Deuteronomy means "Second Law"
Chapter 1 started reviewing the evidence that God the Father showed love for his people even when they rebelled against him. Do you rebel against God sometimes?
Requesting prayers for these next four days for the all the men attending the Discipleship Walk. I specially like to lift up the men from the GTIC sunday school class; Shane W., Todd H., Scott M., John M., and Darin H. I pray that God will fill the men with overflowing love and the Holy Spirit will lead their lives. God help them to reject passivity, take responsiblity, lead couragously, and expect God's greater reward. (MF)
Sandj
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Read it... promise to really get caught up on the blogging tomorrow... if I don't, please yell at me, ok?... have a wonderful night!
ReplyDeleteGod Bless,
sandJ
Chapter 4: verse 1... do not repeat your past mistakes... learn from them so you can move forward and not stumble backwards... oh, if we could just listen to the clarity of these words!... yet, even as God is speaking this through Moses, He knows that they will not listen and will backslide (see Deuteronomy 31:28-29)... what a merciful God we have, to know that our hearts are bent on nothing but disaster, but to love us anyway, and allow us the opportunity to choose to change... how awful it must be to be God, always seeing what is coming, but loving us so much that He refuses to force our hearts because He knows that only by freedom of choice can we truly be able to love Him back... it is the most romantic, heart-wrenching love story ever told!...
ReplyDeleteverse 2... we need to be very wary of this... God's word is perfect... He doesn't say there are 'white lies' that are ok... He says ALL lies are sin... He doesn't say that sometimes it is ok to steal... He says to trust Him to provide, because anything else is a sin... we are not God... we cannot justify anything because we are sinners, not perfectly just ourselves... so, our only hope is to repent when we fail and fall back into the grace of God... do not turn to the right or the left, instead, when we hear the voice say 'this is the way, walk in it' it behooves us to obey. (Isaiah 30:21; and Deuteronomy 2:27)
verse 5-14... we are expected to pass on the knowledge of God (see also Matthew 28:18-20)
verse 7-8... so true... I love verse 7!... gods of gold do not love the people who pray to them... all other 'gods', if powerful at all, derive their power from Satan, who is the father of lies (John 8:44), so there is no way to trust that those 'gods' will do anything for the good of those that call out to them... also, laws are put in place for our own good, to give not only us boundaries, but also others, who we have to be around
verse 15... if God has not given us a form to worship, then we must not try to create one ourselves (see verse 2)
verse 20... it is only by God's grace that we are/have anything that we do... we must guard against forgetting this and falling trapped to the idea that we earned it in anyway... that would be the opposite of grace (see Ephesians 2:8-9)
verse 21... wow... the bitterness continues... I hope that Moses can forgive them at some point... who do I need to forgive and whose debt do I need to let go of?
ReplyDeleteverse 22...learn from the mistakes of others so we can keep from following in their pain
verse 24... consuming fire, literally (see Leviticus 10)... but jealous in a good way, because He loves us so much He doesn't want anyone or anything to take us from Him (like a good husband or wife is jealous of their spouse, kind of thing)
verse 25-26... what God gives, He can also take away
verse 27-28... is this a caution of what not to do, or a prophesy of what is to come?
verse 29...love this verse... reminds me of Mark 12:30, Luke 11:9-10, Acts 17:27)
verse 30... sometimes it takes the school of 'hard knocks' to set us back on the right path... but if we never get back on the right path, what is the point... we do wise to take the hint and redirect our lives back to God
verse 31... important!
verse 32-35, 39... I am so in awe of what an amazing God we have that loves us and allows us to love Him in return!
verse 36... all God does is intrinsically tied to His love for us
verse 40... just as God tells our children to obey their parents so it goes well with them, God also tells us the same as we are His children (see Exodus 20:12, and Deuteronomy 5:16, Ephesians 6:1-3... also we can see how this could play out if we did not obey it, and refused to give honor to our parents-see Genesis 9:18-29, as well as Numbers 14)
verse 41-43... see Numbers 35... I believe these 3 are in addition to the 6 in Numbers, as the 3 are meant for the tribes staying behind and the 6 in Numbers are meant for the tribes taking possession of the promised land
all these past few chapters remind me of how I need to be more attentive to the instructions given to me by my elders... those who have either lived longer or been Christians longer... as they have wisdom to impart to me, based on what they've learned, to help me in my journey... the question is, am I teachable? do I listen and learn? do I want to listen and learn? do I think I need to listen and learn? if not, why?
Much Love,
sandJ