So…I have been very bad in keeping this up to date, and for that I apologize. I am obviously not going to get through the Bible in a year, but I will do my best to keep on trekking and pray that God will be with my as I continue to journey on, one procrastinated step at a time…

I wonder if the reason that the witnesses had to put the condemned person to death in chapter 17 was to verify that they were being honest. I suppose that if one witness was really out to take vengeance on someone and accused them of violating God’s commands in order to take their life, it would be easier for the one person to get away with it, but if there are multiple “witnesses,” one of them may be prone to having mercy on the person that really did nothing wrong and prevented the harming and destruction of an innocent life. This system held all people accountable, the accused and the witness, and even if the witnesses were honest in their accusations and the accused was proved to have done wrong, the fact that the witnesses would be the one doing the killing may have been enough for them to put down their stones and have mercy. I have a feeling that these laws were not put in place just to condemn wrong-doers to death, but for those who were accusing and trying them to realize the enormity of what they were doing and how God is truly the only one who can judge perfectly.

There are so many rules concerning justice. When a case becomes too difficult for a court to judge, the Israelites put the trial in God’s hands by taking it to the priests. This is God acting in justice by testing His people to see if they will trust that He will perform His perfect justice on them. In this way, they will “purge evil from Israel” and act according to God’s commands. It’s one thing to be judged by your peers, who can destroy your flesh, but it is quite another to be judged by God Almighty, the judge of our very soul and inner being. Either way, how do you want to be perceived when being judged? Do you want your soul to be saved in justice or to go against it?

God tells the Israelites that while they are allowed to have a king in Israel, this king must not be like one of the kings of other nations. He must not be a foreigner or ask the Israelites to return to Egypt for further possessions. He must not take many wives, especially foreign wives, or his heart will be led astray, and he must not be oppressive to the Israelites, regarding them as his brothers and sisters. And most importantly, he is to read the book of God’s law everyday so that he may always be wise in God’s commands and not stray from them.

This was God’s plan for a Godly king of Israel, a kind king who saw Israel as his own people to love. This man was to have a heart after God’s own, a desire to follow all of His ways, even when it meant giving up the desires of the world. There was a great king to come like this in the years to come (King David), but an even greater and perfect king would come much later and be the Lord of all the Nations (Jesus Christ).

I love how the Levites do not have a regular inheritance as the rest of the tribes of Israel do, but because God is their inheritance, they end up receiving the firstfruits of the Israelites’ labors! They get the firstfruits of grain, wine, oil and livestock, and they receive tithing from the Israelites as their own inheritance, too! These are God’s chosen people, the people chosen to minister His Word to all of Israel, so why would God not bless them as He blesses the other tribes? Why should we fear dedicating our lives in service to the Lord? The question is not, “Will He bless me if I follow Him?” but “How will He bless me?” The Lord blesses all of His children; He does not pick favorites, and imagine how He will provide for those who lose their worldly lives in dedication to Him? They, too, will have their names written in the Book of Life, when they go out in the name of Jesus to live out the will of God, guided by the Holy Spirit.

When we were outside for Christian Social Ethics class yesterday discussing female prophets, I suddenly had a great desire to be one! Moses describes the prophet that will arise as one who speaks the Word of God to the people so that they will not be destroyed by God speaking to them in His full form. This prophet, if he truly obeys and lives according to God’s Word, will speak truth to them, God’s perfect truth, and God will put His words in the mouth of the prophet. There are many prophets in the Bible, but only a handful of them actually spoke the truth, especially when Israel did not want to hear it. Israel began to love the false prophets who told them that all was well and they didn’t need to change any of their ways. These false teachers preached false hope and lies, not repentance lest the people face destruction. The true prophets were often slandered, ignored, or even killed, but they were honored in the eyes of God because they spoke His truth. The false prophets would receive their justice, and it is the stories of the true prophets that continue to inspire us to this day.

Don’t preach lies, even if the truth is hurtful to the ones to whom it must be said. God honors an honest soul who speaks truth in the face of persecution, and He will bless the words of truth that you speak (He was the one who put them there, after all!) False prophets may provide a false sense of security for a brief period of time, but death and destruction comes to them and the ones whom they led astray.

Chapter 19 once again discusses how a man who unintentionally kills is to be kept safe in a distant city, but one who attacks out of hatred is to be killed. It is incredible how God spares people based on their motives, which is again discussed in Proverbs. He is so just!

Again, the witnesses are to be held accountable. If it is proven that any of them are acting maliciously to take an innocent life, they are to be given the punishment that was to be given to the one to whom they bore false testimony. God will not tolerate liars, nor will He tolerate injustice. He acts in perfect justice, and when it is broken on earth, He does not tolerate it.

Wow…it felt great to be back! Sorry again for the ridiculous delay, and God be with you this Easter weekend! He is RISEN!

Chapter 14 describes more food laws, like not being allowed to eat pigs or rabbits but being allowed to eat sheep and goats. God also said that eating any insects was forbidden, which sounds good for plenty of reasons (I don’t care how much protein they have!)! But sometimes I wonder, what’s the point of these food laws? Do they really make the people holy through not eating certain foods?

