Deuteronomy 13 - Discerning Truth

When it comes to the supernatural, there is a heightened sense of interest among the public in our times. There are tales of angels intervening in lives; tellings of near death and near death experiences where people have visited Heaven or spoken to Jesus; or a host of other miracles, hearings and supernatural answers to prayer. Fortune tellers claim to know future events and having access to horoscopes is a daily must for many.  

On the other side of the supernatural there is also great interest in demons, ghosts, zombies and gruesome characters from beyond that scare us out of our wits. 

When it comes to beings or information from beyond, God tells his people to be very discerning. In this chapter, God tells us that He may test our alliegiance to see if we will follow Him when presented with signs and wonders from one who would have us worship other gods. We are to hold the message presented up against the truth of scripture knowing that God's word is truth and our eyes, mind and heart can deceive us. 

The gods we are tempted to follow today are much more cunning than worshipping another religion. Even within Christian circles there are preachers in our neighborhoods and on TV who encourage us to follow our passions and don't speak out against sin. We live in a world filled with people who make gods out of their career, chase after entertainment, money, power or who hold their children higher in life than God himself. Our Gods are where we invest our time and interests. These gods rob  us of prayer, bible study and worship. Of the one true God. 

The measure of our worship and alliegiance to God is this:  obedience. Deut 13:4 says "it is the Lord your God you must follow and him you must revere. If we allow our time spent alone in study, prayer and worship to be usurped by the busyness of our routines, we may have another God operating in our lives. It has happened to so many men of God that their desires lead them away. 

In relationship to miracles, believers should not need a miracle to confirm their faith. They have the Holy Spirit living in them and they have experienced the greatest miracle of all; the salvation of one doomed to eternal judgment. What healing or wonder could compete with that?  We don't have to go to God asking for signs, but we do serve a God of the impossible. He can change hearts, heal AIDS, Cancer and Ebola, BUT if He chooses not to do a miracle, His ways are still best and we can still trust Him. 

We must redouble our efforts to remain close to God and to apply ourselves to knowing His word so that we can stand for truth and help others to know that God can be trusted. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Deuteronomy 12 - Worship God's Way

There is a revolution in American worship. Christianity has taken to television, radio, Internet and even non traditional meeting places to reach people right where they are. Their messages are primarily centered on God's great love for us no matter how we may have failed. Messages to boost our self esteem and to reinforce our worth as people. The music is contemporary and barely distinguishable from the world's pop music. 

While it is true that God loves each person, it is only a half truth without the full message of the gospel. There is little focus on our sin nature that offends God and is worthy of judgment. While messages about Jesus being our friend, the lover of our souls abound, there is little spoken about our sin place on him and our redemption made possible by His sacrifice. 

When I have visited such worship services or watched them on TV, I am left with the sense that we are worthy of being the center of God's universe. I sense that God is waiting for our prayers so that He can know how to do our bidding. It is entirely upside down from he worship outlined in scripture. 

In Deuteronomy 12, God warns the people of not just staying away from the worship offered in these foreign nations to their imaginary gods who serve their purposes; he tells them to destroy any semblance of worship in these nations. The people mud not worship the way the heathens do. We don't worship any way we please and call it acceptable to the Lord. We are not the Master, but we are God's people subject to His direction. 

Is it any wonder there is so much confusion on the topics of Heaven, Hell, Salvation, and the Gospel?  Our culture has demonstrated that it is less concerned about God's pleasure and more concerned with their own. 

Recently, I attended a funeral where there was a lot of praise to God and even some recantations of God's promises to his people. At the end when an invitation was given to unbelievers to accept God's offer of salvation, it occurred to me that sin, sacrifice, and holiness of God were never a part of that message, so how would an unbeliever know to accept the Gospel?  All of the praise and the promises were uplifting and surely an encouragement to the family, but it was only a part of the truth. 

A worship service where people are central and God is the provider of all needs and wants is an aberration. God is to be worshipped and is to be the center of each and every worship service. If we are not given God's mirror to look at the nature of our sin and to humble ourselves before Him in gratitude for His greatness and our great need, we have missed something. 

