THE REWARDS OF OBEDIENCE

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In Christ, Mark

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord, your God, that I give you.

“You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord, your God, destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.”

“See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord, my God, commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord, our God, is near us whenever we pray to Him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”

Deuteronomy 4:1-8

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we start Chapter 4, Moses has just been rebuffed by God after asking if the punishment God had placed on him could be rescinded so he would be able to cross the Jordan River and enter Canaan, the land God had promised to give His people. You’ll remember from yesterday’s message how the Lord denied Moses’ request, instead commanding him to commission Joshua to be Israel’s new leader.

Now, given what had happened, we might expect that Moses would feel sad and forlorn, despaired and depressed given that he knew his life was soon to end without getting to enter the land he had invested so much time guiding his fellow Israelites to but that didn’t happen. Instead, Moses addresses God’s people and provides strong counsel so to prepare them for the blessing that awaited them. Let’s look again at what he had to say in today’s passage from the opening verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 4:

“Hear now, O Israel, the decrees and laws I am about to teach you. Follow them so that you may live and may go in and take possession of the land that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. Do not add to what I command you and do not subtract from it, but keep the commands of the Lord, your God, that I give you.

“You saw with your own eyes what the Lord did at Baal Peor. The Lord, your God, destroyed from among you everyone who followed the Baal of Peor, but all of you who held fast to the Lord your God are still alive today.”

“See, I have taught you decrees and laws as the Lord, my God, commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are entering to take possession of it. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations, who will hear about all these decrees and say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord, our God, is near us whenever we pray to Him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”

Within this discourse from Moses, the scriptures provide the following five good reasons why we should heed and obey God’s will and expectations for our lives, not adding or subtracting from it:

First, we will experience the blessings God intends for us.

When Israel decided to comply with God’s commands and simply trust Him, they then received the land He promised them. And if we wish to fully experience the blessings He has in store for us, we too need to live daily in obedience to Him.

Second, when we are obedient to what God calls us to do, we will escape judgment.

Those who chose to disobey the Lord. Following the false god “Baal of Peor” were destroyed while all “who held fast to the Lord” lived and were able to gain their inheritance in the Promised Land.

Today, we should never forget that while we do serve a loving God, we also serve a God who hates sin and will hold sinners accountable. No one should be so spiritually arrogant to think they are safe from judgment because God still hates disobedience today as much as He did back in the days of the Bible. Obedience leads us to the righteousness and holiness that God wants our lives to be defined by and it also guides us away from His judgment.

Third, following God’s will and commands helps us gain special wisdom and understanding.

This is no ordinary wisdom and understanding but a divine discernment and knowledge that comes from God Himself and that means it is far greater and superior to any wisdom and understanding gained from the world.

In our scripture passage for today, we learn how Israel’s wisdom and understanding was so incredibly noticeable that other nations proclaimed, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people." And when we follow God’s word, way, and will for our own lives, we too will stand out as being different and unique, leaving others to wonder what we have gained that separates us from what the world can provide. In those instances, we, as believers, have a window of opportunity to share the good news of the Gospel, speaking absolute truth in and through His power.

Finally, living in obedience to our Lord allows us to fully experience His goodness in everything we do.

Israel’s obedience led to special wisdom and understanding which led to all other nations proclaiming their greatness. Moses summed all this up by reminding Israel about the source of their prominence, saying:

What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord, our God, is near us whenever we pray to Him? And what other nation is so great as to have such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before you today?”

Indeed, Israel had a God like no other and so do we today, a God who blesses His people and protects them whenever they stay loyal and faithful to Him. Like the Israelites of old, we don’t have to wonder what we need to do in life. Our Lord will tell us what He desires and then all we need to do is comply with what He wants, reaping the abundant rewards that come with obedience.

Thanks be to God for all He has been, all He is, and all He is yet to be.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

UNDERSTANDING THE SERIOUSNESS OF SIN

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Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Next we turned and went up along the road toward Bashan, and Og, king of Bashan, with his whole army marched out to meet us in battle at Edrei. The Lord said to me, ‘Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon.’"

“So the Lord our God also gave into our hands, king of Bashan, and all his army. We struck them down, leaving no survivors. At that time, we took all his cities. There was not one of the sixty cities that we did not take from them - the whole region of Argob, Og's kingdom in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls and with gates and bars, and there were also a great many unwalled villages. We completely destroyed them, as we had done with Sihon, king of Heshbon, destroying every city - men, women and children. But all the livestock and the plunder from their cities we carried off for ourselves.”