I don’t think so. I believe that God set these laws so that His people would be separate, which does mean to be holy, but they are not holy because they obey the law; they are holy because they are God’s chosen people. God uses the law to test their faithfulness and love for Him, because He knows that they cannot be truly obedient without Him. As Israel will see, it is impossible to be holy on one’s own. Only God makes people holy, and He has set apart Israel as holy before the law was even put into place. The law is a chance for the Israelites to uphold their status as holy people, but their holiness comes from God, not the Law.

I love how tithing was used in ancient Israel to provide for the poor and the Levites, who, because they were set apart as God’s priests, did not receive a part of the inheritance of the tribes of Israel. Tithing was God’s way of providing for those who did not have an inheritance, such as the Levites and the poor and orphaned. God asked that the people whom He blessed would in return give to those who could not afford what those who had abundance could. This was a tool of submission and humility, to regard one’s neighbor as they would themself. This was God’s way of providing for all of His people and giving chance for people to be humble in Spirit and love towards others because of how God had blessed them.

Moses continues this sermon about being humble and generous to others in chapter 15. He tells them that every seven years, the Israelites are to cancel all debts that others owe them, no matter how much they cost or how long they have been standing. God had a vision of a community of love and compassion, not anger and greed, so that the nation would flourish and know that God would provide for them everything they needed. God used this seventh year to build the trust and faithfulness of the Israelites, to remind them that wealth of human hands means nothing when God provides everything. He also reminds them to always give to those who are poor, because there will always be those who are poor. I find it interesting that this fact is even mentioned, because others might wonder why God doesn’t make everyone rich or comfortable instead of allowing others to be poor. But God gives us free will; He will always be there with us, but He allows us to make our own choices. He tells them to be generous to those who are lacking, and He promises to continue to provide for them. God does not want His people to give in anger or with a hard heart; He asks them to “give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart” (v. 10). Give out of love, not obligation or for your own good.

Even in times of slavery God told the Israelites to be good to their slaves and workers. He tells them that when the people are freed, they must not go empty-handed but must be given much from their owners’ flocks and grains and wine. This is a community of humility and equality that God desires, that all give and receive equally and are bound in God’s love. This is practiced so that the Israelites will not forget what it was like when they were in slavery and therefore will not treat their workers harshly as they had been treated in Egypt. God does not want His people to forget what they had been through and how He alone had delivered them, because forgetfulness would cause them to be prideful and repeat the evil that had been done unto them. And if a servant wished to remain with his/her master, they were branded with an earring, a physical mark of them belonging to one who loved them and whom they loved. In the same way, we are branded as slaves of God, the one who set us free from sin and whom we love and loves us.

The Passover is so crucial to the Israelites, and for good reason! It is the remembrance of what God has done for them and how He brought them out of Egypt with a mighty hand and outstretched arm to go to the Promised Land and be His people! It is about how He spared them from death but destroyed the Egyptians because He loved them! I wonder what it would be like to participate in a Passover celebration…I would like to try it sometime, if it’s allowed!

These feasts are also used to acknowledge how God has blessed Israel in their worldly wealth and in their fields of grain. He tells them to be joyful in the feast of Tabernacles, because “the Lord your God will bless you in all your harvest and in all the work of your hands, and your joy will be made complete (v. 15). God wants His people to be joyful and to especially be joyful when they acknowledge Him and how He has never let them go without. When was the last time you celebrated because of how much God had done for you?

And finally, God commands them to do justice, because He is a purely just God and will be with those who are given improper justice and punish those who do not act for proper justice. Act on God’s pure justice and stand firm in His truth.

“Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his laws and his commands always.” (11:1)

“Observe all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your forefathers to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey.” (11:8-9)

God gave these commands, especially the commands to love and serve Him above all else, not to oppress us, but to strengthen us. His commands came out of His love for us, because He wanted us to be holy as He is holy. They were meant to show us that we need Him to be holy, because it is impossible to do it on our own. None of us is perfect, but God is, and when we follow Him, He gives us the strength to rebuke and turn from sin and the world. He frees us through His love and empowers us with His Spirit so that we may be able to live freely in His love and Kingdom, the place that He is now preparing for us to live in.

And what will God do for us when we obey and follow Him?

“I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.” (v. 14)

God has nothing but the best for us when we obey and follow Him. He asks us to follow Him through these commands so that we may be distinguished and set apart from the world and be bound to Him through His love covenant. He does not want us to be seduced by the temporary and empty temptations of the world; He wants us to be His forever so that we may know of His love and reap eternal benefits that come from His love and a life with Him.

God does promise, however, that if the Israelites turn from Him, His wrath will be known, and their blessings will end. But He is still a loving and patient God, yet it is not holy to test Him. We must trust that He knows what is best for us and follow Him so that we may prosper on earth and live for eternity in His Presence.

