Trusting Peace

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27 (NASB)

So often we fail in having/experiencing peace where we have no control over a situation or outcome. Yes, we believed in Jesus for our salvation and we have peace about our sins and salvation, but as we grow, we find other areas of our life that we withhold from God, maybe not intentionally, but withheld it is. How do we know we do this? We are frantic, agitated, and have no peace and no rest. We scramble trying to make “it” work or trying to change an outcome. We worry about a person, a job, a home, anything really. This shows us we are not at peace. It shows we have not given everything to God to take care of. We haven’t entrusted that person, situation, or thing into His care wanting His perfect will. Why? We are afraid and don’t trust God. We are afraid pain may be involved-pain in our hearts. We are afraid God won’t give us what we want.

This fear, this being afraid, does not come from God, but from Satan. He uses our humanness to desire things knowing they contradict God’s perfect will for our lives. Satan uses our human frailness of desire to lead us not to trust God completely. He leans into us and we lean away from God. Fear becomes a resident emotion. It stays until we trust God and give to Him that part of our lives-the person, situation, or thing with which we wrestle for our own outcome. To grasp the peace of God, we must let go of our desire for these finite things and instead desire God, trust Him and hold onto Him. We should pray for the strength to grasp the peace of God. God’s peace is everlasting and is not fleeting like the peace the world gives. Getting that thing, conquering that situation, or gaining that person’s trust, allegiance, and/or covenant gives peace only for a time, not for eternity. Fear then will return. If we grasp onto God by trusting Him in that situation instead of trying to take care of it ourselves, then God’s peace given to us will carry us through as we trust Him and follow Him with obedience.

Often it seems easier to get the peace the world offers because we can work at it for ourselves. The work ethic has taught us self-sufficiency. “Why ask God for something I can do myself,” is often what we think. When we do this, we make ourselves our god instead of seeking God’s will and letting Him provide what we need and sometimes what we want. When we gain what we want through the actions of our own hands, we have peace, but it doesn’t last. We realize too late we didn’t seek God, trust Him, and get His peace. It seems hard to keep hold of the trust in God that gives His peace. Our trust is imperfect; yet we say, “But I trust Him, I trusted Him for my salvation. Doesn’t that mean I trust Him?” Trust in God grows in us as we seek Him and His perfect will. God permits us to make decisions. Those times of decision are where we can exercise trust in Him, grow more like Christ, and gain peace.

How do we do trust God more? How do we re-orient our minds so that we seek God first instead of striving for ourselves to gain what we want? We must go back to the time of our salvation and then walk through our memories recalling the times God worked in our lives. These spiritual markers remind us of who God has been for us, what characteristics of God we saw at work in each of those situations. To trust God for our current situation(s), we must remember His love, grace, and mercy that provided salvation for us. He still loves us and wants good for us. Paul stated this same thing in Romans 8:28 when he said, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

As we continue our walk through our memory garden of spiritual markers, we arrive at a marker that reminds us of God’s power, might and dominion. That marker came from the moment we recognized God created us with His creative power and provided for and protected us with His mighty hand. He is greater and mightier than all things created. That is when we also realized He is Ruler; He has dominion over all. We realized we could trust Him to do what He said He would do. We realized He would take care of all our needs. Now we must take that trust that comes from believing these things and more. Don’t let it be hidden from our hearts and minds. Receive God’s peace because of it. He is Lord over all. Nothing defeats Him or surprises Him.

God already has the plan to take care of our situations for which we thought we had to strive. We must trust His heart and receive the peace He gives through His indwelling Holy Spirit. Remember, Jesus said to His disciples in John 14 He would send His Spirit to teach and bring to remembrance all He said. The Holy Spirit is the Helper. He will remind us of God’s truth.

Trusting God and receiving His peace sounds easy when we step back to gain perspective. That process of stepping back from our situation is the first step toward peace. Our humanness gets in the way of seeing and/or obeying God and skews our perspective if we don’t step back. When we step back, we realize we are not the god of our lives. We realize we will not receive lasting peace if we seek our own will. When we step back, we recognize God is bigger than our circumstance and our desires. These do not define or limit Him. He is still Master and defines and limits our situation. God provides the correct way and that gives perfect peace. Doing this, stepping back and letting God take control of the situation, grows our trust in Him. It gives us another spiritual marker upon which to look back in the future to remind us of when God led the way, gave us the better way, and gave us lasting peace.

Having peace requires effort on our part. That effort is stepping back and trusting God’s perfect will to effect the best plan for our situation. Christ offers peace. He said in John 14:27, “Peace I give you.” We must accept and grasp Christ’s peace by stepping back and letting God be Lord of our lives. We are each works in progress. None of us on this side of heaven is completely remade into the image of God. We are daily being made more like Jesus. We must daily set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). We must take to heart, and put into our minds and spirits, the final phrase of John 14:27. He said, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Jesus gives peace, lasting peace, unlike what the world gives. Will we step back from our situations, see God as our Lord, the mighty, powerful Ruler, and trust and obey Him in the situation? We should not trust in ourselves to deliver us from our situations and desires, but rather we should trust in God who raises the dead, creates all things, and loves and saves us from our sins. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10) Trusting and obeying God gives perfect, lasting peace.

“Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”

Absolute Allegiance and the Law of the Ban - Deuteronomy 7

Deuteronomy 7 

            Deuteronomy 6 commands following the first commandment in a positive way with the conditional statements of what will occur if a person does not obey it. Deuteronomy 7 speaks about the commandment in a negative way and introduces the law of the ban. This law of the ban is the prohibition of the worship of idols. Though the writer included God’s blessings and a war speech, he focused on the prohibition of idols. So, this chapter is a sermon on the theme of the first commandment, just as chapter six is, but composes it with the focus on what not to do. Three times and in three ways in chapter seven the writer expressed the ban, in verses one through six, sixteen, and twenty-five through twenty-six. In respect of other gods and idols, God declares a holy war on other gods and idols. He leads and wins the war in this instance. There are times in the Israelites lives where they chose not to follow Yahweh and He did not win. People through the ages have chosen to follow their own will and place someone or something higher than Yahweh. At that time, God’s will did not occur, but we believe God’s will prevails at the end. He will be victorious because He is more powerful than idols/gods made by humans and instigated by Satan.

            The first ban in this chapter begins by reminding the Israelites which nations God will clear away before them. As this roll call of nations proceeds, we remember the history of the people. As we read of the nations and recall their history, we will understand why God refused to make them a part of His chosen people. First, Moses mentioned the Hittites. This nation of people descended from Heth, the second son of Canaan, the son of Ham (Genesis 10:15). Ham was the youngest son of Noah who found his father drunk and naked in his tent and made fun of him. When Noah heard about it, he cursed him and his descendents (Genesis 9:21-23). The Hittites lived in the mountainous region around Hebron and before that lived in current day Turkey and, later, northern Lebanon. The Girgashites were descendents of Canaan, the son of Ham, too. They lived east of the Sea of Galilee when the Israelites entered the Promised Land. The Israelites encountered the Amorites when they battled Kings Og and Sihon earlier. Other Amorites lived on the western side of the Dead Sea in the mountains. The Amorites came from the Babylonian Empire that ruled the west and east of the Jordan River several centuries before the Israelites arrived. The Canaanites were direct descendents of Canaan. They lived near the Mediterranean Sea in Phoenicia, Tyre, and Sidon. The Perizzites are relatively unknown. Their name means “villagers” and they lived in un-walled towns and in southern Canaan. The Hivites descended from Canaan, too. They lived in northern Canaan near Ebal and Gerizim, extending toward Hermon. The Jebusites descended from the third son of Canaan, Jebus. They lived near the place later named Jerusalem. What is most important in this list of nations is that they were bigger and stronger than the Israelites. Moses highlighted this fact to them. The Israelites would not win any battle with them on their own. Moses made his point in verse two, “the Lord your God delivers them before you and you defeat them.” The Canaanites outnumbered the Israelites, but with God as the Israelites' deliverer, the seven nations could be defeated.

            God did not want them just defeated, He wanted the seven nations “utterly destroyed,” as Moses stated in verse two. The word “destroy” in this verse is the Hebrew word charam, which means complete devotion to ban or extermination. Moses began commanding the law of the ban in verse two. Added to this, God forbade the Israelites from making covenants with the seven nations, showing them favor, or intermarrying with them. God specifically prohibited making marriage covenants with any people of the seven nations. Why did God erect such a high wall around the Israelites. Moses explained what God said in verse four. God said, “For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods, then the anger of the LORD will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you.” God, the one true God, demands absolute allegiance to Him. He proved Himself to the Israelites as their Savior from Egypt and their desert wandering. No other god the Israelites knew of could do what Yahweh God did and promised to do. God chose the descendents of Abraham to receive His grace. As is noted in Deuteronomy 6, He is a jealous God who is a fierce protector of His treasured possession, the people of Israel. The one true God demands absolute allegiance and the Israelites joined Yahweh in covenant at Mount Sinai when they agreed to the Ten Commandments. The first commandment is “You shall have no other gods before Me.” God gave them the Promised Land because He had promised it to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. He is always faithful to His promises. The Israelites would “possess” the Promised Land by keeping their covenant, the Ten Commandments, with Yahweh. They promised to love, revere, and obey Yahweh. By routing and destroying the seven nations, God removed all influence of the gods of these nations from around the Israelites so they would not be enticed to worship them. The first commandment is a command, but God gives humankind freewill. Should a person not choose to give God absolute allegiance, then the other side of the conditional statement occurs -  judgment: God will destroy them (vs. 4).

