Seek the Lord

Another recurring theme in Deuteronomy is found in 4:29-31, where it is written:

"...if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath."

We can probably agree we have a tendency to go to the Lord when we're in distress and pat ourselves on the back when times are good. The part I'll never understand is the "seek him with ALL your heart and with ALL your soul," since I don't know what that looks like. Paul tells us to pray without ceasing, but we know this is logistically impossible. Christ himself tells his disciples the famous ask/seek/knock that we'll read on October 6th. I'll probably expand on this point when we get there, but even as far back as the time of Moses, the people are told to seek the Lord when they need help. In other words, they're told to not forget him.

The thing worth mentioning is why we're to seek the Lord in the first place. If you re-read 4:29, it's not to inform God of what needs to be done so he can get on it and get 'er done, but to inform US that we need the Lord to intervene on our behalf. The verse clearly states that the Lord is there for us, waiting for us to find him. I'm not suggesting that if we don't ask, we won't receive, since God's will WILL be done regardless, but instead that he's going to be there for us whenever we need him to be. I hope I'm right on this part, since my post just disappeared after I typed the last sentence...

My last point is a minor one, but it has tremendous significance. Look at the word that starts v30--that word is not "If," but instead "When." Even at this point, just prior to fulfilling the covenant God had made with Abram thousands of years prior, he knew they wouldn't keep it. The later trials that Israel will go through--the split kingdom, forced dislocations to Assyria and Babylon and everything else, God knew were going to occur. And he was just as clearly stating that when that happens, he'd be waiting for them to realize their shortcomings and return to the Lord, their God, for he is gracious and merciful. Just like he is for us today.

Scott

More Instruction (March 18)

There will always be poor people in the land.  Therefore I command you to be openhanded toward your brothers and toward the poor and needy in your land.

But if your servant says to you, "I do not want to leave you," because he lives with you and your family and is well off with you, then take an awl and push it through his ear lobe into the door, and he will become your servant for life.  Do the same for your maidservant.

You may say to yourselves, "How can we know when a message has not been spoken by the Lord?"  If what a prophet proclaims in the name of the Lord does not take place or come true, that is a message the Lord has not spoken.  That prophet has spoken presumptuously.  Do not be afraid of him.

                                          From Deuteronomy 15 & 18 NIV

Generosity, freedom/servanthood, and prophesy are the topics of the excerpts of today's reading.

God encourages generosity, Christian charity, helpfulness to others.  This is an example of following a command to love your neighbor.  Discernment is important to determine and follow God's will to bring glory to God.

The action here of marking a servant for life with an awl through the ear into the door might strike one as being coercive, forcible or extreme.  One might consider God's command to avoid body piercing as stemming from a piercing as being a mark of service to another.

During a lecture, the concept of freedom was discussed.  In the ancient world, there was no word for freedom as we know and understand freedom today.  The closest word to freedom that was in use meant a relief from a duty such as paying taxes for a period of time, a grant of relief given by the ruler or king.

Much is heard by us about what will come eventually to pass.  God gives us guidance today about what to do with prophets who use the Lord's name.  If the prophet's words do not come true they are not of the Lord.   Do not fear that man.

Discernment, a skill in perceiving or discriminating is a gift from God, a careful ability to find balance in giving of one's treasure, time, and in this case today attention, a talent.

How do others know you are charitable?  What do they see?

Who do you serve for life?

How would you recognize a false prophet?

Pray for time to read God's word, to listen to sermons and for the Spirit to guide you to the truth.

In Christ,

David P   

More Instruction and Guidance (March 17)

Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains and on the hills and under every spreading tree where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods...

...burn their Asherah poles in the fire...

You are not to do as we do here today, everyone as he sees fit...

Be careful not to sacrifice your burnt offerings anywhere you please...

you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer.  The Lord you God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul...

...and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town...

...so that the Lord your God may bless you in all the work of your hands...

                           From Deuteronomy 12, 13 & 14 NIV

God is jealous.  He wants us to be singleminded to him.  As a result, destruction of high places and burning of Asherah poles are commanded.

Asherah, from a Bible dictionary is a fertility goddess to the Phoenicians and Canaanites, the mother of Baal.  The wooden object, the pole, stood upright and was used in the worship of a goddess of the same name.  These poles were principally located in Samaria, Bethel and Jerusalem.

We have read, to get rid of idols.  Burning the poles and destroying the high places is an act of idol destruction.

We are not to do "as we see fit" with worship and sacarifice, but rather to honor God with worship as He has instructed us.

The word that comes to mind is a word heard in Jill's class about 2 years ago, it is a form of the word scandal, it is an early Greek form, the word is skandelon.  Webster's explains that it is the snare or the cause of moral stumbling.  Can you appreciate how God is protecting Israel by commanding that each skandelon, each Asherah pole is to be burned and each high place destroyed?  God is commanding to get rid of snares.

How are you thankful for instructions on worship, for a singlemindedness in worship?

Do you need to get rid of a skandelon, a snare, a stumbling block?

Pray for pastoral guidance as sermons are written that the Spirit speaks clearly and that hearts and minds are prepared for the word and that lives are changed by the transformational nature of God's word.

In Christ,


David P

Rebellion

Deuteronomy 4:25-27 states:

"After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed. The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you."

You should have noticed by now that the notion of obeying the Lord is  becoming a recurring motif in Deuteronomy, and we'll see soon enough why this was done. In today's reading, Moses recounted the times when the people of Israel rebelled against the Lord in most of Chapter 9. As all of us are quite aware, past behavior is an excellent predictor of future behavior, and the people of Israel had built up quite a resume of rebellion to this point.

