I've been doing a lot of reading and studying lately and my brain is turning to mush at the moment. The reading and studying aren't going to let up, much, so I need to acclimate myself. But for tonight, I can't say I can manage much.
Does it strike you that one really good reason Moses has given Israel its history is to provide an object lesson for chapter four? Really: he is about to lay down the Law, literally, with them, and he urges them to commit themselves to obeying God above all and forsaking idols and carven images. Would not their parents' history provide an excellent reminder of the consequences for disobeying and cheating on God? After all: none of their parents will enter the Promised Land, except Joshua and Caleb, the two who pleaded with the people to listen to the Lord and go in to possess the land. Even Moses, who in the pride of his heart sinned against the Lord, would not be allowed to go in: the most he was permitted was to climb to the top of a mountain and to look over the Jordan; he would never cross it.
God makes good on His promises: if He promises to care for you, He will do it. If He promises that there are consequences to disobedience and pride, there will be consequences. Think of all the promises that a believer can claim: think of all that we have been taught through the Bible. Will God not be faithful to complete them? God promised Israel that the generation who rebelled would not enter the land, and not a single one of them did. The nation waited for forty years for the last of them to go before allowing their descendants to cross over. God promised Israel that if they obeyed Him and sought Him that they would prosper in the Land and would never want; He also warned them that if they did not, He would remove them from the land. Generations later, He did. Similarily, if God says we can do all things through Him, then we can. If God says He will never leave us or forsake us, He won't. If God promises there will be trials and difficulties, there will be. But He also promised they would benefit us; we need only be patient and keep our eyes open to see how. He is a good and faithful God, the one and only God. Aren't you glad, as I am, that He is so unchanging and faithful, good on His promises?
Tomorrow's Reading: Deuteronomy 5:1-33
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