            God did not give vague instructions to keep the Israelites from worshipping the gods of Canaan. He specified what He wanted the Israelites to do when they destroyed the seven nations. To guard against idolatry, God commanded them to (notice the word “shall”) “tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, hew down their Asherim, and burn their graven images with fire.” Their altars were their places of worship, their temples. These places of worship could be in buildings, but often they were in fields, olive groves, and forests. The sacred pillars were the places on which the idols sat. The Asherim was a Babylonian-Canaanite goddess of fortune and happiness and the consort of Baal. The word  “Asherim” referred to the many gods, too. The idols of these gods were most often wooden tipped in gold or silver. They burned easily. Interestingly, during the Reformation, the Scottish reformers did this and people of the time called them vandals. God’s purpose, though, is to keep His people set apart for Him because He chose/elected them for His own.

            The last verse of the writer’s first stating the law of the ban is verse six and it says, “For you are a holy people to the LORD your God: the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth.” To be holy is God consecrating and setting apart a person or people for His purposes. The word “chosen” is the Hebrew word bachar, which means to choose, elect, decide for, and select. God selected the Hebrew people not because they were the largest and most important nation. On the contrary, they were one of the smallest nations in the world at that time. He chose them because of His faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham, a man God called His friend (Genesis 15:5-6 and James 2:23). Because of Abraham’s faith in God, God considered him righteous and called him friend. God chose the Hebrews because of Abraham’s righteousness and because God is faithful to His promises. When God chose the Hebrews, He called them “His treasure.” The word “possession” in Hebrew means valued treasure. The Hebrews were God’s special treasure out of all the people on the earth (Exodus 19:5; Deuteronomy 4:20, 14:2, 26:18; Psalm 135:4; Titus 2:14; 1 Peter 2:9). As inheritors of sonship through Jesus Christ, God calls believers/Christians today His special treasure, too.

            God placed a prohibition on idolatry so the people would just worship the LORD. By doing this, they would fulfill the most important part of the covenant, the first commandment. Anyone who reads the Bible notices this prohibition was difficult for the Israelites. One generation after another fell and worshipped other gods. We today have this same problem. We have distractions that lead us to put more importance on things and people other than God, who requires absolute allegiance and single-minded devotion.

            What enables a person or people to stay strong in their devotion is recounting the blessings God gave him, her, or them. Moses recounted for the Israelites in verses seven through fifteen the blessings from God. Verses 7 and 8 told the Israelites and tell us today “The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any of the peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples, but because the LORD loved you and kept an oath which He swore to your forefathers.” As stated in earlier paragraphs, God chose them because of His love for them and His oath to Abraham. God blessed them with His love and faithfulness. He blessed them, too, with His strength and power with which He redeemed (ransomed, rescued, and saved) them from slavery, Egypt, and Pharaoh (vs. 8b).

Moses continued and highlighted these blessings again in verse nine. He said, “Know therefore that the LORD your God, He is God (Deut. 6:4); the faithful God who keeps His covenant and loving-kindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments.” The word “know” in Hebrew is yada, which means to perceive, recognize, acknowledge, and confess. Notice a continual and expanding knowledge of something occurs with knowing. When a person first encounters a new idea, teaching, or leader, they know about them. As they study it or the person more, they begin to recognize its/his/her influence in their world. As they recognize more, they acknowledge their recognition and then confess to follow the idea, thought, or leader. Moses meant this when He said, “Know therefore that the LORD your God; He is God.” The Israelites had forty years of personal acquaintance, knowledge, and experience of the LORD and His commandments. They had testimony of Him in their lives. Now, Moses said, it was time for them to confess that the “LORD your God, He is God!” On the other side of “knowing the LORD is God,” we find God meted out judgment on those who hate Him. The haters are the ones who choose not to confess the LORD is God. Verse 10 states this judgment by saying, “But [God] repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face.” The Israelites knew about this part of the covenant. There are always two sides to an agreement or promise – the part when both parties meet their obligations and the part where one party does not receive what was obligated by the faithless party. For the Israelites, they inherit the Promised Land because of God’s faithfulness to his covenant with Abraham. In chapter six, the Israelites will "possess" the land when they meet the obligations of their covenant with God. That covenant is the Ten Commandments. If they are not faithful to their covenant with God by obeying the Ten Commandments, God can dispossess them from the Promised Land just as He planned to dispossess the Canaanites. Where expectation is, at least two possibilities are – the fulfillment of the expectation and reward or the lack of fulfillment and punishment. Moses reminded the Israelites of this in verse ten.

Because of this covenant via the Ten Commandments, Moses commanded,

Therefore, you shall keep the commandments and the statutes and the judgments, which I am commanding you today, to do them. Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them that the LORD your God will keep with you His covenant and His loving-kindness, which He swore to your forefathers. (7:11-12 [NASB])

God, as the loving Father, told His expectations and made known what would occur if they obeyed or not. Because they realized the outcome of faithlessness, Moses believed the Israelites would obey God and keep His commandments. That is why he commanded them to keep and do them in verse eleven. Remember, “keep” in Hebrew is shamar and it means to listen and do/obey.

