September 9, 2020
The message of Deuteronomy is one that the church desperately needs to hear today. These final words of Moses given to the children of Israel as they prepared to enter into the Promised Land serve as a warning, an encouragement, and a charge. Through them, God exposes the idolatry of our hearts and calls us to give all of our love, worship, and devotion to Him alone in every area of our lives! Moses warns the people that when they enter the land there will be things that compete with God for their attention, their affections and their worship. We, too, have hundreds of things that compete for our hearts each and every day. In this book, God teaches us how to properly respond to the amazing grace He has given us by giving Him our undivided allegiance, our whole hearts and our whole lives. Over the next 34 days, let’s seek this ancient way together as a church!
In this chapter Moses oversees the renewal of the covenant between the Lord and the people of Israel. God enters into the same covenant with this generation as He did with the first exodus generation at Mt. Sinai. He once more briefly recounts their journey through the wilderness and the faithfulness of God towards His people those forty years, before renewing the covenant and warning them strictly against hardening their hearts in pursuing other gods, which would lead to their certain doom.
Moses warns the people to be on guard for people among them who think that they will be safe even though they “walk in the stubbornness of [their] heart[s]” (v.19), refusing to follow the Lord and walk in His ways. These kinds of people would bring about sure destruction and exile for the people of Israel.
Could it be that it is very possible for this warning to apply to the church as well? Could it be that there are some among us who honor and acknowledge God with their lips in worship while in reality they walk in the stubbornness of their own hearts and refuse to obey the truth? This warning ought to cause us to examine our own hearts in this matter.
Moses also tells the people of Israel that the Lord had not yet given them a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear the significance of what He had done for them (v.4). Praise be to God that this is not the case for those of us who are in Christ! May we each humble our hearts and walk in submission to Him.
Deuteronomy 29
The Covenant Renewed in Moab
29 These are the words of the covenant that the Lord commanded Moses to make with the people of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant that he had made with them at Horeb.
2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them: “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt, to Pharaoh and to all his servants and to all his land, 3 the great trials that your eyes saw, the signs, and those great wonders. 4 But to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to understand or eyes to see or ears to hear. 5 I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandals have not worn off your feet. 6 You have not eaten bread, and you have not drunk wine or strong drink, that you may know that I am the Lord your God. 7 And when you came to this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out against us to battle, but we defeated them. 8 We took their land and gave it for an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 Therefore keep the words of this covenant and do them, that you may prosper in all that you do.
10 “You are standing today, all of you, before the Lord your God: the heads of your tribes, your elders, and your officers, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the sojourner who is in your camp, from the one who chops your wood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the sworn covenant of the Lord your God, which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 that he may establish you today as his people, and that he may be your God, as he promised you, and as he swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 14 It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.
16 “You know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through the midst of the nations through which you passed. 17 And you have seen their detestable things, their idols of wood and stone, of silver and gold, which were among them. 18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’ This will lead to the sweeping away of moist and dry alike. 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and his jealousy will smoke against that man, and the curses written in this book will settle upon him, and the Lord will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 And the Lord will single him out from all the tribes of Israel for calamity, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant written in this Book of the Law. 22 And the next generation, your children who rise up after you, and the foreigner who comes from a far land, will say, when they see the afflictions of that land and the sicknesses with which the Lord has made it sick— 23 the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath—24 all the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land? What caused the heat of this great anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them out of the land of Egypt, 26 and went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they had not known and whom he had not allotted to them. 27 Therefore the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, bringing upon it all the curses written in this book, 28 and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger and fury and great wrath, and cast them into another land, as they are this day.’
29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things that are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Family Discussion Question:
- Why is it significant that God did not give the people of Israel a heart to understand His work of grace on their behalf? How does God give us the heart to understand it in Christ?
Dear Heavenly Father,
Thank You for loving us. There are so many things that we do not understand…many of which are known only by You and are to be kept secret. However, thru our love and dependence on Christ, we can see some things through Christs eyes. Please give me a heart and mind to understand all the things You want me to see and know and the faith to trust only You, concerning the things I cannot comprehend. I ask these things in Jesus’ precious and holy name, Amen.
Amen?.
Gracias padre por tú gran amor y misericordia por nosotros tus hijos gracias por el día de hoy y por conservar nuestras vidas te agradezco todo lo que has hecho y lo que harás por toda mi familia y nuestras vidas gracias por elegirme y abrir mis ojos y mi corazón cada día más te pido que conforme a tu palabra actúes con la vida de mi esposo de Luismi y toda mi familia gracias mi Dios amado por tus promesas que día a día se renuevan guía mis pasos y ayúdanos a caminar siempre por tu vía no nos dejes caer en tentación y líbranos del mal en nombre y por amor de tú hijo amado amén ?
Praise the Lord for his amazing grace, for without it , we would be lost as the Israelites.
Amen and Amen
AMEN and HALLELUJA!!!
Father,
Help me know you are with me now in the midst of life’s storms and trials.
Like a sailing ship do I need a course correction? Help me search my heart and to remove any wicked way within me.
Father, help me stand on the rock this day. You are my fortress and I run to you this day for protection, for provision, and for guidance.
Help me keep my eyes focused on your only son, Jesus Christ, for he is the way, the truth and the life. May my life mirror Jesus in all that I do, say and think.
Please LORD, go with me this day as we search for one more lost soul.
I commit this day to you, in the name of Jesus,
Amen
Amen! Our sword and our shield are from you. Let us use them to protect our path and lead others to your grace and mercy.
Oh Lord, help me to follow your ways daily. Make your covenant revealed more and more to me as I walk with with you. Make me please you in all I do, amen.
I am so thankful that the Lord has give me a heart to know, eyes to see, and ears to hear.
Lord help me everything to know what it is I must do and follow in my life so that my heart is always right with you.
Thank You, Lord, for the Holy Spirit who convicts and guides and speaks to me.
Forgive me for my sin father. I repent and thank you for Jesus and your Spirit, that not only informs me with the awareness to recognize how I fall short, but empowers me to overcome the temptation of sin.
Oh, America, can you not make the application of this chapter to our country? Can you not see the consequences of our running after false gods? Can you not see that we are headed in the same direction and will harvest the same fruits unless we bow in humility before a holy God to confess our sins and repent? May God have mercy on us.