And God wants His blessings to be known, for He has both blessed and cursed Israel; the nation is blessed as long as they follow God, but they are cursed when they turn from Him and serve false gods of other nations. Again, God is a Jealous God, because He wants the best for His people and is hurt when they turn to things lesser than His holy promises. How do we make our blessings known? Do we follow God only to receive these blessings, or do we follow Him out of the love that He first gave to us? It is not enough to serve God just to be saved from hell or to receive His blessings. God wants relationship, not religion.

In Deuteronomy 12, Moses tells the Israelites that they are not to worship the gods of the other nations or worship God in the way or places that the other nations did. Instead, God set up a designated place for them to worship Him, a place where they could offer their sacrifices and hear from God through the priests.

I think we all need a place like that, a place where we go to meet God and He speaks to us. Yes, God is omnipresent, so He is always with us, but it is beneficial and almost necessary to have a designated place and time to just sit in and enjoy God’s Presence, to listen and speak to Him as a friend. This is what God wants, to speak and listen to us so that we may speak and listen to Him. Like any relationship, two-way communication is necessary; it won’t work if you do all the talking and don’t allow God to speak to you. Being in communion with God requires patience, and when you stand still before the Lord and wait patiently for Him, He will reveal His ways and plans to you. They will not always be at your desired timing, but they always occur with His perfect timing.

Moses begins chapter 13 with a lesson about false prophets and teachers. This theme will recur throughout the Bible and in both Testaments. In this chapter, Moses tells the people that if the “prophecy” of the prophet comes true, and the “prophet” tells them to follow other gods, the Israelites must not listen to the man, because God is using him to test the faithfulness of His people. He knows that the people know His commandments and that the first and foremost one is to obey God and Him alone, but He also knows that the people will not grow in their love, devotion and faith to Him without being tested. God tests us through many things, false prophets included, and there are MANY of those out there today! But we know who is the way, the truth and the life, the One True God, and the Lord of Everything. We know who He is, and if what anyone is preaching goes against any of His commands, we know that this “prophet” is not worthy to follow. Only follow and listen to those who preach God’s Word and Jesus’ Gospel. All others are liars and will receive their due (and hopefully salvation before it is too late).

God even makes this a command when the said false teachers are close relatives and friends, even spouses! It is so crucial to obey God and His Word that if our family hinders us, He commanded us to kill them! Thankfully, Christ saved us from having to commit such a thing, but sometimes those closest to us may hinder us in our relationship with Him, and relationship with Him is more important than anything else on earth, because through Him, we have eternal life. We need to examine our relationships and discover which ones we should be investing ourselves into for the sake of Christ. We need to be loving to all, for without expanding our friend circles, how could we bring unbelievers to Christ? But we must be wary of those who cause us to stumble, because above all else, our own personal relationship with God is most important, as painful as it may be to maintain.

And God promises that when we fully obey Him, we will be blessed: “He will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, because you obey the Lord your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes” (v. 17-18).

Live in His love. Live in obedience. Live for His glory. Amen.

Deuteronomy 8 is a lesson on humility. Moses explains to Israel that the reason they were tested as they were in the wilderness was for God to see whether or not they would obey His commands. He tested them to see if they would obey Him always or turn from Him once something went wrong. He tested their hearts and their faith, and those who kept the faith were able to enter the Promised Land, but those who turned from and dishonored Him, a whole generation, died in the wilderness. That is why God gave them the manna from heaven, something none of their ancestors had ever seen in their lives! This was His discipline for them, as their Father, a way to teach them that “man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (NIV, v. 3). And God Himself provides the bread and the land and all of their provisions before entering the Land, because He knows that eventually, when they are all satisfied and no longer in need, they will attempt to say that it was by their own will that they were living in such abundance. God is so awesome in His power and might, whereas we are so finite and small, yet we dare tell the world that it is by our own works that we have succeeded! God says Himself that He Himself gave us “the ability to produce wealth” (NIV, v. 18) so that we may not boast of our own work but of God’s power. God does not want us to forget about Him and all that He has done for us, because He loves us too much to allow our pride to ensnare us and lead us away from Him. He is our Father, and He only wants the best for us, which is why He tests our faith. He does not want us to leave Him, and He never gives us more than we can bear. He only gives us so much that He is able to strengthen us through it and have us come out stronger in the end.

The humility that God commands of these people throughout these chapters is brutally amazing! In Deuteronomy 9, Moses tells them that God is not going ahead of their armies to destroy these nations because Israel is a righteous nation; in fact, it is only because these nations are so wicked that God is fighting against them! God loves Israel and calls them His people, but He still knows that they are stiff-necked and prone to disobeying Him. It almost seems as if the wickedness of these nations is their saving grace (along with the fact that God made His covenant with Israel). God is reminding the Israelites that they are still prone to stubbornness and are therefore prone to sin, making them unrighteous in His eyes, but still He goes before them to drive out the wicked nations and fulfill His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God goes before us not because of our own righteousness, but to eliminate the wickedness in the world and glorify Himself within us.