            Verses 12 and 13a same the same thing as verses nine through eleven except in reverse order. Moses said, “Then it shall come about, because you listen to these judgments and keep and do them, that the LORD your God will keep with you His covenant and His loving-kindness which He swore to your forefathers. He will love you and bless you.” God’s love and faithfulness to the Israelites calls the reply to Him with their love and faithfulness expressed in their obedience to His commandments. God’s keeping the covenant conditions is comparable to Israel keeping God’s laws. By obeying God, people show their love and reverence for Him. God’s love for the Israelites was due to His faithfulness to His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and nothing to do with the Israelites’ worthiness. God’s election/choosing of every person has nothing to do with the person’s worthiness and all to do with His love and grace.

            The blessings of God Moses reminded the Israelites continue through verses thirteen to fifteen. God will love, bless, and multiply them – their womb, the produce of their ground, and the womb of their animals. Moses specifically stated they and their cattle would not be barren (vs. 14). In addition to this, Moses said, “The LORD will remove from you all sickness and He will not put on you any of the harmful diseases of Egypt, which you have known, but He will lay them on all who hate you.” The people, the land, and their animals would be fruitful. God would protect them from the diseases the Israelites learned of in Egypt. The illnesses and diseases indigenous to Egypt were dysentery, smallpox, opthalmia, and the plague.

These blessings God gave them and promised to give the Israelites if they remained faithful to their covenant with Him. The greatest commandment is to love the LORD God only and absolutely. The other nine commandments hinged on this one. Should the Israelites have forgotten, Moses reminded them of the ban again in verse sixteen and God added that they shall not serve other gods. Verse 16 says, “You shall consume all the peoples whom the LORD your God will deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them, nor shall you serve their gods for that would be a snare to you.” Serving other gods is the heart of what God is protecting the Israelites from when He issued this law of the ban. The destruction of the gods of the land of Canaan and their influence to lead the people to idolatry is the center of this law. The Israelites could cross the Jordan River, defeat a few of the nations, see the wealth and splendor of the land and think, “The gods of these people are why the land is plentiful and the people wealthy; therefore, we should worship their gods, too.” God commanded the destruction of the idols to pre-empt this temptation/snare.

In the next section of this chapter, verses seventeen through twenty-four, the writer wrote in a different style. The purpose of these eight verses is to inspire warriors to battle. Should the Israelites consider themselves too small and insignificant to defeat the Canaanites, they should remember what God did to Pharaoh and Egypt (vs. 17-19). Should they still consider they are not able to defeat the nations, they can be assured God will use means they have not considered, such as the hornet (vs. 20). God used hornets at other times, too (Exodus 23:28 and Joshua 24:12, past and future). God uses obvious and unusual means to make His will occur. Moses told the Israelites they “shall not dread them for the LORD your God is in your midst, a great and awesome God” (vs. 21). The Israelites could not drive the people out of Canaan with their own strength. They were too small in number. The only way the Hebrews could be victorious was through God’s strength and wisdom, wisdom that included other things in its arsenal besides people. The resources of their selves are not what the Israelites should focus on, but, instead, on the LORD and His power as He showed them in Egypt. Since God could defeat one of the mightiest nations at the time, He could defeat seven smaller nations. The Israelites must not despair because God’s mighty hand and outstretched arm would strike the people and cause fear in the hearts of every person (vs. 21). Moses told them the LORD would clear the nations before them little by little because “the wild beasts would grow too numerous” (vs. 22). The Hebrew word used as “wild beasts” is chayah and means living things. We then can interpret this verse in one of two ways. The "wild beasts" could refer to the people of Canaan who would be too numerous for the Israelites to defeat quickly. That being so, God would whittle away at the people of the seven nations. Alternatively, as a few commentators think, the "wild beasts" are literal animals. The Israelites would defeat only a small number of people at a time because the carcasses of the dead people would become too great and attract too many predatory/carrion animals to the vicinity where the Israelites were at the time. Either interpretation shows God’s genius in making the plan. He did not want to overwhelm the Israelites with the enormous size of the task of claiming the Promised Land in too short a time. Another tactic of God’s war plan was to throw the nations into confusion until their destruction (vs. 23). God used confusion for His benefit many times, such as the Tower of Babel in Genesis 11:19, the confusion of the Egyptian army in Exodus 14:24, the confusion of the Philistines in 1 Samuel 7:10, as well as in Joshua 10:10, 2 Chronicles 20, Esther 3:15, and Acts 21:31. Through God’s use of these and other tactics, the Israelites would destroy kings and nations and the Promised Land would be won and given to the Israelites. Moses made sure they understood God would bring the victory. He said, “He will deliver the kings into your hand, make their name and reputation vanish on earth. No one man will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them” (vs. 24). The fear of the Israelites and their God preceded them and God assured them of the victory.

After His war speech, Moses encapsulated this sermon on the ban with a stronger restatement of it. He strengthened it by saying the images are banned. As we see in verse twenty-six, Moses used the word "ban." The Hebrew word for the English word “ban” is cherem and means curse and devote to destruction. This, then, means God bans, curses, and wants the destruction of the idols and they shall not be in one’s house or life. Verses twenty-five through twenty-six say,

The graven images of their gods you are to burn with fire; you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourselves, or you will be ensnared for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and like it come under the ban; you shall utterly detest it and you shall utterly abhor it, for it is something banned. [NASB]

God commanded the complete destruction of the idols, as well as the gold and silver on them. They must not be coveted or included in one's life. God commanded this because they could trap and tempt the Israelites to worship them instead of the Him. Moses called them an abomination - disgusting, wicked, detestable, and in a religious ritual sense, unclean. God taught the Israelites the idols are cursed. The Israelites must destroy them. Banned means this - unclean and set aside for destruction.

