The pattern of the Bible. Awesome examples of God and His faithfulness and wisdom and power, mercy and justice and judgment and love. MAN experiencing it, trying (even sometimes not really) and blowing it (mostly) - minus the amazing testimonies of the truly FAITHFUL who DID wholly follow after God....
So here we are - Deuteronomy - ready to enter the promised land with the generation deemed "faithful". They are all sitting on this side of Jordan (the promises of God), receiving final instructions from Moses (quite possibly one of the greatest men of God to walk this earth...having been led BY GOD HIMSELF and fed by God, having seen miracles, signs and wonders; being sheparded faithful by His #1 man Moses....they're ALMOST THERE!
and...WHAT HAPPENS?
God asks Moses and Joshua to come to the tabernacle...and He appears in that tabernacle in a pillar of cloud. HERE IS GOD TO TALK WITH THEM - with His INSTRUCTIONS before the promised land!!
And GOD says to Moses (in a nutshell)(Deuteronomy 31:19):
"You're going to die (Moses). This people will rise up and go after strange gods; they're gonna forsake Me and break My covenant which I made with them. And I'm going to get angry - so angry. I'm going to forsake them and hide My face from them - they're gonna be DEVOURED, experiencing many evils and troubles - all without Me."
"So here's what I want you to do - I want you to WRITE THIS DOWN - write this song about all the wrong things they're going to do, how they're going to be disobedient and walk away from Me and break our covenant - I want you to teach it to them, have them memorize it, then SING IT as a memorial..."
A SONG about how disobedient they will be. Which will cost them their relationship with Almighty God - EVERYTHING - His favor, His provision, His presence, His love.
Uhhhhhh.....
Can you get a sense of the LORD'S heartbreak?
EVERYONE tends to point out (when anyone refers to the Old Testament) that we are under a NEW COVENANT - and that alllllll of God's anger and wrath for US was poured out upon Jesus. Which is absolutely true.
But doesn't He tell us also that He is the SAME yesterday, today and forever? Is that supposed to mean that SIN and DISOBEDIENCE and IDOLATRY no longer bother Him, no longer ANGER HIM? That our DISRESPECT and blatant disobedience NO LONGER CAUSE HIM PAIN? And WHAT OF RELATIONSHIP with Him - don't tell me that because of JESUS you can't disappoint God or cause His presence and anointing to back up off of your life.
RIGHT BEFORE THIS writing of the disappointing song of Israel's up and coming departure from the Lord, (same chapter)(Deuteronomy 31:9-11):
9 And Moses wrote this law, and delivered it unto the priests the sons of Levi, which bare the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and unto all the elders of Israel.
10 And Moses commanded them, saying, At the end of every seven years, in the solemnity of the year of release, in the feast of tabernacles,
11 When all Israel is come to appear before the Lord thy God in the place which he shall choose, thou shalt read this law before all Israel in their hearing.
They are supposed to READ IT OUT LOUD before allllllll of Israel - forever. So that Israel will hear the words of the Lord.
Part of the job of the Levites was to minister the word of God to the nation. EVERY 7 YEARS was to be a public reading (you can read about one instance of how it was done in Nehemiah 8:1-8). The first known public reading of the Law was in Joshua 8:30. The next time we hear of it was during the reign of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 17:7 - more than 500 years later! THEN during the reign of Josiah - 2 Chronicles 34:30 - another 250 years since the last time. Now considering that there may have been unrecorded public readings that we are unaware of (the fact that only 3 instances are readily found typically means that these three instances were unusual, NOT typical) - the point is that this type of neglect of God's word would easily point to WHY Israel was so often in trouble. If for NO OTHER REASON, Israel could have come to a personal relationship with their God from listening to, partaking of His Word. (Who has ears to hear....)
Hasn't this been the pattern throughout the Bible? Of people actually LITERALLY walking and talking with God - from the garden to the wilderness! - and honestly even the disciples in the New Testament who literally walked with Jesus (and all of their personal issues in spite of...)....- having seen things that people TODAY BEG TO SEE (Oh if i could only see a sign...something miraculous...then i'd believe....)...yet FAILING HIM - and ultimately THEMSELVES? TODAY of watering down the Word, and tickling the ears, and using grace as a "get out of jail free card". Of big platforms, and famous ministry and mega-churches and worldly worship and spectator-audience teaching, and family game night and BBQs instead of prayer night.... Of having to "make time" in our convenience-store-drive-thru lives instead of scheduling OUR time around HIM.
How different are WE, really?
THE COST OF DISOBEDIENCE IS STAGGERING. The COST OF REMOVING OURSELVES FROM HIS WORD, HIS PRESENCE is heartbreaking.
As every single day we are that much closer to the return of the Lord...wouldn't it be something if WE became the generation that BROKE THE MOLD? That WE could be the family, the children that the Lord could be PROUD OF? To be all He ever longed for when They created us in the first place?
When i was a little Jewish girl, NOTHING made my heart soar like knowing my earthly dad was proud of me. The LORD has ALWAYS afforded me the perspective of seeing a bit through His eyes, of feeling a bit of His heart in regards to humans and our attitudes (or lack thereof) towards Him (having been called to minister, first and foremost, unto Him).
It truly is an hour when we can do our part (yes, we do have a part) to make our Abba proud of us. Of doing the lives He has blessed us with HIS WAY, putting HIM FIRST, letting HIM LEAD; our ONLY SENSE OF PURPOSE being HIS PURPOSES.
Oh - let us use this time of this "extra time off from the world" SABBATH (this time of what evil meant for harm, instead using for GOOD!) to come to His throne, sitting at His feet - in worship, in listening, in gleaning - in adoration, in humility, in obedience, in love.
TRULY - HE is worthy.
~via His Messenger
March 20th, 2020
7:42 pm - 8:07 pm
