Law – Deuteronomy 7-9
Bible Passage: Deuteronomy 7-9
Our passage for today has two very important and meaningful verses which I feel are very good reminders for us Christians today. Not that the other verses are not important or meaningful but these two verses just seem to stand out more.
The LORD did not set His love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were the least of all peoples; (Deut 7:7)
Therefore understand that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. (Deut 9:6)
Having understood our unworthiness and inclination to sin, it is good thing to examine ourselves, identify our faults and correct them as Moses reviews the sins of the Israelites.
Taberah – Burning / Kibroth Hattaavah – Graves of Craving
A very common fault of man is his inability to be satisfied. Very rarely can we find someone truly contented with what they have and more often than not, this person must have learnt through a long process to be contented.
The incident Moses was referring to when talking about these places (Deut 9:22) is found in Numbers chapter 11. The one where God said the Israelites shall eat meat until it comes out of their nostrils and become loathsome to them (Num 11:20). Rather scary isn’t it?
This is something we have to be careful about especially in our very materialistic world. Besides materialistic things, things like praise from people and more opportunities to ‘show-off’ our talents may also be stumbling blocks to us in this aspect. These are more subtle and seemingly justifiable thus we really need God to examine our desires at all times lest we are ‘burnt’ or fall into these ‘graves of craving’.
Massah – Tempted
Tempting God is also another fault that we may find ourselves guilty of and it can be manifested in a variety of ways; usually in times where things are not going well. The incident at Massah describes how the Israelites tempted God by contending with Moses; accusing him of bringing them out of Egypt to die in the wilderness.
Many times, although we do not dare to accuse God directly, we do so by complaining about the circumstances we were born into, our leaders, our environment and so on. Do we realise that sometimes, in our comments and our general unhappiness with the world, we unwittingly demonstrate our distrust in God’s ability to ‘run things properly’?
Tempting God is actually limiting Him with our own expectations and values (Ps 78:41). How can the Almighty be expected to conform to our requirements and obey what we believe to be right? We can only continue to do what is right, rein in our tongues (and minds) and believe that
And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose. (Rom 8:28)
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InHisTime
Although we know the story of God’s chosen people journeying through the wilderness very well, there are so many lessons that we could learn from there and apply to our daily lives today.
Deuteronomy 8:2 onwards served as a good reminder for me.
As we journey through life, we would meet with obstacles and setbacks that could cause us to lose faith in God and drift further away from him.
But we know that such setbacks will draw us nearer to God if we pray to Him and depend on Him. We know of so many verses in the bible that could comfort us in our time of need.
We know very well that there are many brethren from our church who have strayed away from God and his church. Inititally they could be very zealous and fervent but unfortunately they fall away too.
Indeed it is very sad and wasted!
Let us pray not only for these brothers and sisters but also pray for ourselves,that the Lord could preserve our faith. We have to constantly examine ourselves!
i realised that i have written alot of ‘we know’s today.
Maybe that’s a problem as well…we might know so much that eventually we get used to His grace and mercy.
May God guide us all.
PS
The phrase “…He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did you fathers know…” is mentioned twice in Deut 8. The first time is linked to the 40 years of hard life in the wilderness. The second is linked to the good life after the Israelites entererd the promised land.
It first appeared in Deut 8:3 and God further proves His providence by “your garments did not wear out on you, nor did your foot swell these forty years.”
It appeared again in Deut 8:16 and God wants the Israelites to hold firmly in their hearts that It is God who gives them power to get wealth.
In both bad and good times, it is God who sustains the Israelites.
In my childhood years, God provided and truly our meals did not stop and our schoolings did not end prematurely.
Even now, God provides and we have jobs to provide a honest living.
Like what King Solomon said, “There is nothing new under the sun.”
Both abase and abound, God watched over the Israelites. God is watching over us and He provides. Trust Him.