            That the law of the ban encloses the blessings of God and the war speech may appear odd. Considering the Israelites would doubt their ability to defeat the Canaanites and they would face temptation to incorporate the Canaanite way of life with their own, placing the ban around this whole chapter is appropriate. How many times are we encouraged when we remember God’s strength and presence in our lives? How many times are we encouraged when we count our blessings and revere the One giving the blessing instead of revering the blessing itself? The whole chapter revolves ultimately around the first commandment. Moses reminded the Israelites to stay faithful in their covenant with Yahweh God because He is the one who chose them and loved them even though they were unworthy of these actions of God. They were not worthy of God’s salvation from Egypt or the wilderness. Neither were they worthy of God’s blessing of the Promised Land. God’s blessings and love, though, are not about us, but about Him. God is the reason we understand about love and experience it. He is the source of blessings. We would not know God’s love or blessing or experience them if He did not give them, but He did give them. From the beginning of time, God created us to be in a relationship with Him (Ephesians 1:4, 2:10; 2 Thessalonians 2:13). He created us to know, want, and give love. Knowing this, how can we not love the LORD God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength? This makes following the first and successive commandments simple. As chapter six taught, obedience of the commandments of God is the most perfect expression of our love of Him.

Because He loves us so much as to want us even though we are unworthy, how can we not choose to follow Him? God loves us so much that He sacrificed His Son, Jesus Christ, so we can be redeemed from our sin and its penalty. Because we know this great love is there for our asking, what stops you from calling to God and accepting His love and grace? Jesus paid the ransom price for your sin so you can be in a love relationship with the Father. What greater love is there? Jesus said ask and you will receive, seek and you will find, knock and it will be opened to you (Matthew 7:7-8). When you are ready to receive God’s love and love Him in return, then ask, seek, and knock. God promises He will be found by you.

Omnipotent, Covenant, One True God - Deuteronomy 4:1-43

          When we finish our reading of Deuteronomy 3, we find the Israelites encamped in the valley of Beth-Peor below Mount Nebo, where Moses overlooked the Promised Land. With the beginning of chapter four, we read God’s commands through Moses to the Israelites before they cross the Jordan River to enter the Promised Land. This chapter leads us to ask two questions – 1) Why did Moses remind the Israelites of who God is and what He did in their earlier years with Him? 2) Why did he remind them of the laws and judgments of God?

            Moses began with an injunction to Israel. He told them to listen to the statues and judgments that he taught them so they may live, go in, and take possession of the Promised Land (vs. 1). Moses told the Israelites God’s statues must have nothing added to it or taken away from it so they could keep the commandments of God (vs. 2). Why were these injunctions so important that Moses began his speech with them? First, we must remember from chapters two and three what God did to the Amorites, the people who did not follow Him. God annihilated the Amorites. Why? The Amorites chose not to worship the one true God, but instead bowed in worship to their manmade gods and idols. God did not want the Israelites tricked or seduced into worshipping the god of the Amorites, Baal-peor. God gave a three-fold promise to the Israelites for performing the statutes (choq – laws and decrees) and judgments. They would live, go in, and take possession of the land God showed them. The Israelites saw firsthand how God dealt with pagan worshippers. He annihilated them. The Israelites wanted to live, so they chose to follow God’s statutes and judgments. The Israelites wanted to enter the Promised Land, too, but not as just residents. They wanted to claim as a possession the land God promised to their ancestor Abraham. So since they wanted to live, go in, and posses the land, God required they obey His statutes and judgments. The other injunction Moses gave the Israelites was they were not to add to the word God commanded nor take away from it. This command continues to today. We are not to add to or take away from God’s Word. Do we believe this or do we misinterpret God’s Word in a way that is usable and agreeable to secular twenty-first century people?

            Moses reminded them what happened to the people who followed Baal-peor, which means “lord of the gap” in Hebrew. The people of Beth Peor followed this god. Moses recalled to the Israelites that God destroyed the Amorites. He added, in verse four, “But you who held fast to the Lord your God are alive today, every one of you.” Moses reminded the Israelites of God’s power in their recent history. How often do we need to recall how God acted within our lives so we can be encouraged, comforted, or strengthened?