“So at that time, we took from these two kings of the Amorites the territory east of the Jordan, from the Arnon Gorge as far as Mount Hermon. (Hermon is called Sirion by the Sidonians; the Amorites call it Senir.) We took all the towns on the plateau, and all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as Salecah and Edrei, towns of Og's kingdom in Bashan. (Only Og king of Bashan was left of the remnant of the Rephaites. His bed was made of iron and was more than thirteen feet long and six feet wide. It is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.)”

“Of the land that we took over at that time, I gave the Reubenites and the Gadites the territory north of Aroer by the Arnon Gorge, including half the hill country of Gilead, together with its towns. The rest of Gilead and also all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og, I gave to the half tribe of Manasseh. (The whole region of Argob in Bashan used to be known as a land of the Rephaites. Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and the Maacathites; it was named after him, so that to this day Bashan is called Havvoth Jair.) And I gave Gilead to Makir. But to the Reubenites and the Gadites, I gave the territory extending from Gilead down to the Arnon Gorge (the middle of the gorge being the border) and out to the Jabbok River, which is the border of the Ammonites. Its western border was the Jordan in the Arabah, from Kinnereth to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea), below the slopes of Pisgah.”

“I commanded you at that time: ‘The Lord your God has given you this land to take possession of it. But all your able-bodied men, armed for battle, must cross over ahead of your brother Israelites. However, your wives, your children and your livestock (I know you have much livestock) may stay in the towns I have given you, until the Lord gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they too have taken over the land that the Lord your God is giving them, across the Jordan. After that, each of you may go back to the possession I have given you.’"

“At that time, I commanded Joshua: ‘You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God Himself will fight for you.’"

“At that time I pleaded with the Lord: ‘O Sovereign Lord, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in Heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan - that fine hill country and Lebanon.’"

“But because of you, the Lord was angry with me and would not listen to me. ‘That is enough,’ the Lord said. ‘Do not speak to Me anymore about this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’"

“So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.”

Deuteronomy 3

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In the closing verses of Deuteronomy, chapter 2, we saw how God gave the Israelites victory over Sihon, the king of Heshbon, his army, and all the nation’s possessions and territory. This act allowed us to examine how the Lord delivered His people in biblical times and continues to do so today.

As we turn the page to begin our study of chapter 3, we find Moses continuing with his historical review of the people of Israel that covered their release from Egyptian captivity right up to their second opportunity to enter Canaan, the land God had promised to them.

Moses’ review carries on with God continuing to give the Israelites victory, this time over King Og and his kingdom of Bashan. The scriptures tell us that “Og, king of Bashan, with his whole army marched out to meet (Israel) in battle at Edrei.” As this opposition force advanced, we find the Lord assuring Moses with the following words:

“Do not be afraid of him, for I have handed him over to you with his whole army and his land. Do to him what you did to Sihon, king of the Amorites, who reigned in Heshbon."

And so Israel did as the Lord commanded and He “gave into (their) hands Og, king of Bashan, and all his army…leaving no survivors.” Israel “took all (of Og’s) cities”, sixty in all, “completely destroy(ing) them” just as they had “done with Sihon.” And they also took all the “livestock and the plunder” for themselves, just as before.

So what did Israel do with the land they had gained from Heshbon and Bashan?

Well, you may remember back in our study of the Book of Numbers that God gave this land to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh (chapter 23). You’ll also remember that the men of these tribes were commanded to cross the Jordan River and march with the rest of Israel into battle. Once Israel was victorious, they would be allowed to re-cross the Jordan and rejoin their families.

As we look at the second half of Deuteronomy, chapter 3, we see where it is centered on Moses and Joshua, who would be the new leader of the Israelites after Moses died.

First, we see where Moses provides encouragement to Joshua as the Israelites were on the brink of finally entering Canaan. He tells his successor:

“You have seen with your own eyes all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God Himself will fight for you."

Note here that Moses doesn’t say “all the kingdoms over there where we are going”. This is because God had already told Moses that he would not be permitted to enter the Promised Land after an incident where Moses and his brother Aaron sinned against God by not following His directions for bringing water from a rock to meet the need of a thirsty Israel. Going back to that terrible error on judgment, you will recall that Moses spoke as if it would be his and Aaron’s power that would bring forth the water, leaving God discredited. Further, instead of speaking to the rock for water to flow forth, he struck the rock twice with his staff. The two acts of disobedience cost both Moses and Aaron their privilege to enter Canaan (Numbers 20). As the Israelites reached that moment, we know that Aaron had already died and Moses would soon follow him to the grave.