And poor Moses! Look at how much suffering he has done on behalf of Israel’s sins! Everytime that they turned from God, and His anger threatened to destroy them, Moses went before God another 40 days and nights so that His anger would cease and He would not destroy them. Even after God tells Moses that He will make him into a great nation after He destroys Israel, Moses does not allow pride to overcome him; he submits himself to God on behalf of this nation that God Himself loves and has chosen to be His. Moses knew God’s Promise, and he knew that God would not allow His name to be slandered in destroying the Israelites. Moses loved God, and he loved Israel and the promises of God to the point that he risked his own life on their behalf. Disobedience and distrust infuriate God, yet we do them everyday. It is only by His amazing and beautiful grace that we stand holy before Him today. Never forget that. Again, remember that from Him alone, all blessings flow. We do nothing to earn or deserve them. They are eternal gifts from a Father who loves us so much that He does not want to see us destroyed by our own pride and humanity.

Key verse: “But they are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.” (NIV, v. 29)

I love how Chapter 10 recounts the history of Israel’s entering the Land after the commandments are made. It talks about Aaron’s death and the consecration of the Levites to priesthood, a nice little recap on how Israel was set apart and the events that led up to their entering the Promised Land. I also love verse 10b: “It was not his will to destroy you.” God never wanted to destroy Israel, nor did He intend to want to destroy them, but His anger flared up and tested Moses’ and Israel’s faithfulness. If they repented, they were again received under God’s grace, but if they continued with their sinful ways, they were destroyed. God never wanted to (and still does not want to) destroy us, but He acts in righteous anger as well as in righteous love, and there are consequences for those who do not return to Him. So which would you rather live under, the love of God or the anger of God? Both are amazing and powerful, but one was intended for us forever.

Verses 16-21:
“Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesome, who shows no partiality and accepts no bribes. He defends the cause of the fatherless and the widow, and loves the alien, giving him food and clothing. And you are to love those who are aliens, for you yourselves were aliens in Egypt. Fear the Lord your God and serve him. Hold fast to him and take your oaths in his name. He is your praise; he is your God, who performed for you those great and awesome wonders you saw with your own eyes.”

Obey God. Respect His power and love Him for all that He is, the one true God. Act in justice as God acts in justice. He is your praise, your savior, your wonderful and just Father.

I won’t even explain why I was 3 days behind in blogging. I really needed a break from everything! I was mentally exhausted from stress, and God did an amazing work in restoring me over the weekend. All I can say is that I am sorry for the delay, and I hope you enjoy these next posts!

Deuteronomy 5 is a recap on the 10 commandments, all the decrees that God put into place so that His people would obey Him and live and not be subject to His wrath. This was the covenant that God made with the people who were entering the Promised Land, not the ones who disobeyed and perished before they could enter. God had chosen these people to be His nation and to live in His Promise. He made these commandments to save them, not to harm them, that they “may live long and that it may go well with [them] in the land the Lord your God is giving to you” (NIV, v. 16). God saved the Israelites from Egypt and brought them into this land, and all He asks is that they obey His commands and follow His ways so that His wrath will not burn against them. However, no matter how hard the Israelites try to follow these commands, they end up failing, and God tests them time and time again to see if they will return to Him.

God wants us to fear Him, but not in a way that we are afraid to turn to Him. This fear comes out of respect and reverence towards Him, that we will always remember that He is the Lord God Almighty, and while He will always love and have mercy on us, we are not to test Him. His great desire for us is that our “hearts would be inclined to fear [Him] and keep all [His] commandments always, so that it might go well with [us] and [our] children forever!” (NIV, v. 29). God doesn’t want to harm us; He only ever wants us to live and prosper in His Promise for us.

“So be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. Walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live and prosper and prolong your days in the land that you will possess.”

Deuteronomy 6 is all about how the Israelites were to love God, how we are to love God, “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength” (NIV, v. 5). It is about the importance of tradition, how the Israelites were to pass on the commands to their children and explain to them why they follow them and what God has done for them, for what is it to anyone, much less our own children, to talk about God without mentioning what He has done for us? Our testimonies are the only things, apart from the Word of God, whose truth cannot be taken away. Our testimonies are our own, and no one can deny a personal testimony (unless it goes against God’s Word). Testimonies speak life into others. They define the relationship we have with Christ. They show where God has taken us and how He has been there every step of the way. They give light to our future. They reveal to others how good God is and how He can do good in all lives. We are to tell everyone, family and strangers, what God has done for us, so that we will not forget all that He has done for us and so those who do not know Him may know that He is real and that He is good.

I love how God tells the Israelites that when they enter the Promised Land, they will see trees and houses and wells and all things needed for survival that they did not provide; He alone prepared and provided these things for them, so that they would not forget what God had done for them. He brought them out of Egypt, spoke to them in the wilderness, and was bringing them to this Promised Land. None of this was done by their own works; it was all a result of His mighty hand. God does so much for us, but we try to take credit for it, and that dishonors God. That makes Him seem smaller when He is infinite. He provides every good thing, and when we forget that, He becomes jealous because He wants us to know that He, the only true, living and righteous God, loves us so much that He wants to be our only source of provision. God provides all blessings; always acknowledge Him, and He will continue to be with you in times of blessing and turmoil.