This chapter ends with, "See that you do all I command you; do not add to it or take away from it."  Let's keep our eyes fixed on God and not ourselves as we worship Him today. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you seve Him. 

Deuteronomy 11 - Remember, Observe, and Be Careful

In this chapter God outlines a means for demonstrating love to Him.  Here are the three steps to demonstrating love for God:

Step 1:  Remember (Deut 11:2-7)

Remember the many ways God has provided in the past. God reminds the Isrealites that they have seen Him do mighty things. If you belong to God you have seen him keep you through trials and encourage you when you were overwhelmed. We should cling to those memories of God's acts in our lives to carry us through the next trial and to remind us of God's constant care. 

Step 2 - Observe (Deut 11:8-15)

God says, "love the Lord your God and keep his laws and his commands always". When we love, we honor the person by doing as they ask. God doesn't give commands just to see his people jump through hoops like a circus animal; he loves his people and sets boundaries to keep them protected and so they can have joy in living. Like any good parent, God give rules for us to  give us joy in living.  

Step 3 - Be Careful (Deut 11:16-32)

We need to be aware of the forces that are at work on the world that keep us from living out our faith. There are idols that promise good living, pleasure and ease. They may even offer a temporary sense of euphoria, but it isn't lasting. God hawlf will come against idols in our lives and the result will be hardship and curses. He shows us that idols are no substitute for a relationship with the Almigjty and if we will be careful to avoid the traps here are blessings built in. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Deuteronomy 10 - Gifts to One Who Has Everything

What do you give to someone who has everything?  No gift can ever measure up to the things they already own. Everything in comparison seems like a Dollar Store trinket.  In reality, gifts are meant as a demonstration of our love for an individual. Our love is something that has no real economic equivalent. 

At our core our greatest desire in life is to be loved and valued. Our life is built upon having people affirm, love and support us through our trials and share in our joys. We have the image of God stamped on us and we long for connection. Not the false and superficial connections of trinkets, but a deep and personal connection to stay with us always. 

God longs for that kind of connection with his people and He shares in this chapter what that connection looks like. God set his affection on the Fathers of our faith; Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Because the nation of Israel was descended from these men of faith, God blesses the descendants and honors His promise to give a special parcel of land to the people. His love is deep and abiding. He is faithful, powerful, wealthy, and generous. He provides for every need of Israel and as His people He asks them to demonstrate a love for the aliens in the land and for God Himself. 

We too are called to walk in God's ways, to serve Him with all our heart and soul, knowing that He is Master of the Universe and has a deep love for His people. Our fate is secure in His hands if we will but trust Him and honor Him with our lives. 

There are precious promises we can cling to in this chapter. Our calling is to live in connection with our Maker. "Fear The Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths on his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes."

Let's rise to the challenge of living as God's people and praise Him for his mercies extend down through the generations even to this day. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Deuteronomy 9 - Unworthy but Blessed

At the precipice of a new chapter in the life of Israel, Moses shares a promise of God, that though the enemy is more powerful than they, God will go before them and overcome them. What an assurance they had!

Moses quickly reminds the people that it isn't because they are good or worthy, but because the other nations are so wicked. Moses then goes on to remind the people of the many ways they have not been faithful or obedient. 

When we are at the end of one chapter of our lives and about to open the door to the next, is our faith and trust really in God for the opportunities that might be there?  There was a richness in the promised land but great danger; the Israelites operating in their own strength would easily be overcome. Only as they trusted God and gave Him the credit would they know the full joy that could be theirs. Their history of faithfulness was not good, yet God for His own name's sake demonstrated His goodness toward the people so that all nations would know the character of God and turn toward Him. 

As I currently sit at my own precipice facing the prospect of both danger and richness undertaking a new project, I recognize that my blessing is not earned. I am not worthy of God's favor. I fail Him it seems daily. It is for His own name's sake that He goes before me and demonstrates His character to both me and the oeople all around so that no one can doubt that it was the hand of God who accomplished this. 

When I consider Christian friends who when asked "how are you?" respond "I am blessed", I wonder if they understand how blessed they really are. Do they really appreciate that God provides for them not because of their faithfulness but because of the wickedness all around and God's desire to be known of all men?  Their blessing is a witness to the world, not a reward for their goodness. If God has blessed you, how will that blessing be a witness to the believers and the unbelievers all around you. 