Despite knowing this, we see in our passage for today that Moses tried one more time to see if God would change His mind and reconsider the judgment He had imposed. Approaching the Lord, Moses said this:

“O Sovereign Lord, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in Heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do? Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan - that fine hill country and Lebanon."

What we have here is a classic “butter up” job by Moses as he heaps compliment upon compliment upon the Lord before asking if he could “go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan - that fine hill country and Lebanon.” As mentioned, he was hoping the Lord might pull back His punishment and allow Moses to enter Canaan with the rest of the Israelites.

Well, it didn’t take long for God to render His verdict for we see Him saying this:

“That is enough. Do not speak to Me anymore about this matter.”

In other words, God let Moses know that the case was closed. He wouldn’t lead the Israelites into Canaan but Joshua would and in advance of that, God commanded Moses to do the following:

“Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.’"

A new era of leadership was coming for Israel and Joshua would soon replace Moses to bring the Israelites into Canaan.

So what should take away from this chapter?

I believe God is reminding us that He definitely has His limits, something He showed consistently since the dawn of creation. Indeed, from all the way back to Adam and Eve, the Lord has shown a deep disdain for anyone who blatantly chooses to violate His commands or guidance. He demands our absolute obedience and it doesn’t matter who we are or what position we might hold.

Now, a person might read this and think the Lord was being too harsh. After all, His created things are human and this means they are sinful and imperfect. So one might try and reason that God should give some slack when it comes to handling our life choices.

Frankly, this is just the way Satan wants us to think, to willfully give into sin and then expect God to just look the other way.

Well, God doesn’t operate that way because He despises sin and there’s no wonder why. It was the disobedience of the very first couple in Eden’s garden that ruined God’s perfect creation forever, leading Him to come up with a solution that would bear a heavy cost.

For we know that He loved His creation so much that He chose to give up His only Son Jesus for only a perfect atoning sacrifice could atone for the sins of the world. And so Jesus was crucified, nailed to a cross at Calvary where He would bear the punishment for all the sin of the world.

Oh how it must have pained the Father to put His Son through so much suffering. To further the agony, He (God) couldn’t even be present with His Son at His dying moment because of the sin He (Jesus) was bearing. This left the Son to feel forsaken by His own Father and it was all because of sin (Matthew 27:46).

Friends, it’s high time we adopt a very conscientious, intentional, zero-tolerance approach to sin. For every time we willfully disobey our God, it’s as if His Son has to relive His crucifixion all over again, a conviction that led Christian singer and songwriter Ray Boltz to write these words:

Does He still feel the nails

Every time I fail?

Can He hear the crowd cry "Crucify" again?

Am I causing Him pain?

Then I know I've got to change

I just can't bear the thought of hurting Him.

As believers, we need to adopt this same feeling of sensitivity to the sin that the enemy is always trying to bring us into. I don’t know about you but I can’t bear the thought of hurting Jesus and this is a great motivator to want to change and rid my life of the transgressions that He suffered for.

The truth is that anyone can commit themselves to live anew in Christ this very moment, rejecting Satan and His wicked ways while modeling our lives after Jesus, the only person who has ever walked this earth and lives sinlessly. The key here is to surrender fully to the leading of the Holy Spirit, allowing Him to guide us in the ways of righteousness and holiness so that when God looks at our life, He sees the life of His Son being lived out. There’s nothing that would bring Him more joy than that.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

OUR GOD, OUR DELIVERER

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

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** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

(God speaking) “Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day, I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under Heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you.”

(Moses speaking) “From the desert of Kedemoth, I sent messengers to Sihon, king of Heshbon offering peace and saying, ‘Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot - as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us - until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us.’ But Sihon, king of Heshbon, refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as He has now done.”

“The Lord said to me, ‘See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his country over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.’"

“When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle at Jahaz, the Lord our God delivered him over to us and we struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army. At that time, we took all his towns and completely destroyed them - men, women and children. We left no survivors. But the livestock and the plunder from the towns we had captured we carried off for ourselves. From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong for us. The Lord our God gave us all of them. But in accordance with the command of the Lord our God, you did not encroach on any of the land of the Ammonites, neither the land along the course of the Jabbok nor that around the towns in the hills.”