Deuteronomy 7 describes God’s command to the Israelites to drive out the opposing nations in the Promised Land. God commands them to attack without mercy, but not because He hates these people; He tells them to do this so that they will be spared from stumbling in their obedience to Him. God does not want the Israelites to be tempted into following the “gods” of other nations and coveting their possessions. If they destroy these nations, they will not have to fear following their idols and disobeying God. God wants these people, His people to prosper, not because they are bigger and greater than other nations, but “because the Lord loved [them] and kept the oath he swore to [their] forefathers” (NIV, v. 8). It was out of pure and perfect love that God saved and set apart the Israelites, and He will do anything to make sure that they know His glory and His love for them. He wants us to destroy the things that tempt us away from Him, even if they cause us great pain, because He does not want to see us fall from Him and into the slavery of sin. He died to set us free from that slavery, and it pains Him to see us fall back into it.

Whatever is leading you away from God, destroy it. Kill it. Pray for Christ to defeat it, because he already defeated it on the cross. Christ killed all sin on the cross; all we have to do is accept and receive that blessing. Don’t be led away. Go to the cross and kill the sin. God does not want us to stray from Him. Whatever the nation is, He will destroy it, because He loves you too much to see you fall from Him without doing whatever He can to stop it.

Deuteronomy 2 is a memoir of the wandering of Israel in the wilderness. It is also a reminder to the Israelites that they are not to provoke the enemies in this land, because God “has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast desert” (NIV, v. 7). God does not want them to provoke the enemies when He will hand them over to them. This would be stepping ahead of God’s plan, and as seen before when they wished to enter the Promised Land, when they attempted to get ahead of God, they were destroyed. We have to let God go before us in everything, because He is the only one who can make our paths straight. To go against Him would be to destroy our path and make it veer away from God. God doesn’t want us to go ahead of Him in anything we do, in our relationships, work, and everyday lives. He wants to go before us, to make the way as He did for the Israelites, so that He can bless the work that He has prepared for us so that when we get to it, it will all be ready for us. Why rush ahead and risk settling for something that God has not prepared for us Himself? Anything less than what God has prepared is of the world; it is only temporary, not eternal. Let God make the way, and trust that He will call you to join Him when He has prepared everything for us.

The Israelites proved themselves to be obedient in the battle against Sihon. They struck down the army and completely destroyed the nation and, according to God’s command, they did not go and conquer beyond the limits that God established for them. They obeyed God, even in dealing with their enemies, and God rewarded them and Moses commended them for their obedience.

God’s wrath is terrifying. Just hearing how he handled Sodom and Gomorrah and Egypt and these nations living in the Promised Land is enough to make anyone shiver reading about it! God’s wrath is very powerful, but He acts on this wrath on behalf of His people and His promises to them. He acts to preserve His holy people. The wrath of God is satisfied in those who know and accept Christ as their Lord and Savior, for he came to be the ultimate sacrifice for all. I want to bring others into this light, that they may be spared from wrath and judgment, that they may be in the light as Jesus is in the light. People have too much to lose when they remain in the dark for life. I want Christ to shine in me so that those who are in the dark may see Him and have Him dwell in them so that they may live in the light, not the dark.

It’s so devastating how Moses gets to see the Promised Land, but he is never allowed to dwell in it. Once he gives this sermon, he goes up and looks out over the land, and then he dies. It seems as if all his work has amounted to nothing! But even though he never received the ultimate reward, he led the way, with God’s help, to bring His people to posses the land. But if only he had always remained obedient! He could have had that land, too, but he fell, even though it was just a moment of failure, when he did not do as God told him and hit the rock instead of speaking to it. Something seemingly so insignificant cost him EVERYTHING! I don’t want to fall short. I want to receive everything that God has for me and all of His children!

God commands His people to not be afraid of those whom they must battle, because “the Lord your God himself will fight for you” (NIV, v. 22). God is right by their side through it all, and He will not let them fail! He is a God of victory, not of failure! He shows His greatness and right hand, because He is the only God capable of performing miraculous deeds such as this, and all because He loves and glorifies Himself in His people! Imagine what the Everlasting and True God could do in you if you just let Him! If you humbly submit to and give reverence to the Lord, He will use you in miraculous and amazing ways, beyond what you could imagine, and for a reward that will last for eternity!

In Deuteronomy 4, Moses makes it very clear that the Israelites are to honor God’s commandments as holy, to neither add nor take anything from them as they please to fit their lifestyle of choice. Once God’s word is said, it cannot be undone, and to do so would be treacherous, dishonoring to God, and therefore very dangerous! God makes these decrees to prove to other nations that He is with His people always; He is near them when they pray and call upon Him to help them. They are a nation so great and holy that they have “such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws” (NIV, v. 8). God set these commandments to set His people apart from the other nations to be His holy nation. Unfortunately, these laws were impossible to live without God. God made the law to remind the Israelites of how much they needed Him and how they were nothing on their own. He put these laws into place to be a constant reminder to the Israelites and their descendants so that they would remember what God had done for them and how He alone saved them from slavery. The law is a reminder of how powerful God is and how He saves us from ourselves every day. We cannot completely live the law on our own; that is where Christ comes in to save us from death to sin.

