenth day, and the Feast of Booths on the 15th day. In that one month alone the people would sacrifice the following animals:

Bulls: 73

Rams: 17

Male Lambs: 120

Male Goats: 10

That doesn't include all the other sacrifices that were to be made at various days of the month on an annual basis. In fact, if you look at chapters 28 and 29, it would appear that the yearly offerings, made at the peoples' expense, without taking into account a vast number of voluntary vow and trespass offerings, would have added up to: goats, 15; kids, 21; rams, 72; bulls, 132; lambs, 1,101. So the total of animals sacrificed at public cost would have been an incredible 1,241. Then if you take into account the huge quantity of lambs slain at the Passover each year, the number goes out the roof. According to Josephus, the Jewish historian, in the time of Christ, the number of lambs sacrificed at Passover in a single year would have been in the vicinity of 255,600. That is an incredible amount of animals.

Think of the cost to the people. These were not there runts of the litter they were sacrificing, but the best. They were to be without blemish. They were the best they had to offer. In an agriculturally based system, this was an expensive proposition. And it was mandatory. No options. No excuses. So what's the point? What does all this blood and sacrifice have to do with us? In The Expositors Bible Commentary, Ronald Allen says this:

"As we, the modern readers of Numbers, think scripturally, this overwhelming emphasis on sacrificial worship has one intent: to cause each reader to think of the enormity of the offense of our sin against the holiness of God, thus driving the repentant sinner to the foot of the Cross. All sacrifices—whether of the morning or evening, of Sabbath or New Moon—have their ultimate meaning in the death the Savior died. Apart from his death, these sacrifices were just the killing of animals and the burning of their flesh with attendant ceremonies. After his death, sacrifices such as these are redundant—indeed, offensive—for they would suggest that something was needed in addition to the Savior's death. But before his death, these sacrifices were the very means God gave his people in love to help them face the enormity of their sin, the reality of their need for his grace, and—in some mysterious way—to point them to the coming cross of Savior Jesus."

Thousands of lambs could never add up to the one sacrifice that Jesus Christ made for us. But they can reveal the incredible cost of sin. And that sin required a payment. The shedding of blood. "In fact, we can say that according to the law of Moses, nearly everything was purified by sprinkling with blood. Without the shedding of blood, there is no forgiveness of sins" (Hebrews 9:22 NLT). We have forgiveness of sin. And we do not need to offer any more sacrifices. Jesus Christ accomplished it all with the sacrifice of His life in our place. No more blood needs to be shed. No more lives need to be sacrificed.

Father, thank You for reminding me of the costliness of sin. The sheer numbers of animals sacrificed is staggering, and it was all done in order that the people of God might have fellowship with You. But You gave Your Son so that I might have unbroken fellowship with You. His death paid for my sins. His sacrifice satisfied my debt. Never let me take that for granted. Amen