Deuteronomy 2:24-37

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we read at the beginning of the second chapter of the Book of Deuteronomy, the Israelites had been traveling for 38 years after their sinful disobedience and rebellion at Kadesh where they had refused to heed God’s call to enter Canaan. You’ll remember that the Lord imposed punishment by sending His people back out in the wilderness for 40 years, one year for each day that the scouts had spent in Canaan to assess the land and bring a report back to their fellow Israelites. And while that report began positive regarding the abundance of provision, there was also the negative side of things which included forces that would present a real challenge for the people of Israel to conquer. You’ll remember that the Israelite people chose to base their decisions on the ten spies who discouraged them from trusting the Lord instead of listening to Joshua and Caleb who both asserted that it didn’t matter who the opposition was because God would be fighting for His people.

And so the people were sent away for the aforementioned 40 years and during that time, the generation of rebellious Israelites would die off, leaving the next generation to gain the inheritance of the Promised Land.

It was during that time in the wilderness that the scriptures show us how God still led His people to the places He wanted them to be for the express purpose of doing what He wanted them to do, especially in regard to the other nations they would inevitably encounter.

Earlier in this chapter, we saw where the Lord directed the Israelites to not attempt to take any land from the people of Esau (Isaac’s son) in the Seir Valley or the Ammonites and Moabites. This was because God had granted all three of them the land that they possessed, the Ammonites and Moabites gaining theirs through relation to Lot, Abraham’s nephew.

Well, as we finish up chapter 2, we see where God gives a green light for the Israelites to enter into conflict, saying:

“Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge. See, I have given into your hand Sihon, the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his country. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the terror and fear of you on all the nations under Heaven. They will hear reports of you and will tremble and be in anguish because of you."

Go back to when the Israelites rebelled and chose to not trust God and enter Canaan. After they learned of His anger over their sin, you’ll recall that they took it upon themselves to take on the Amorites, all this despite God warning them that He wouldn’t be in the midst of it. The end result was a humiliating defeat. Now, fast forward to this moment and we see a much different picture painted. For God was not only going to give His people victory over Sihon the Amorite and those he ruled in Heshbon but promised to make Israel an intimidating presence, one that would cause other nations to feel “terror and fear”. Indeed, the Israelites were returning to God’s good graces, all because they were learning to properly trust Him.

With this stage set and before any actual battle happened, the scriptures show us how Moses tried to reach a peaceful resolution first. We read where he “sent messengers to Sihon, king of Heshbon, offering peace” while in “the desert of Kedemoth” saying:

“Let us pass through your country. We will stay on the main road; we will not turn aside to the right or to the left. Sell us food to eat and water to drink for their price in silver. Only let us pass through on foot - as the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir, and the Moabites, who live in Ar, did for us - until we cross the Jordan into the land the Lord our God is giving us."

Unfortunately, Sihon refused to accept this offer, choosing instead to bring his army out to meet Israel “in battle at Jahaz” and it was there that “God delivered” Heshbon’s king over to His people who “struck him down, together with his sons and his whole army.” Then, we read where the Israelites “took all his towns and completely destroyed them”, “leaving no survivors” and carrying off the “plunder and livestock”.

After this, the nation of Israel becomes a force to be reckoned with, just as God promised they would. The scriptures tell us that “from Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Gorge, and from the town in the gorge, even as far as Gilead, not one town was too strong” for the Israelites to defeat. They vanquished every foe, not because of what they had done but what God had done for them and we find Moses giving Him full credit, saying:

“The Lord our God gave us all of them.”

Indeed, the Lord had brought Israel to victory by delivering their enemies to them and just as when they had left Egypt, He once again showed that He was Israel’s great Deliverer.

Today, God is still our great Deliverer as well. In fact, He provided us the ultimate rescue from an eternity in Hell when He willingly chose to sacrifice His only Son, Jesus, on Calvary’s cross, In doing so, He freed us from certain destruction and opened the gates of Heaven for us if we would just believe and trust in His Son, the crucified and resurrected Lamb of God who came and took away the sin of the world (John 1:29).

My dear friends, what a blessing it is to know we are delivered and saved! Just as the Israelites gained confidence in knowing they could face any enemy and gain victory, so too do we gain blessed assurance knowing we have already been granted the ultimate victory over our greatest foe, Satan. This truth frees us to be able to go out boldly to do the Gospel work that Jesus called us to without fear of defeat.

Is this not reason for us to celebrate, rejoice, and be glad, not just today but everyone thereafter as we proceed toward the glory of Heaven?

For our God is our Deliverer and it is only through Him and our faith in Christ as Savior that we have a hope that can never be taken away.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

A GOD OF HIS WORD

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

"Then we turned back and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea, as the Lord had directed me. For a long time we made our way around the hill country of Seir.”

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. Give the people these orders: You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own. You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’

‘The Lord your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert. These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything.’”