God strictly forbids idolatry, and for good reason: What man-made thing could possibly love and listen to us the way that God does? God is “a consuming fire, a jealous God” (NIV, v. 24), but not jealous in a selfish way. God’s jealousy is a pure jealousy, a jealousy that consumes Him so that we may be protected from sin. God does not want us to be taken from Him, because He knows how sin will consume and destroy us once we abandon Him. He will never abandon us, but His jealousy may destroy us because we have wandered from His protection of love. In God’s love, we are saved, but when we stray too far from Him, the world is able to destroy us.

But there is hope in this passage: “But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you look for him with all your heart and with all your soul…For the Lord is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath” (NIV, v. 29, 31). We may abandon God, but He does not abandon us. When we seek Him, He forgives and redeems us. Before you stray, ask God to always bring you back to Him. He will never fail to do so, and you will be stronger in Him than you ever were before.

And last but certainly not least (for this chapter, anyways), always remember who God is and what He has done for you. Remember how He separated Israel to be His own nation, how He performed miraculous signs and put His people to the test so that they would prove themselves holy to Him. These were done to show God’s glory, to show the world that God is God and that Israel is His nation. We are part of this nation of holy people now. Never forget that! “Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on earth below. There is no other” (NIV, v. 39). Remember the Lord. Remember who He is. Remember, always remember, what He has done.

Yay, a new book and a new leg of the journey to trek! I read this a few summers ago and loved it, so hopefully it will have even more value looking through it again!

Deuteronomy is a sermon, in fact, Moses’ final and greatest sermon and the longest sermon in the Bible and even history itself! Moses is establishing God’s constitution with His peoples, a constitution between a king and his people, that they may see what He has done, what they have agreed to do, and how they shall be blessed as a result. After Moses completes this sermon, he leaves his pulpit, climbs the mountain, and dies, at the age of 120, still full of life and bursting with energy! I would love to go out like that! He speaks to the generation of Israelites who have the privilege of actually living in the Promised Land, because they obeyed God while their parents did not. God is giving them this land to have as their own because of their obedience. This is the land that God swore to give to their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and it now finally belongs to them! But they have to go in and claim it for themselves. They will have to fight against large armies, but God will prove to be bigger than any of them could ever have imagined. This is only the beginning of another great journey, a journey into fully obtaining the ultimate promises of God.

Moses discusses the appointment of leaders, leaders over great numbers and tribes of the Israelites, because he cannot do it alone! How could one man possibly carry all of the burdens of a whole nation on his own? He needed help, and so he appointed wise and able leaders to assist him in his endeavor. He appointed these judges and leaders and sent them off with a warning: “Hear the disputes between your brothers and judge fairly…Do not show partiality in judging; hear both small and great alike” (NIV, v. 16, 17). God does not believe in injustice, and He will not tolerate it from His peoples. They are to obey this command and extend it to all, even the foreigners and slaves. No one is to receive injustice, because God is the Great Judge, and “judgment belongs to God” (NIV, v. 17). Judgment alone belongs to God, because God is the only true and pure Judge of the World. He is the only one without corruption and sin, and therefore, He alone can truly judge perfectly. We are all humans, able to be tainted by sin and flesh, and because of these hindrances, we have no right to condemn and judge our brothers and sisters, even if they do not know the Lord. We must extend love and mercy on them, true justice, because true justice belongs to God alone. God’s Kingdom and Christ’s love cannot be realized when those who claim to have them act on in hatred and injustice. Instead, the Kingdom and the Perfect Love of Christ are realized in those who have God’s heart through the blood of Jesus, those who love as He loves us. When we show the community of believers and non believers alike how much God loves them, His Kingdom comes, and people are saved by His blood. Jesus saved through the ultimate act of love in dying on the cross; he never lived or died for hatred to rule in this world. Stand in the light of Christ. Live in love. Reflect it in all you do, and the will of God will be complete.

And thus begins the “Do not fear” speeches, one of many to follow and extend upon the other proclamations of never fearing, because God is always with us!

Moses reminds the Israelites of their disobedience to God, how they disobeyed and were prevented from settling in the Promised Land, even after God had promised them that they would receive it if they just trusted in Him. It’s sad how these promises can be lost to us when we lose faith and settle for second best! He reminds them that their children and the generations afterwards will pay for those mistakes, that they will need to be redeemed for the sins of their fathers. Thank God it is no longer that way, since we have ultimate forgiveness in Christ! Moses reminds them of how they were destroyed in their arrogance when they climbed the mountain to fight against their enemies but were destroyed because they did not listen when God told them that He would not be with them.

This sermon is about how Israel was helpless without God. For too long, they had been relying on their own strength and wisdom to succeed, but God humbled them in tremendous ways to prove to them and to warn the younger generations how powerful He was and how weak they were without Him. God was disciplining the Israelites, just like a father disciplines a child whom he loves. God does not act out in anger because He hates us and wants us condemned; He disciplines us out of love and compassion, because He does not want to see us destroy ourselves. He loves us too much to do that, and He would rather destroy us in His righteous anger than see us die to Him forever. This is God’s love, that He ended this destruction by sending His Son to be destroyed for the world.