            Moses declared to them that he taught the statues and judgments of the Lord just as God commanded him, so they could possess the land. He told them to do them (statutes and judgments) because these were for their wisdom and understanding. Moses said the people of every nation would see the Israelites live by God’s statutes and judgments and call them wise and understanding (vs. 5-6). He told them other people and nations would recognize that their Yahweh God is real, because of His nearness to them – God is close enough to them that He listens to and cares for them – and because their laws and judgments are righteous. Moses taught the Israelites the Ten Commandments and everything God told him. The Hebrew word used for “law” in verse eight is towrah, which means instruction or teachings. This is the Hebrew name for the first five books of the Old Testament, Torah, what we call the Pentateuch. Yahweh God is righteous. He gave righteous laws and judgments. God’s character provides the definition of the word “righteous.” Because God is righteous, He is just, the other side of the coin. His justness requires justice and judgment rendered on people rebelling against His statues and decrees. God’s righteous laws and judgments contain more wisdom than any nation’s laws and judgments because He instituted them. How often do people watch true believers in Jesus Christ and acknowledge they are wise and must follow a wise God? How often does this make the watching person seek Yahweh God? I can think of two people in the Bible who turned to God because of a life testimony of Him – Rahab and Ruth. Both these women observed the power and wisdom of God in the lives of the Israelites and they observed their God, Yahweh, was the one true God. Do people watch us as we live and see us following God’s righteous laws? Do they then wonder about our God?

            From verses nine to twenty, Moses recalled to the Israelites what God did for them, as the seed of Abraham. He began with four commands – 1) Give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently; 2) Do not forget the things which your eyes have seen; 3) Do not let what you have seen depart from your heart; and 4) Make these actions of God known to your children and grandchildren (vs. 9). Let us look at the first command. The English word “keep” in this verse comes from the Hebrew word shamar, which means to guard, preserve, observe, and give heed. This means a person should not just remember a law or actions of God, but he or she should cherish and guard it while acting upon it. Shamar is an active verb. It requires more than head knowledge. Shamar requires interaction with your whole being – mind, heart, and strength. In Deuteronomy 6:5, Moses taught the Israelites to “Love the Lord, your God, with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” In Deuteronomy 6:7, Moses told them to teach God’s statutes and judgments diligently to their children and talk of them when they sit in their houses, walk, lie asleep, and arise. Shamar or “keep” began this teaching to the Israelites. The Israelites were to guard the statutes and judgments of God to make sure other teachings did not corrupt them. They were to enact them as a way of life because they were the people of God, in a covenant relationship with Him. Moses taught them this command about keeping their souls diligently and explained how to do it. Shamar keeping, then, meant not forgetting the laws (mind), not allowing them to depart from their hearts, and teaching them to their descendents. God wanted the Israelites to remember everything they observed, what Moses taught, and pass them to their descendents. The Lord called them to listen to His words, fear (reverence and awe) Him all their lives, and teach His words to their children (vs. 10). How often do we today guard, cherish, and act upon God’s statutes instead of being enticed away from them?

            Moses recalled for them their middle-distant history (forty years before) with Yahweh God – God’s speaking to them from the fire on Mt. Horeb/Mt. Sinai. Moses reminded them that they viewed no form of God in the fire. The Israelites witnessed no image, but they heard a voice. They heard “the sound of words, but observed no form,” according to verses eleven and twelve. The voice on Mt. Horeb from the heavens declared God’s covenant, which He commanded them to do (13). Covenant is bariyth in Hebrew and means pledge, alliance, and agreement. The part of the covenant that required their participation was following and enacting the Ten Commandments. God’s side of the covenant was to give the Promised Land and to take care of them. The Israelites’ side of the covenant/pledge was to worship Yahweh God and to teach and live out the statutes and judgments of God. God commanded they follow the Ten Commandments. He did not ask it, but as sovereign God, commanded it. As an addition for Moses, the Lord commanded Moses to teach His statutes and judgments to the Israelites at the same time He commanded them to follow His laws. Moses had the added command from God in the covenant to teach God’s statutes and judgments to the Israelites. Moses taught them to live the laws and judgments of God in the Promised Land. He then reiterated who they followed, not an image or idol of something on the earth, in the water, in the air, or in the heavens. The Israelites were not to act corruptly by worshipping and idol. The word “corruptly” comes from the Hebrew shachath, which means to be marred, spoiled, perverted, go to ruin, or decay. God commanded them through Moses not to corrupt or pervert their worship of Him with images made by their hands from their minds. That would lead to the decay of their worship. Moses told them not to worship or serve other gods with the images from on, above, or under earth because God allotted them to everyone under heaven. He created them for everyone. Instead, worship God the Creator because remember God came not to them from an image they saw but as a great voice overheard from the fire on the mountain. Remember, Moses said, the Lord took and “brought you from the iron furnace, from Egypt, to be a people for His own possession” (vs. 20). Moses called Egypt the “iron furnace.” The door they opened during the famine four hundred years before to enter Egypt and get food became a heavy iron door of captivity. It became as strong as the door of hell and as hot, but God brought them out of Egypt. Moses told them to remember their long and middle distant history with God – His love, sovereignty, and power. God did not forget his promise to Abraham. He chose Abraham and his seed and brought the seed of Abraham out of their slavery in Egypt because of His promise. The Lord does not forget nor fail to fulfill His promises. Have we ever failed and forgotten God walking in our own way?

