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
** Become a Follower of The Christian Walk at http://the-christian-walk.blogspot.com
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
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.
No comments:
Post a Comment