Devotionary

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Ep 955 – Deuteronomy 11:1-12 Dec 13, 2019

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God demands obedience from His people. But that expectation is not based on some need on His part to feel important. He doesn't require affirmation and He is in no need of an ego boost. God's demand that His people obey Him is based on His desire to bless them. In Deuteronomy 11:1-12, Moses will remind the people of Israel of God's faithfulness. While the younger generation had an excuse, because they were not yet alive when God delivered Israel from captivity in Egypt, their parents had every reason to trust and obey God. He had more than proven His trustworthiness and His capacity to bless those who obeyed Him. But the next generation was going to have to learn to trust God on their own. If they wanted to enjoy all that the land of promise offered, they would have to walk in obedience to God's commands. Because obedience brings blessings.

Ep 954 – Deuteronomy 10:12-22 Dec 12, 2019

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We serve a great God. At least, that's what we say. But far too often, our perception of God seems to be a lot less flattering. We tend to see Him as distant and disinterested in our lives. Worse yet, there are times we view God as simply good, but not great. We look at our circumstances and deem His power to be limited. Either that, or His love for us is insufficient. And when we have a less-than-flattering view of God, it changes the way we interact with Him. Our obedience becomes spotty. Our faithfulness can grow weak and wavering. And the same thing was true of the Israelites in Moses' day. That's why, in Deuteronomy 10:12-22, we have Moses reminding the Israelites of God's greatness and the need for them to fear, love, and serve Him. Their lives were to reflect His nature, emulating His mercy, love, and justice. As His children, they were to exhibit His character in every area of their lives.

Ep 953 – Deuteronomy 10:1-11 Dec 11, 2019

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If you've ever lost your job, you know how demoralizing that can be. Whether you were fired or laid off, the outcome is the same. You feel a sense of loss coupled with humiliation. Regardless of the circumstances, you find yourself entertaining thoughts of failure. But the best response at a time like that is action, not lethargy. Mourning over your loss, while natural, cannot become your long-term strategy. Our response will play a huge part in our ability to rebound and restart our life. In Deuteronomy 10:1-11, we have Moses retelling the story of Israel's failure to keep God's commands. While he had been on the mountaintop receiving the Ten Commandments from God, the people had decided to replace God with an idol. And their actions would bring judgment from God. Not only that, they would lose their job as God's royal priesthood. Their sin would result in the forfeiture of their priestly role and their failure to enter the land of promise.

Ep 952 – Deuteronomy 9:13-29 Dec 10, 2019

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Israel was totally unworthy of God's goodness and grace. They were undeserving of all that He had done for them and had proven themselves incapable of living in faithfulness to Him. Yet, God had continued to bless them – in spite of them. Their entire history up until this point had been marked by rebellion and not righteousness. Even as they stood on the border of the land of Canaan, they had a long track-record of disobedience to God. Yet, in Deuteronomy 9:13-29, we will see Moses reminding them that God remained faithful to them because He was the covenant-keeping God. He had plans for them and those plans included their continued existence as a nation. God had promised that He would bless them and that they would be a blessing to the nations of the earth. It would be God's plan to bring redemption to the world through a rebellious and unrighteous people. Because He is a faithful God.

Ep 951 – Deuteronomy 9:1-12 Dec 09, 2019

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"I just want what I deserve." How many times have you heard that or even said it yourself? And yet, we all know that if we got what we deserved, we'd probably be highly disappointed. But how easy it is to assume that we are better than we really are. Our false perception of our own self-righteousness can be highly deceptive. And Moses knew that the people of Israel suffered from an inflated sense of self-worth as well. And it was only going to get worse after they entered the promised land and began enjoying all the blessings God had in store for them. In Deuteronomy 9:1-12, Moses continues his address to the people of Israel, reminding them that all God was about to do was going to be in spite of them, not because of them. He was not rewarding them for their good behavior. His was extending His undeserved grace and mercy to a people who had proven their penchant for stubbornness and rebellion. They were unrighteousness and undeserving, but God would prove faithful and true to His promises.