            Moses told them God’s anger at and judgment of himself was because of the Israelites (vs. 21). God swore Moses and Aaron would not enter the Promised Land in Numbers 20:12. Moses took the glory due to God when he struck his staff to a rock and produced clean water for the wandering Israelites. God told him to touch the rock. Because Moses recognized firsthand God’s judgment from his personal disobedience, he was a living example of God’s judgment before them. So Moses said, “Watch yourselves, that you do not forget the covenant of the Lord your God which He made with you and make for yourselves a graven image (idol) in the form of any thing against which the Lord your God has commanded you” (vs. 23). Moses told them what to do – keep, guard, and take heed the covenant of God – and do not make an idol to worship and serve. Moses made himself an example before them. He had the example God gave, too. He said, “For the Lord you God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (vs. 24). The Israelites saw the fire at the time they listened to God’s voice. They understood the connection between God and fire. They realized fire consumes that with which it comes into contact. The Bible book writers used this phrase often when referring to God in both the Old Testament and New Testament (Exodus 24:17, Deuteronomy 9:3, Isaiah 30:27 and 33:14, Hebrews 12:29). Deuteronomy 9:3 speaks of the effects of a consuming fire as subduing and destroying His enemies. So, because God is a jealous God, His consuming fire metes judgment on those who do not follow His Laws - those who rebel against Him and turn away from Him. From this then, Moses taught what judgment God promised to bring on the Israelites if they forgot His covenant. He said,

When you become the father of children and children’s children, have remained long in the land, act corruptly, make an idol in the form of anything, and do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord your God so as to provoke Him to anger, I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that you will surely perish quickly from the land where you are going over the Jordan to possess it. [Deuteronomy 4:25-26]

“Heaven and earth are witnesses,” Moses said, “that God and I told you not to do these things against His Laws.” Moses taught the Laws and judgments of God to the Israelites. They recognized what God promised for their disobedience. Moses repeated this judgment to the Israelites a couple times in Deuteronomy, Deuteronomy 7:4 and 8:19-20. He described what “perishing” meant in verse twenty-six. Perishing means not living long, being utterly destroyed, being scattered among all peoples by the Lord, and being “left few in number among the nations where the Lord drives you” (vs. 27). The word “scatter” comes from the Hebrew word puwts, meaning disperse or spread abroad. As people of the twenty-first century, we look back in history and see God scattered the Israelites when the Assyrians captured the northern kingdom in 732 BC and the Babylonians captured the southern kingdom in 582 BC. Very few Israelites remained in the southern kingdom after their captivity began. While in captivity, the Israelites worshipped gods of their captors as demanded, gods made by human hands. Today, we are part of the dispersed believers of Jesus Christ in the world. Do we steadily and faithfully follow God each day or do we allow the world’s influence to dictate what we worship?

            From captivity of the Israelites, though, God promised they could find if they searched for Him with all their heart and soul. Even in the midst of judgment, God wanted His people to return to Him and made a way for their return. He gave them hope. God’s requiring the heart, soul, and might of His children occurs throughout history. This lesson occurs in Deuteronomy 6:5 and 10:12, Mark 12:30, Luke 10:27, and Matthew 22:37. After their capture, the Israelites, prompted by their judges and prophets, such as Isaiah and Jeremiah (29:11-14), recalled Moses’ teaching and called out to the Lord. One Chronicles 15:4 is an example. God knew His people would call to Him. He knew they would return to Him and listen to His voice (Jeremiah 23:20, Hosea 3:5, Hebrews 1:2). God made a way for them to return to Him. He still makes this same way for people to return to Him now. Have we forgotten God and gone our own ways? God wants us to call to Him and promises He will be found by us.

            Questions come to mind. Why did God listen and allow the Israelites to return to Him? Why will He listen and allow His children to return to Him? Moses told them, “For the Lord your God is a compassionate God; He will not fail you nor destroy you nor forget the covenant with your fathers that He swore to them” (vs. 31). God’s covenant relationship with the Israelites and His later children does not end. Jesus Christ’s life, death, resurrection, and ascension fulfilled the Abrahamic and Mosaic covenant. It created a new covenant, too, the Messianic covenant, which will never end. God’s character never changes and did not change with the new covenant through Jesus Christ. As Moses said, “God is a compassionate God.” Moses described this compassion of God. He said God does not fail His people. God’s compassion repeats throughout the Bible in Deuteronomy 31:6 and 8, Joshua 1:5, 1 Chronicles 28:20, and Hebrew 13:5. Moses added that God’s compassion means He will not destroy His people, those who choose to follow Him. Jeremiah added that God would destroy the nations where the Israelites were scattered, but He would not destroy them completely. Added to this, God does not forget His covenant with His people (Leviticus 26:45). Have we experienced God’s compassion? Have we walked away from Him and need to turn toward Him? God keeps His covenant with us.

