Can I pray for you in any way? Send any prayer requests to faithhopegodlove@aol.com In Christ, Mark
The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“You saw no form of any kind the day the Lord spoke to you at Horeb out of the fire. Therefore watch yourselves very carefully, so that you do not become corrupt and make for yourselves an idol, an image of any shape, whether formed like a man or a woman, or like any animal on earth or any bird that flies in the air, or like any creature that moves along the ground or any fish in the waters below. And when you look up to the sky and see the sun, the moon and the stars—all the heavenly array—do not be enticed into bowing down to them and worshiping things the Lord your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. But as for you, the Lord took you and brought you out of the iron-smelting furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of his inheritance, as you now are.
Be careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord your God that he made with you; do not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden. For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and provoking him to anger, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.
But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.” Deuteronomy 4:15-20, 23-31
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
As Deuteronomy, Chapter 4, concludes, Moses reminds the Israelites about what God expected in the way of idol worshipping. It really could be summed up in two words: zero tolerance.
For we can go right back to God’s Ten Commandments in Exodus, Chapter 20, and read:
"You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below. You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand {generations} of those who love me and keep my commandments.” Deuteronomy 4:3-6
His guidance was not vague. For He told Israel they weren’t to even make an idol let alone bow down and worship one. There were to be no other gods before God Himself and nothing that would even come close to representing another god could be formed or revered before Him.
This was a commandment that Israel had broken, thus Moses’ reminder as they readied to enter Canaan. And unfortunately, as Israel has also shown a propensity to do…they will soon ignore God’s command and find the following words of warning come to be:
“After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and provoking him to anger, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.”
It would have been so much easier for Israel if they would have just placed their full trust and hope in God. But there were too many counter-cultures in the world to resist and they found themselves enticed and entrapped by sin. They failed to be “careful not to forget the covenant of the Lord” which ordered them to “not make for yourselves an idol in the form of anything the Lord your God has forbidden.” So Israel had to learn the hard way. They had to learn first-hand that God was a “consuming fire”…”a jealous God.”
Today, the world would tempt us with many things that would draw us away from the Lord, stealing our focus away from Him and placing it on the worldly item or items. Often times, these things are possessions…material and tangible items…items we can touch and feel and hold and see. They entice us for all those reasons. After all, we can’t see God. We can’t hold and touch God. We can’t possess God because God can’t be possessed by anyone. But He can possess us and this is His expectation. That we would surrender ourselves and every one of our own desires in order so He might be able to consume us…not with the fires of judgment but rather with the fire of the Holy Spirit.
Question: Where do you stand in your own spiritual walk? Do possessions possess you? Or are you the sole property of the Lord?
Our scripture passage concludes with good news, not only for Israel but for all of us as well. For just as God predicted that Israel would stray from His expectations, so too could He predict that we would be failing the same way today. So what does God’s word say?
“…if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath.”
See that there is a chance to return to good graces with God, particularly when we find we are “in distress” from the poor choices we made. God’s word tells us it is possible but it also gives us a requirement for that to happen: we have to change. And before we can change, we need to recenter ourselves on Him. Just as Israel was advised to do, we are to “seek the Lord” and we know we find Him if we “look for Him with all (our) heart and with all (our) soul.”
Friends, our Lord is “a merciful God” who will not abandon or destroy us. But He is a God who demands autonomy over our lives. Only He can be in charge. Nothing else can be worshipped but Him. It’s time that we give Him everything just as He has given us. It starts with all our heart and mind and soul. Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
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