That is real love. That is perfect love. That is Godly love.

This is another awkwardly ending day since I finish Numbers in 2 chapters but start Deuteronomy on the same day! But, I’ll make do!

I love how Numbers 35 speaks about the place of refuge for those who sinned through accidental murder. While those who intentionally killed were sentenced to death, those who accidentally caused a death were given a chance at redemption and safety. Instead of being killed, they were sent to a city of refuge in which they could live out their sentence and avoid being killed by the avenging party. However, if the murderer fled the boundaries of the city and was found by the avenger, the avenger was at free will to kill the person who had murdered his family member/friend. The refugee had fled the safety boundaries, and the wrath was allowed to be paid.

This is how Christ protects us with his LOVE. He showed his ultimate LOVE by dying on the cross for all of His people. He did not die for a select few; He died for the whole world. By His blood, we are saved and forgiven and given a place of refuge from sin and God’s wrath. God’s wrath was satisfied by Jesus’ blood, and in this blood, we are saved. But if we venture away from the safe boundaries of the love of Jesus, God’s wrath can find and overcome us. Jesus died so that we may be free, but if we do not accept and embrace this gift, it cannot protect us. Those who hear the name of Jesus and accept him as their personal savior are safe from God’s wrath and the slavery of sin, but those who don’t will be subject to His wrath. It was never in God’s will for us to be destroyed by Him, but it was His will in the very beginning that we should be saved, and Jesus is the Savior of us all. God’s promises for humanity are made complete in Jesus, so why dwell outside of the boundaries? Is temporary freedom really worth death? Dwell in love. Let Jesus live in you. Be cleansed and purified by Jesus and the Living Water.

I love how God rewards the righteous wisdom of Zelophehad’s daughters in Numbers 36! He blesses them with an inheritance, even though they had no brothers, and gave the law that all Israelites were to stay within their own clans so as to keep the inheritance of the lands among themselves. God did not want these people becoming too separated from their tribes, and He still allowed the women a way of survival. Just goes to show you that God really does use women for special purposes, too!

Numbers down, Deuteronomy to go!

In the beginning of Numbers 32, Israel is looking at another bumpy road unless two tribes swallow their pride and do as God commands them to! The Reubenintes and Gadites have large herds and flocks, and as a result, they approach Moses and Eleazar to request more land that is not part of the Promised Land. They want a safe place for their possessions and families, even if these places lie outside of God’s Promises, as if they were not enough. Of course, Moses is outraged. There was already talk of abandoning the Promised Land a few chapters ago, and as a result, many Israelites were killed and all of them 20 and over were not allowed to enter into it! And now there is another step against God, another attempt to lose the Promise of a lifetime, and all in an effort to get more and “better” land for temporary and worldly things! There was plenty of land in Israel on which to keep herds and flocks, but these tribes, like their forefather Lot, were seduced by another land, not the land that God intended them to have, and like Lot, they were threatened with destruction. Here these peoples were, “a brood of sinners, standing in the place of [their] fathers and making the Lord even more angry with Israel” (NIV, v. 14). Because of their pride and love for the world, they risked losing everything once again. They could not afford to lose this land that God had brought them to; it was not in His will for any of them to lose it! He wanted them all to live and dwell in this beautiful land and be His holy people, not people that were still in slavery to the world like the other nations. That was His will then, and that is His will for us today! He wants us to be His holy peoples, His children who love and praise and worship Him with their lives and beings. He never wanted us to be slaves to the world, but in our ignorance, we continue to be slaves and lose the glory and blessing that might have been if we had just kept following Him! God does not want to lose us, but if we continue to stray away from Him, we will be distant from Him. Come back to God. Come back to Christ. Let the Spirit lead you back to His Promised Land, into His Presence, that you may be free in the Lord. Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom, and that freedom belongs to all who ask for it.

Fortunately, the tribes and the leaders come to an agreement: fight for the land, and you will also receive these subdued lands for your own use. I think this kind of parallels the C.S. Lewis quote about aiming for heaven and getting the earth thrown in. The leaders tell them to do God’s work first and then they will receive what they want on earth, but I think we should already strive to do God’s work ahead of our own desires, even if it doesn’t seem to give us any immediate benefit. I don’t always feel like writing this blog (and as noticed, I have missed a few days of it), and I don’t always feel like being kind to my neighbor (or my family or friends), but God calls us to obey Him despite the immediate benefits, because in doing this, we store eternal life and treasures in heaven! Where we keep our heart is where our treasure will also be, and what greater treasury is there than in heaven? If God is the maker and keeper of our hearts, what more could we ask for? He knows not only what we want, but exactly what we need, more than the world will ever know, and He will never leave us in want. He loves us because we are His children, and He will not leave us to fend for ourselves if we dwell within Him. He wants us to immerse our lives in Him so that we may live with Him forever in eternity. Aim for heaven, and don’t worry about even getting the world thrown in, because God has something even greater being prepared for you after this life!