Our purpose is to proclaim the glory of God. his blessings give us the object lessons needed to give Him attribution and recognize our great position. Unworthy but blessed. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him.  

Deuteronomy 8 - God Alone

Who is the master if your destiny?  Who provides for you needs?  As we are in great need we are prone to look to God for our provision and even perchance attribute that provision to God's intervention in our lives. God showed us a need and as we prayed to Him we saw His hand of provision. I believe most Christians can do that for short term needs, particularly if God rescues us soon. But what happens to us in different circumstances?  

Abundance

When things are going well and we have no perceived needs can we praise God with our whole hearts?  God was about to release the Israelites into the promised land with abundance of crops, water and resources. "A land where bread will not be scarce and you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper out of the hills." Deut. 8:9. Israel had just won the lottery of God (it was rigged by the way, the winners were selected in advance). They would enjoy abundance when all their lives they had lived moment to moment (most had been born since the Exidus from Egypt). God knew their nature (and ours).  

He wanted His people to thank God for their provision even in abundance, but human nature likes to take credit when things go well. "You may say to yourself, 'My power and strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.'" Deut 8:17. Only wealthy men claim to be self made men. Rarely do you see a beggar taking credit for his condition. We too need to guard our hearts so they are not deceived when we enjoy abundance. It is God alone who provides even the wisdom we possess and the strength of our hands is from God. 

Discipline

When God seems to be against us and nothing goes well, can we praise Him then?  Maybe we are in a wilderness of our own with great thirst, hunger and venomous snakes everywhere. Maybe we are out of work, facing some horrific pain or up against a seemingly vicious foe. Will we continue to pray and praise when our suffering continues for an extended period as it did for the Israelites in their 40 years of wandering?  

Will we thank God when we are disciplined by His hand?  "Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so The Lord your God disciplines you." Deut. 8:5. God chastises His people to turn them from wickedness and to teach them to place their trust in the Master of their destiny. Can we praise even when hard times are also long?  It is a test of our faith, but as we look to God day by day, He can give us His thinking and change our hearts to lovingly praise Him in all conditions. 

Paul said it best when He wrote to the Philippians, "for I have learned to be content whatever the circumstances. I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want. I can do everything through him who gives me strength."  Phil. 4:11a - 13. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him. 

Deuteronomy 7 - Intermingling with the Heathen

In this chapter God lays out grave warnings for the nation of Israel to keep their alliegiance to God strong and secure and to stay away from living like the world. He warns about intermarriage and following the practices of worship even pursuing wealth. He reminds the people that He is their God and there is none more powerful, loving and faithful than He is. He can and will provide for their sustenance even increase their wealth, keep them from disease if only they make their calling to follow God secure. 

He reminds them of His power. Even though they will come up against seven nations stronger than they are, He will enable them to defeat the enemy and to claim the land for themselves. They must totally remove the current nation and not peacefully coexist but forcefully destroy them. They have no good that Israel can gain from their continued presence. 

As I apply this passage to my own life, I am struck by how often living in a secular world doing secular work that I face head on the pressure to hide my faith.  I have no idea how many opportunities to witness have passed me by. I feel the pressure to conform to the world and to operate by its tenets. I see people hostile to God allowed to speak their hate outright while Christians are quieted. The majority in the middle are confused and don't know what to believe. There is no one who can speak intelligently and ore seen the hope of the gospel. 

We live in the conditions God spoke about in this chapter. Even good Christians attending church three times a week find themselves influenced by the culture. We can stop this degradation of our witness and take back the boldness we once had as new believers if we will return to God, repent of our sliding into the culture and ask His to give us His power for proclaiming Him to the world again. We must face that stronger force knowing it is God who gets the glory when He gives the victory. 

Our success measures are not those of the world, but success is having God and His power seen and recognized by the unbelievers we live among. When it comes down to it, there are only two sides; those who follow God and those who don't. We have an opportunity to take back our witness and live wholly for God if we will not be afraid of the confrontation we may face. If we follow God's leading He has all power to disable the enemy. 

May God richly bless you as you seek Him and as you serve Him.