August 22, 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!
Moses has just called the people of Israel to consider the great love and grace of God; now he calls them to consider the greatness, power, and discipline of God that He displayed in Egypt and all along the way. Why is it important that we stop to consider who God is, the attributes of His character?
Moses gives his reasons for calling the people’s attention to these various attributes and actions of God: that they would, in light of these things, carefully obey all of His commands! Note how Moses lumps loving God, serving God, and obeying God into the same category. The point he is trying to make is that a heart that loves God leads to a life of obedience to Him; on the other hand, a life of true obedience cannot exist apart from a heart that loves Him.
All of these things serve as a reminder to us that considering the ways, the actions, and the character of God should always lead to our affections for Him being grown and our hearts being moved to worship Him alone! In the end of the chapter, Moses sets before the people a blessing if they obey the Lord and a curse if they do not. We stop to consider who God is and all that He has done in order that we would remember to choose the path of blessing, the path to life!
Deuteronomy 11
Love and Serve the Lord
11 “You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always. 2 And consider today (since I am not speaking to your children who have not known or seen it), consider the discipline of the Lord your God, his greatness, his mighty hand and his outstretched arm, 3 his signs and his deeds that he did in Egypt to Pharaoh the king of Egypt and to all his land, 4 and what he did to the army of Egypt, to their horses and to their chariots, how he made the water of the Red Sea flow over them as they pursued after you, and how the Lord has destroyed them to this day, 5 and what he did to you in the wilderness, until you came to this place, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram the sons of Eliab, son of Reuben, how the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households, their tents, and every living thing that followed them, in the midst of all Israel. 7 For your eyes have seen all the great work of the Lord that he did.
8 “You shall therefore keep the whole commandment that I command you today, that you may be strong, and go in and take possession of the land that you are going over to possess, 9 and that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give to them and to their offspring, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 For the land that you are entering to take possession of it is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you sowed your seed and irrigated it, like a garden of vegetables. 11 But the land that you are going over to possess is a land of hills and valleys, which drinks water by the rain from heaven, 12 a land that the Lord your God cares for. The eyes of the Lord your God are always upon it, from the beginning of the year to the end of the year.
13 “And if you will indeed obey my commandments that I command you today, to love the Lord your God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul, 14 he will give the rain for your land in its season, the early rain and the later rain, that you may gather in your grain and your wine and your oil. 15 And he will give grass in your fields for your livestock, and you shall eat and be full. 16 Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them; 17 then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you, and he will shut up the heavens, so that there will be no rain, and the land will yield no fruit, and you will perish quickly off the good land that the Lord is giving you.
18 “You shall therefore lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 19 You shall teach them to your children, talking of them when you are sitting in your house, and when you are walking by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 20 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, 21 that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers to give them, as long as the heavens are above the earth. 22 For if you will be careful to do all this commandment that I command you to do, loving the Lord your God, walking in all his ways, and holding fast to him,23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations greater and mightier than you. 24 Every place on which the sole of your foot treads shall be yours. Your territory shall be from the wilderness to the Lebanon and from the River, the river Euphrates, to the western sea. 25 No one shall be able to stand against you. The Lord your God will lay the fear of you and the dread of you on all the land that you shall tread, as he promised you.
26 “See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.29 And when the Lord your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, you shall set the blessing on Mount Gerizim and the curse on Mount Ebal. 30 Are they not beyond the Jordan, west of the road, toward the going down of the sun, in the land of the Canaanites who live in the Arabah, opposite Gilgal, beside the oak of Moreh? 31 For you are to cross over the Jordan to go in to take possession of the land that the Lord your God is giving you. And when you possess it and live in it, 32 you shall be careful to do all the statutes and the rules that I am setting before you today.
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.
Family Discussion Question:
- How does considering the character and the works of God lead us to love, worship, and obey Him? How might you be intentional about stopping to consider these things more frequently?
LORD help me to always love and serve you only. AMEN
AMEN and HALLELUJAh!!! Lord you are my Lord and Savior. I will always love you and no other. You are the light of my life. I will always listen to you. I will never wonder off away from you. Blessed be to God and your son Jesus Christ. In your Holy name Christ Jesus Amen. ????????
Dear Heavenly Father,
We should all take time to be still and get to know You, Lord. When we consider all the things You have done for us, we will be amazed and want to sing “how marvelous, how glorious, is my Father’s love for me”. Thank You Lord, Jesus for loving me. I will continue to stay in Your Word and walk with You daily so that I will get to know You better. My love will only grow deeper each day. To know You is to love You. In Jesus’ precious and holy name. Amen.
As the hymn says
“Prone to wander Lord I feel it, prone to leave the God I love. Here’s my heart Lord, take and seal it….”
Lord Jesus help me to remember where You brought me from– a life of sin and shame— to a life of victory, wholeness. You gave me Beauty for ashes. Where the Spirit of the Lord is there is true freedom and love!!!
It is a choice we are free to make; I choose Christ.
I choose to listen obediently, and to love the Lord my God. And to serve Him with all my heart and all my soul so that I may receive His blessing.
When I focus on you, then I have a chance to know and love you. I must seek you out all day, every day. Your character reveals how you have been, how you are, and how you will be. You elicit faith and trust out of me, which builds confidence, which help me to keep pursuing you. My choice to seek you and your kingdom first, is the step that I must take to receive your love and blessings. It is the gift of life and joy. That joy helps me through every type of event I might endure while in this fallen world.
Thank you Father God❤
Lord all I want is to obey whatever you have for me in my life. I know I can down many times and doubt comes in please take this away from me because I know better you have never left me.
Oh, Creator of the Universe, how great and powerful you are. Your Grace and mercy abound for ever and ever.
Because of your love, you discipline. May I carefully follow all your commands today and forever.
Oh Father, how can you bless America? Our sins as a nation are so great. Raise up leaders filled with the Holy Ghost. May we, who are called sons and daughters of God fall to our knees and cry out for forgiveness.
Isaiah cried out: if not now, when? If not me, who?
Bless me today, Father. Enlarge my sphere of influence. Fill me anew and afresh with the Holy Spirit. May my eyes see evil so I can run from it, so as not to cause you and others pain.
I surrender to your will. Keep me on the path and let’s go and find one more to bring to your throne room…
In Jesus name I lift this petition, Amen.
Oh help me Father to walk in Your ways. We are indeed prone to wander. Help me Holy Spirit to walk in the Spirit daily. To be the godly mother you have called me to be. To set the example of following after you with my whole heart. I love you oh Lord my Strength ♥️
A blessing and a curse – America would do well to take note of this and obey God’s commands. The principles herein apply to us just as they do to Israel. It is our choice: a blessing or a curse.
See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse: 27 the blessing, if you obey the commandments of the Lord your God, which I command you today, 28 and the curse, if you do not obey the commandments of the Lord your God, but turn aside from the way that I am commanding you today, to go after other gods that you have not known.
Let’s choose to walk in the way of God’s blessing!
Amen and amen!!
Like the Israelites, God expects us to Fear, Love, Serve, Obey Him and walk in all His ways. Concentrate on these and find peace.
Teach me Your way O Lord, that I may walk in Your truth. Unite my heart to fear Your name. I will give thanks to You with my whole heart and glorify Your name forever. This is my prayer & hearts desire, in Jesus name, Amen!
Father, in obedience I love, worship and serve you. I confess that I can not do this on my own. Forgive me for disobeying, loving, worshiping and serving my self and whatever else I put in your rightful place. Thank you for your word that instructs me and reminds me daily, of how undeservedly good you are to me.