Numbers 33 maps out the tremendous journey of the Israelites to the Promised Land, an epic, adventurous, and at times treacherous 40-year trek through the wilderness and into God’s country. They passed through 44 locations, battled hunger, thirst, and other enemies, and died from plagues and disobedience. Imagine how the remaining Israelites felt! They had survived this amazing journey all because of the Lord, their God, who extended His mercy and love on them throughout, even in the plagues and anger. He had brought those remaining for a purpose, because they had obeyed and loved Him throughout the journey, good times and bad. Imagine how we will feel at the end of life’s journey, after following God throughout, during good times and bad, and how wonderful eternity will be finally and fully free from sin and right up and center with the brilliance and glory of His Presence! Oh, what a happy day that will be! It will be worth all the struggle, all the times that we had to fall on our knees in humility and ask God once again to save us, all the times we felt like giving up but somehow found the strength to keep going, all the times we resisted the temptations of the world. It is going to be worth it someday, and it’s worth it today, because God is paving the way for us to see Him again, so that He can really hold us in His arms and say, “Welcome home, beloved child.” This is what we are living for, not just to bring the Kingdom to earth, but to experience the Kingdom after our work in this world is done. Eternity with Him is what we were made for; life on earth is just a journey we must take to get there. It will be worth it. Today it is. Never forget who God made you to be. Never forget what is yet to come.

In Numbers 34, the nation of Israel is being established in the Promised Land. The land is being dispersed according to tribes, and leaders are being appointed to make sure the land requirements and boundaries are met. After all of those years wandering in the desert, God’s people are finally living in their Land. After years of promises made years ago to ancestors that lived centuries ago, the Promise is finally being fully realized. God is laying down all of His Promises to us at this very day and hour. We cannot always see them in their fullness immediately, but they do come to pass. Whoever begins a good work in Christ will see it through until the end. This is His will. It will be done. Live for Him, and experience for yourself how different your life will be.

As I begin to write this, I hear the sounds of bulldozers and other heavy machinery grinding and puffing and making all sorts of ruckus outside of my dorm window. Yay, construction in the middle of the school year! At least the link will look pretty cool once it’s done, and I will be living in Daleville by the time any real bad stuff starts to happen!

I know that everything in the Bible is important, but maybe I’m not (or never will be) at the point of understanding the point of everything mentioned. Chapter 29 is all about preparing the sacrifices for the feasts, all involving a male goat and other drink and grain offerings. These were important for the Israelites at the time, but are they as important now? I don’t do any of these procedures, and neither do many other Christians or people in general. It was crucial for the Israelites to prepare these offerings to commemorate God and give Him thanks for all that He had done for them, but it is repeated so many times and I feel like I’ve talked about this a lot, too. I guess I’ll just leave it at that, because I don’t have much more to say about the topic other than it was and still is important to commemorate time to remember what God has done for you and to give Him thanks and praise for Him being God!

Chapter 30 is all about the making and breaking of vows. If anyone makes a vow, they are to uphold it no matter what. However, if a wife or daughter makes a vow, but her husband or father disapprove of it, the women are released from the vow by the Lord Himself. God establishes this law of honesty so that the Israelites would not deceive each other and take rash vows. Even the men were upheld; if the men waited until later to tell their wife or daughter that they disapproved of the vow, the guilt of the woman breaking that vow suddenly was on the man’s head. The men were to obey everything within the vow and not break anything within it unless otherwise noted. God wanted to build up an honest nation full of people who treated each other with proper justice and love. God wanted for His peoples to be truly set apart, unlike other nations that went behind the peoples’ backs to get their own way. This was a nation of cooperation and trust, a holy nation that God made. He wants me to be honest. He wants His people to be honest. If a vow cannot be upheld, God does not want us to take it, even if it hurts the person to whom we wanted to make the vow. It is better to be upfront and say that you cannot take it on now than to realize later down the road that it cannot be done and cause the other person greater pain.

In Chapter 31, the Israelites destroy the Midianites but do not kill the women or children. They are called to do this because they are the reason for the plagues; the women were the ones who introduced them to sorcery and idolatry, and God did not want them stumbling again. It’s terrifying how God destroys these nations and peoples to prevent His people from stumbling. It’s tragic that it happened, but be thankful today that it does not have to be this way. There do come times in which we have to remove ourselves from certain people or things in order to avoid stumbling into sin, but at least it no longer has to be this destructive. Now, all we have to do is remove ourselves physically instead of having an entire people wiped out. God’s wrath is satisfied in Christ, and we do not need to judge that others need to be destroyed as a result.

Moses also commands them to purify their metals by putting them through the fire and then cleansing them with water. however, if the metal cannot withstand the fire, it must be purified through water instead. This is how we are tested and purified, through fire and water. When things become difficult, it is the fire testing our strength and faith in God. The water refreshes and renews us from the fire, and we are a new, beautiful and stronger creation as a result. Do not despair when tough time ensue; when we keep our faith in God that He will carry us through, we shine brighter as a result and glorify His name.

After all of this, the Israelites count all of their plunder (A LOT!!!), but that’s a lot of numbers (ironically…), but still a good message!