However, things start to change a bit in Deuteronomy. In the past readings, the people rebelled, the Lord punished them or Moses intervened for them, and the people repented. All got pretty good at this sequence, since it was repeated over and over and over. God here adds an additional element--he tells them they WILL be punished for disobedience and is pretty specific in what the punishment will be. We will read in the coming months how prophetic these words will become.

Before we begin patting ourselves on the back for being smarter than the people of Israel, are we doing any better? Christ was kind enough to distill Levitic law down from over 600 to 2:

1. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind

2. Love your neighbor as yourself

How's that working out for us? Given the mumbled answer you just made to yourself, why should we expect any different punishment than the people of Israel. We all know the answer, so let me rephrase the question as:

Don't we DESERVE the same punishment as the people of Israel?

Scott

Righteousness on What (March 16)

After the Lord your God has driven them out before you, do not say to yourself, "The Lord has brought me here to take possession of this land because of my righteousness."  No, it is on account of the wickedness of these nations that the Lord is going to drive them out before you..

Understand, then, that it is not because of yur righteousness that the Lord yhour God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff necked people....

For the Lord your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great God, mighty and awesone 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...

When the Lord your God has brought you into the land you are entering to possess, you are to proclaim on Mount Gerizim the blessings, and on Mount Ebal the curses...
     From Deuteronomy 9,10 &11 NIV

Our sins are forgiven and we are assured entry into heaven by Christ's blood shed for us.  Just like Israel's entrance into the promised land not on account of how righteous Israel was; our entry into heaven, the kingdom of God, is not based on our goodness or work, but rather Christ's work.

God still commands obedience from us, but when we fail, we can look to Good Friday and Easter Sunday to realize and be confident in our acceptance.  Not because of what we have done, but rather because mercy and grace by and of what He has done.  Praise God! 

What attributes of God do you consider today?

Can others easily tell that you are obedient to God? How?

Pray for the Spirit's guidance to be plainly visible to you, to others in church, to church leadership and to pastors.

In Christ,


David P

Teach (2,3) Your Children Well...

In Deuteronomy 4:9, it is written

"...do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them fade from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them." 

We'll run across this theme numerous times throughout the year (the best example will be on June 3rd), but whenever we complain about the state of affairs for religion these days, we need to consider just how that came about.

As a Trinity student, the first thing we did every Monday morning was take church and Sunday School attendance, which still happens today. Even at an early age (and I'm talking 2nd or 3rd Grade), I could almost do it for the teacher. In my mind, I would silently answer (we had to answer for both, so if we attended both church and Sunday School, we responded "Yes Yes" and so on). If I were to pull out my 8th Grade yearbook, I can easily tell you what the typical response was. I don't know how to break the bad news, but the best we could have had for church attendance was around 50-60%. The idea that church attendance was important was starting to fray even 40 years ago.

Certain teachers would immediately ask "Why" if the attendance answer was "No," and I was always intrigued by what novel answers I might hear (and usually disappointed--let's face it, all the good ones were used up within a couple of weeks). Think about it--why didn't a 10-year-old kid attend church? Because they felt like sleeping in? They had an early tee time? Late night on Saturday night? You already know the answer, so let me pile on with the obvious--BECAUSE THEIR PARENTS WERE TOO LAZY TO TAKE THEM. 

Luther's Small Catechism begins each section with a variant of the phrase "As the head of the family should teach...," clearly describing what the first and most important line of instruction is in imparting our Christian beliefs to our children. Pastors, teachers, DCEs and other lay leaders can and happily do assist, but to dump it all on them goes clearly against the will of the Lord. In today's reading, God unambiguously tells the people of Israel the importance of passing on the law, since he knew 3500 years prior to George Santayana stating it that those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.

This won't be the last time I write on this subject, and I know I'm preaching to the choir, but there is NOTHING more important than bringing up our children in the faith, and you know as well as I do that when we meet the Lord and he asks us how we followed the instruction in Deuteronomy 4:9, the correct answer WILL NOT be "Uh, I thought the pastor/teacher/Sunday School teacher/someone else would do that"--it's our responsibility, as well as our privilege.

Scott

Obedience Commanded (March 15)

...by keeping all his decrees and commands that I give you...

...Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up...

Fear the Lord your God, serve him only and take your oaths in his name...

Be sure to keep the commands of the Lord your God and the stipulations and decrees he has given you...

And if we are careful to obey all this law before the Lord our God, as he has commanded us, that will be our righteousness.

For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.

You must destroy all the peoples the Lord your God gives over to you.  Do not look on them with pity and do not serve their gods, for that will be a snare to you.

Do not bring a detestable thing into your house or you, like it, will be set apart for destruction.  Utterly abhor and detest it, for it is set apart for destruction.

He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.
                             From Deuteronomy 6,7,& 8 NIV

God commands obedience.  Let us review from the NIV the first 3 commandments.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery.

You shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol in the form of anything in heaven above or on the earth beneath or in the waters below.  You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me, but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments.

God gives the law again to Israel.  His desire is obedience.

Thoughts

How do you show your thankfulness that our righteousness is not based on keeping the law, but rather based on the work of Christ?

What kind of difference to you does it mean to be a treasured possession of God?  His temple?

How do you keep on guard against idols?

Pray for a singlemindedness of service to Him.

In Chirst,


David