“So we went on past our brothers the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion Geber, and traveled along the desert road of Moab.”

“Then the Lord said to me, ‘Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any part of their land. I have given Ar to the descendants of Lot as a possession." (The Emites used to live there—a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. Like the Anakites, they too were considered Rephaites, but the Moabites called them Emites. Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land the Lord gave them as their possession.)

“And the Lord said, ‘Now get up and cross the Zered Valley.’ So we crossed the valley.”

“Thirty-eight years passed from the time we left Kadesh Barnea until we crossed the Zered Valley. By then, that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the Lord had sworn to them. The Lord's hand was against them until He had completely eliminated them from the camp.”

“Now when the last of these fighting men among the people had died, the Lord said to me, ‘Today you are to pass by the region of Moab at Ar. When you come to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them to war, for I will not give you possession of any land belonging to the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.’" (That too was considered a land of the Rephaites, who used to live there; but the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. They were a people strong and numerous, and as tall as the Anakites. The Lord destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place. The Lord had done the same for the descendants of Esau, who lived in Seir, when he destroyed the Horites from before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. And as for the Avvites, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, the Caphtorites coming out from Caphtor destroyed them and settled in their place.)

Deuteronomy 2:1-23

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

At the beginning of the Book of Deuteronomy, we find Moses engage in a historical retrospective, covering the history of the Israelite people from after their deliverance from Egypt through their pending entry into Canaan, the land God had promised them.

As we saw in chapter 1, the people of God had failed in their first attempt to enter Canaan after their rebellious unwillingness to trust Him and willing disobedience toward His commands. Obviously, this brought them out of His favor and into His judgment which began when they decided to try and right their own wrongs against His will by entering into Canaan on their own accord and fighting the Amorites. You’ll remember that God warned them not to do this but they didn’t listen (did I mention they were rebellious?) and quickly learned they couldn’t prevail against any enemy challenge without God being with them.

That was just the appetizer in regard to God’s punishment for the main course was ahead as the Lord ordered His people to enter into another exodus, this time for forty years which was essentially one year for every day that the twelve Israelite spies had scouted Canaan before returning and giving a report about what they had found (Numbers 14:34).

As for the intent of God’s judgment, we also see in Numbers, chapter 14 that it was so the disobedient generation of Israelites would not gain the opportunity to enter the Promised Land. Instead, they would die during the wilderness wandering and never get to receive the inheritance God had set aside for them. Instead, that gift would fall to the next generation.

Well, as chapter 2 begins, we find Moses recalling the time after God had sent them away from Canaan and back into the wilderness. We read where he and the Israelites left Kadesh and “set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea” just as “the Lord had directed”. It was the first step in the right direction for the only way anyone can hope to regain the favor of the Lord and begin to mend their relationship with Him is if they commit themselves to turn from their sinful ways. In the case of Israel, this meant once again obeying God’s commands and trusting His word.

In response to the renewed willingness to respect Him, the scriptures show us that God began to once again guide and advise Israel throughout their forty year journey, saying this to Moses:

“You have made your way around this hill country long enough; now turn north. Give the people these orders: You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, but be very careful. Do not provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, not even enough to put your foot on. I have given Esau the hill country of Seir as his own.”’

We then see where the Lord gave His people similar orders as they passed through territory belonging to the Moabites and Ammonites, and in all these cases, we should note that the Lord told Israel He had given land to another nation: Esau, in the case of the hill country of Seir, and the descendents of Lot, in regard to the land owned by the Moabites and Ammonites. God had earmarked Canaan for the Israelites but it would still be a while before they would get to claim it as their own.

In regard to the wandering itself, forty years is a very long time and when we get to the fourteenth verse of Deuteronomy, chapter 2, we read where Israel had been wandering in the desert for 38 years when they crossed the Zered Valley as ordered by the Lord. The scriptures tell us that during this period, “the entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp” just as the Lord had said they would. Indeed, His “hand was against them until he had completely eliminated them” as we see how God was true to His word.

Now, we should remember that this latter truth, God being true to His word, isn’t always revealed in consequence for our Lord is always true to His word in good times and in bad. This is what I like to refer to as an absolute, something that is completely accurate with no possibility of error. You could substitute the word “certainty”, if you like. When it comes right down to it, there aren’t too many sure things we can completely trust in from the world in life but when it comes to our life in the Lord, there are a multitude of absolutes which we find in His Word, a Word that is absolutely true and inerrant.

Need an example?