Ep 950 – Deuteronomy 8:11-20 Dec 08, 2019

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We've already covered the topic of forgetfulness, but it seems that Moses is not quite done with this point. In Deuteronomy 8:11-20, he is going to raise the issue of forgetfulness one more time, reminding the people of Israel that they needed to avoid it like the plague. God had done amazing things on their behalf and had even more He was going to accomplish as they prepared to cross the River Jordan and enter the land of promise. But Moses knew they ran the risk of suffering from short-term memory. Once they got into the land and began to enjoy all the fruitfulness and blessings it provided, they would begin to think that they had somehow earned or deserved their newfound prosperity. That is why Moses warned them to remember God. If not, forgetfulness of God's role in their conquest of the land would lead to self-exaltation and self-reliance, robbing God of glory and rewarding themselves with credit they did not deserve.

Ep 949 – Deuteronomy 8:1-10 Dec 07, 2019

Show notes

How easy it is to forget God. Even those of us who claim to believe in Him and have had our relationship restored to Him through faith in Jesus Christ, can find ourselves forgetting all He has done for us. We grow indifferent and immune to His goodness and grace. We can even find ourselves complaining about what we believe to be our unfair lot in life. And the Israelites were no different. Even though they had been rescued out of slavery in Egypt and delivered to the borders of the land of promise, they were guilty of forgetting all that God had done for them. Which is why, in Deuteronomy 8:1-10, we have Moses reminding them of God's past acts of goodness, and encouraging them to believe that He will continue to provide for them in the days ahead. The land of promise was rich and abundant, but the blessings it provided would be from God. A point Moses did not want the Israelites to miss.

Ep 948 – Deuteronomy 7:17-26 Dec 06, 2019

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Moses out of a burning bush. He had led the Israelites through the wilderness by making Himself visible as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. When God had descended upon Mount Sinai to give the law to Moses, He had made His presence known both visibly and audibly through the means of thunder, lightning, fire, and smoke. And the people had been so impressed by this tangible show of force that they had refused to approach the mountain out of fear. Now, in Deuteronomy 7:17-26, Moses tries to encourage a new generation of Israelites to remember the Lord their God. As they prepared to enter the promised land, it was going to be essential that they not forget God. He may be invisible, but He was going ahead of them and would turn back their enemies before them. As long as they remained faithful to Him.

Ep 947 – Deuteronomy 7:7-16 Dec 05, 2019

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God had big things in store for Israel. And all that He had promised to do for them was backed by His covenant commitment. He had told them what He would do and He could be trusted to keep His word. But the problem was that the covenant He had made with Israel had been a bilateral one. That means both sides had to keep their part of the commitment. Any hope they had of enjoying all the blessings God had promised was directly tied to their willingness to remain faithful to Him and fully obedient to all the requirements of the law. As a nation, they had given their word to do everything the Lord had commanded. But Moses knew they were a fickle people who had a track record of unfaithfulness. So, in Deuteronomy 7:7-16, he provides them with a much-needed reminder that their status as God's chosen people was based on grace, not their own goodness. But if they wanted to continue to enjoy His presence and provision, they would have to be faithful.

Ep 946 – Deuteronomy 7:1-6 Dec 04, 2019

Show notes

Being set apart as God's chosen people was not enough. Just because God had designated the Israelites as His prized possession did not mean that they were inherently different or distinct from their pagan neighbors. In fact, they were very much like the other nations around them. The only thing that set them apart was their relationship with God and their possession of His law to guide their daily lives. It was the law that was to separate them from every other people group on earth. But it could do so only if they chose to obey it. And Moses knew that was going to prove a problem for the Israelites. So, in Deuteronomy 7:1-6, we have recorded his words reminding them of their status as a holy nation, and their need to separate themselves from the rest of the inhabitants of the land.

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