            Moses wanted the Israelites to remember God, His person and His actions, from the past and recognize His power. In verse thirty-two, Moses reminded them God created man on earth. No one and nothing has ever done things like these. God was there in the distant past, at creation – Remember. Moses reminded them God spoke to the Israelites from the fire, they heeded it, and they survived. God was there in their recent past, at the creation of the Ten Commandments – Remember. Moses reminded them God took a people from within a nation and made them a nation for Himself with signs, wonders, and great terrors. God was in their middle distant past, at their exodus – Remember. This God is the One true God, the One who created, spoke from a consuming fire, and took them from captivity within a nation by great wonders. He alone is worthy of worship. God chose the Israelites to show His might as the One true God; there is no other (vs. 35). He let them hear His voice. God let them see His great fire and hear His words from the midst of the fire (vs. 36). He let them because He wanted them to realize Yahweh God in the only true God. No other god exists. God showed Himself to them.

 Why did God speak to them and show them His fire? Moses explained,

Because He loved your fathers, therefore He chose their descendents after them. He personally brought you from Egypt by His great power, driving out from before you nations greater and mightier than you to bring you in and to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is today. (Emphasis is mine. [Deut. 4:37-38])

God wanted them to experience life fully, the way He intended when He created it. He showed them how to do that through His Ten Commandments and judgments. God does not intend the Ten Commandments unduly to constrict human experience, but to bring human experience back into right focus – relationship with and love for God and other humans. To acquire the Promised Land, the Israelites defeated greater and mightier nations. God empowered them to defeat and take the land. Israel had no military advantage. Their military men died in the earlier generation except Joshua and Caleb. God gave them the victory. The peoples’ faith in God’s power and purposes was the key to the victory. Moses ensured they recognized that. When last did we give God the glory for an outcome in our lives? Or, did we take the glory for ourselves?

            Near the end of this teaching, Moses commanded them to “know therefore today, and take it to your heart that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on earth below; there is no other” (vs. 39). This is the key verse to which Moses aimed when he began his speech to the Israelites. Let us look at this verse closer. The word “know” in Hebrew is yada’, which means to recognize, acknowledge, confess, and act upon this knowledge with your life. It involves your whole being – mind, heart, soul, and strength. If you know something, but do not act on it, you are not a true believer and disciple of that teaching or person. To be a believer and disciple requires enacting the teaching whether the teacher is from a university, is a religious leader, or are your parents. “God is the One true God,” Moses said. To be a true follower of Yahweh, one of His people, the commands/laws and judgments must be evident in the life of the person who claims to be a follower. Yada’/know means just that. In case the Israelites and later believers did not understand, Moses stated later, “Take it to your heart.” Followers, children/people of God, follow these truths with their whole selves. Added to this, Moses explicitly stated the truth, “The Lord, He is God in heaven and on earth; there is no other.” Joshua 2:11 said, “God is sovereign over all creation.” He was not and is not one of many gods. He is the only God. God demonstrated His existence and power in historical acts and in each of the Israelites lives. He did not come from their imaginations. Moses taught, “You shall keep His statues (laws and decrees) and His commandments which I am giving you today, that is may go well with you and with your children after you and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time” (vs. 40). God demands total allegiance because He cares for the well-being of people. Moses spoke of that concern in this passage. If God’s people know, acknowledge, and take to heart God’s teaching, then it may go well with them and their children after them. When they are faithful to God, He will bless them. Blessings cannot come when people are far from God in their hearts and lives. Are we true followers of Jesus Christ? Are we in a close daily relationship with Him?

            God chose to love the ancestor of Israel, the man Abraham. He acted to bring the people, the seed of Abraham, out of slavery. Before, God chose Abraham to be a man of God. While in Egypt, Abraham’s seed multiplied and grew to be a people of God. They were the beneficiaries of the promise God made to Abraham and God’s decision to love and call a people to Himself. He demonstrated His love and power to them and through them showed Himself to other people. God demonstrated His love and power to every people by His love and grace through Jesus Christ. God chose to create a covenant with people throughout time. He wanted to do it, but did not have to do it. God wants us to be a part of what He is doing. He wants us to follow Him and become His children. Moses taught the Israelites and teaches us to remember God, what He did in their lives and in our lives. With memories of how God led in the past, His action, we are encouraged, comforted, and strengthened to walk with Him in His purposes in our lives today.

            We come to a point in this study where we ask questions. Does God still work in the world today? Do you recall God’s power and presence in your life in the past so that you gain strengthen to walk with Him now? Sometimes God asks us to step out in faith, believe Him, and do something that makes us fearful. When we remember the past where God intervened in our lives, it gives us courage, boldness, and strength to keep walking with Him in His plans now and in the future. While we step out in God’s strength, we must remember God’s commands and judgments. These keep us from turning our backs on God and walking into trickery and deceit. Moses did this before the Israelites crossed the Jordan River. He reminded them who God is and what His commandments and judgments are. God does not fail. He is always faithful. God’s plans will prevail in the long term. His judgments will occur when His people are disobedient.

Are you following the One true God?

Are you obedient to God’s commands?

Maybe you need to remember how God was active on your behalf in the past to encourage you to take the next step for Him. God honors commitments. He judges the disobedient, too. If you walk closely with Him, He will pour blessings into your life.

As Moses said, “Know today and take it to heart that the Lord He is God in heaven and earth; there is no other.”