Consider these words of Jesus as He speaks about His disciples and His Father’s Word:

“I am coming to you now, but I say these things while I am still in the world, so that they may have the full measure of My joy within them. I have given them Your word and the world has hated them, for they are not of the world any more than I am of the world. My prayer is not that You take them out of the world but that You protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; Your word is truth. As you sent Me into the world, I have sent them into the world. For them I sanctify Myself, that they too may be truly sanctified.” John 17:13-19

As believers, we know God expects us to be holy as He is holy (1 Peter 1:15-16) and Jesus was the personification of everything that God was, including holiness. After all He and the Father were one (John 10:30).

Indeed, Jesus was sanctification in its most pure and perfect sense and by His own word, He sought to guide His disciples so they too might find the way to their own sanctification, understanding that although they would never be perfectly holy, they could at least strive to meet that goal by trusting and adhering to the ever truthful Word of God.

Friends, one of our greatest responsibilities as believers is to actively seek God’s truth each and every day through the scriptures. This is why writing these messages each day is such a labor of love for me for the Lord has given me the privilege to teach from His Word and then pass on His truth to anyone who wishes to seek it. This isn’t some trumped up, artificial, manufactured truth or lies masquerading as truth. Rather, it is THE truth as found in the living Word of God and it is my hope and prayer, just as was the hope of Jesus, that all believers would intentionally seek to move to a higher plane of holiness and righteousness each and every day, not merely reading what God’s word has to say but putting it into practice while doing what it says (James 1:22).

For when we do this, we should be able to relate to the words of the Psalmist who said the following about the Word of our God:

I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from Your commands. I have hidden Your Word in my heart that I might not sin against You. Praise be to You, O Lord; teach Me your decrees. Psalm 119:10-12

My soul is weary with sorrow; strengthen me according to Your Word. Psalm 119:28

Turn my heart toward Your statutes and not toward selfish gain. Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to Your Word. Psalm 119:36-37

Your Word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path. Psalm 119:105

and finally:

Your Word, O Lord, is eternal; it stands firm in the heavens. Your faithfulness continues through all generations. Psalm 119:89-90

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

WITHOUT GOD, WE CAN'T MAKE IT

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

When the Lord heard what you said, He was angry and solemnly swore: "Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly."

“Because of you, the Lord became angry with me also and said, ‘You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad - they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea.’"

“Then you replied, ‘We have sinned against the Lord. We will go up and fight, as the Lord our God commanded us.’ So every one of you put on his weapons, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country.”

“But the Lord said to me, ‘Tell them, “Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.”'

“So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord's command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. You came back and wept before the Lord, but He paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you. And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there."

Deuteronomy 1:34-46

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

In yesterday’s message, we saw Moses reviewing the history of the Israelites, revisiting the time when they failed to trust in the God who had delivered them from their Egyptian enslavement, led them through the desert wilderness and providing for them every step of the way, and helped them arrive safely on the brink of the land of Canaan, the land He had promised to them through their ancestors, beginning with Abraham. After receiving a negative report from the scouts who had checked out the land in advance, the people rebelled against God, even going as far as wishing they were back in Egypt, feeling they were actually better off living in oppression. That’s how out of whack the Israelites were.

Well, this didn’t sit well with the Lord and as we see at the beginning of today’s passage, as Moses once again shares the words from God that were directed to His people:

“Not a man of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your forefathers, except Caleb, son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land he set his feet on, because he followed the Lord wholeheartedly."

We also see where His anger was pointed at Moses as well as He said:

“You shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it. And the little ones that you said would be taken captive, your children who do not yet know good from bad - they will enter the land. I will give it to them and they will take possession of it. But as for you, turn around and set out toward the desert along the route to the Red Sea."

Why did Moses fall out of God’s favor?

We need to go back to chapter 20 of the Book of Numbers for the answer:

The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence, just as He commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” Vv. 7-12

Here, we find Moses and Aaron failing to carry out what God had commanded. And while it might appear that the end result was as hoped, water flowing from the rock to provide for the Israelites and their animals, the act served to only glorify the two brothers and not God Himself.

You see, God had told the two to simply speak to the rock and the water would flow, something that only an all powerful, miraculous Lord could do. This would have left the people praising and giving thanks to their God. But Moses and Aaron chose to first stake claim to credit for what was about to happen saying:

“Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”

And then Moses rose up his arms, lifted his staff, and brought it down twice on the rock, leading to the water flowing. His actions would have drawn the attention of the Israelites to himself, stealing away the honor that God deserved. Aaron, not intervening and correcting his brother, was complicit and considered just as guilty

This is why God speaks out against Moses and Aaron saying:

“Because you did not trust in Me enough to honor Me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”

The punishment for disobedience was very harsh but deserved. Neither Moses or Aaron would get to enter the Promised Land when the Israelites finally got to that point. We read more about this in our passage for today as Moses recounts these words from the Lord:

“You (Moses) shall not enter it, either. But your assistant, Joshua son of Nun, will enter it. Encourage him, because he will lead Israel to inherit it.”

Well, after learning that God was going to bring judgment on them for their rebellious attitude, the people of Israel decided to fall back on what they had always done when they got into trouble, try to wiggle their way out of the Lord’s bad graces. In this instance, they took it upon themselves to go ahead and enter Canaan to “go up and fight, as the Lord” commanded us". They put on their weapons and decided to enter “the hill country”.

There was one big problem with this plan. It wasn’t put in place or endorsed by God, the God who sent this warning through Moses:

“Tell them, ‘Do not go up and fight, because I will not be with you. You will be defeated by your enemies.’”

But the Israelites were a stubborn people and so they once again failed to heed what God told them, choosing instead to go into Canaan and fight anyways, and as you would expect, it didn’t go well. Moses remembered it well when he said:

“So I told you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the Lord's command and in your arrogance you marched up into the hill country. The Amorites who lived in those hills came out against you; they chased you like a swarm of bees and beat you down from Seir all the way to Hormah. You came back and wept before the Lord, but He paid no attention to your weeping and turned a deaf ear to you. And so you stayed in Kadesh many days—all the time you spent there."

You know, the behavior of the Israelites reminds me of what a young child does when they know they are in trouble for doing something they weren’t supposed to do. In those instances, they suddenly say they are sorry after they know they are in trouble with the hope of escaping punishment. Rarely does this tact ever work for after the offense, it’s usually too late and discipline is imposed with the hope that next time, the child will make the proper choice when it comes to doing right or wrong.

In the case of the people of Israel, we see that they think God will return to their side and allow “bygones to be bygones” if they just admit their sins and then go and do what He wanted them to do in the first place. In this instance, it was to go into Canaan and claim the land as their own, fighting for it if needed.

Well, we read that this isn’t what God wanted as He warns them that if they did go into the land, He wouldn’t be there with them. Essentially, they would be fighting on their own. But, the Israelites had their minds made up and so they ‘rebelled against the Lord's command” and in “arrogance marched up into the hill country”. The outcomes weren’t surprising as the Amorites, who lived in the hills, came out against Israel and “chased (them) like a swarm of bees” beating them “down from Seir…to Hormah”. Returning to Kadesh, God’s people “wept before the Lord” but the scriptures tell us “He paid no attention” and “turned a deaf ear”.

In the end translation, the people of Israel had lost God’s favor and this included Him not fighting alongside them, especially when they were carrying out something outside of His will.

And so too is it with us.

For believe it or not, there can be times in life when God might withdraw Himself from us as well, like when we abandon Him and are completely consumed and saturated with sin. The Lord doesn’t take willing sinfulness lightly for it was that very attitude that led Him to offer up His only Son, Jesus, so to give us a chance for redemption and salvation. Indeed, it was Jesus who bore the weight of our transgressions, carrying them onto the cross of Calvary as He was crucified, bearing the punishment and judgment that should have been upon us. It was there that He experienced a separation from His Father and cried out saying this while laden with our iniquities:

"Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?" -  which means, "My God, my God, why have You forsaken Me?" Matthew 27:46

Can you imagine the heartbreak God had to feel when He couldn’t be with His Son in His greatest time of need? And what about our Savior who needed the love of His Father who couldn’t provide it because of our sins being upon His Son.

Friends, we need our God, every second of every minute of every hour of every day. For without Him, we have no hope of making it through this thing called life.

In order for this to happen, we have to expunge all sin from our lives, the sin that Jesus died to take away from the world (John 1:29), the sin that we too often are too stubborn to surrender, just like the Old Testament Israelites. When comes right down to it, we all have a fundamental choice to make.

We can partner with God or partner with Satan and sin, and whichever we choose will be our master.

If we choose to partner with the enemy and opt for wickedness, then we can expect that God will have no part in our behavior nor with us. He will never be in the midst of our transgressions and we will learn quickly that we can't make it without Him.

Conversely, if we opt to reject sinfulness, living like Jesus while striving for the righteousness that God desires, then we can expect that He will be fully with us and for us, helping us become the people He wants us to be each and every day in this worldly existence until that day when we enter into the eternal life He promises for those who believe in His Son, a life where we will be set free from sin so to live with Him in perfect holiness forever.

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com 

TRUST HIM

Can I pray for you in any way?

Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.

In Christ, Mark

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

** Follow The Christian Walk on Twitter @ThChristianWalk

** Like posts and send friend requests to the author of The Christian Walk, Mark Cummings on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/mark.cummings.733?ref=tn_tnmn

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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.

“Then, as the Lord our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea. Then I said to you, ‘You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the Lord our God is giving us. See, the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.’”

“Then all of you came to me and said, ‘Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.’"

“The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe. They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it. Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, ‘It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us.’"

“But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord hates us; so He brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, “The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there."’”

“Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

“In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.”

Deuteronomy 1:19-33

This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.

As we move to the end of Deuteronomy, chapter 1, we find Moses continuing his historical retrospect on the Israelites and their journey which began after their Egyptian deliverance and would end once they crossed the Jordan River to inhabit the land God had promised them, the land of Canaan.

Going back in time, we find Moses telling of when Israel reached Kadesh Barnea after traveling toward the “hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert”. Upon their arrival, Moses told the people, “…the Lord your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the Lord, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged."

Now, you would have thought that Israel, after such a long journey through the desert wilderness, would have jumped at the opportunity to finally reach the land that was touted as flowing with milk and honey, a covenant land of blessing promised first to Abraham and then passed down through the generations to this very time and place.

But we know what happened. Israel didn’t immediately enter the land but instead went to Moses with the following request:

“Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to."

So Moses, feeling the idea was sound, selected twelve Israelites to go and scout the land, “one man from each tribe”. Those scouts “left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it”, taking “some of the fruit of the land” and bringing it back to the people and making the following report:

"It is a good land that the Lord our God is giving us."

So that sealed the deal, right?

God had promised to give the land to His people and assured them that He would be with them as they took possession of it. And on top of that, the advance scouts had brought back a positive report but in this passage, we see where things went south. Moses recalls how the Israelites blew it through their failure to trust the Lord who had delivered them from trouble, time after time after time:

“But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the Lord your God. You grumbled in your tents and said, ‘The Lord hates us; so He brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us. Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, “The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there."’”

“Then I said to you, "Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them. The Lord your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as He did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes, and in the desert. There you saw how the Lord your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place."

“In spite of this, you did not trust in the Lord your God, who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.”

You see, the scouts didn’t stop their messaging with the good news. Rather, they followed it up with a negative report, a report that we see in full by going back to the Book of Numbers, chapter 13. There, we read this:

“But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large. We even saw descendants of Anak there. The Amalekites live in the Negev; the Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the hill country; and the Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan.”

Then Caleb silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.” And they spread among the Israelites a bad report about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size. We saw the Nephilim there (the descendants of Anak come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.” Vv. 28-33

Of the twelve scouts, only Joshua and Caleb held firm in their assertion that the Israelites could find victory over anyone in Canaan, not by their own power but by the power of God who would fight with and for them. Unfortunately, the people sided with the majority opinion and as a result, ended up refusing to enter the land. That would have been bad enough but you’ll remember that the people of Israel even began to think they were actually better off during their Egyptian enslavement and entertained thoughts of going back there after shedding the leadership of Moses and seeking someone else to guide them.

In that head space, we see Moses reminding the people how he had tried to support and encourage his brothers and sisters, telling them to overcome their fear with their faith because God would be fighting for them just as He had done in the past. But unfortunately, God’s people had made up their mind, quickly dismissing how much God had done for them in the past while refusing to place their trust in Him.

I wonder how much we are like these people of Israel today? For how often do we forget all that God has done for us, how much He has given us, how far He has taken us when we face a current difficulty? How quick do we lose faith and feel like God has left us when we face a trial or tribulation, acting as if we should never go through hardship simply because we’re Christ believers? How fast do we forget His promise to not leave us or forsake us but rather walk alongside us, no matter what life brings?

The real question is:

Do we trust Him?

Friends, this message challenges, calling us to reflect on where we stand in regard to our faith in a God through which nothing is impossible, a God who created us and then has provided for our needs. Nothing short of unconditional trust will do and if we fall short of this, then we need to step back, pray, open up our Bibles, and read the Word while allowing the Holy Spirit to dominate our hearts so to recharge our trust and renewing our steadfast belief in the One through which all things are possible.

If we think life is too hard with Him present, imagine what life would be like without Him?

Let’s all choose to trust Him, no matter what, and be blessed as He continues to prove Himself faithful and true, always working things for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purposes (Romans 8:28)

Amen.

In Christ,

Mark

PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.