Deuteronomy 31-34: I know it is crazy, but I grieve when I read these chapters because Moses dies. It is like losing an old friend. My heart goes out to him for not being able to enter the promised land, but I wonder if he did not win the prize by not having to go with the people any further. Maybe God was blessing him in a greater way just taking him Home. If you look at the song Moses was to write about how Israel would get into the new land and become lazy in their worship of God and they would not rely on Him because they did not feel like they needed him it reminds me so much of our culture as well. We are satisfied and make ourselves and our ability to control and run our lives our focus.

Les and I were talking this week about praying that God would give us enough to keep us from being in need, but not so much that we would forget Him. In my bible study this week we were asked what our dreams were. One of mine was to be financially wealthy enough to do ministry without having to worry about finances. I know I need to depend on Him in so many areas not just finances. Oh Father, please don’t allow me to become like Israel and much of my culture who have gotten so satisfied with life and my pleasures that I miss my whole heart reliance on You.

For Israel it cost them their freedom, their homeland, and the effects are still being seen today. When we are told in the bible to pray for peace in Israel I know that a part of that is to remember Who is their only Peace. It is not just for Israel though. It is for you and me too. May we all rest in the Prince of Peace and not our own understanding. In all our ways may we acknowledge Him and allow Him to direct our paths. To the One I rely on and rest in be the glory and honor and praise today and forever more!

Deuteronomy 28-30: How would you finish fill in this blank? ___________ is my life. Today starts the NCAA basketball tournament and for some I really do think they would or could insert college basketball or their teams name in that blank. If it was College Football season I know there are some that would put a certain team’s name. Others might put their business because it is what consumes their thoughts and energy. So what would you say is your life? Don’t rush past this too fast because it really is a defining question.

It was a defining question for the people in Moses’ day as well. In Deuteronomy 30 here is how Moses wrote it.
19 “I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and curse. Therefore choose life, that you and your offspring may live, 20loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice and holding fast to him, for he is your life and length of days, that you may dwell in the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give them.”

Did you see it? Did you see what Moses said was to be their life? Yes “Loving the Lord your God, obeying His voice and holding fast to Him for He IS YOUR LIFE and length of days.” The way you know what fills you blank is by being honest about who or what you love, obey and hold fast to. What gets our heart, mind, emotions, energy and strength is really what fills our blank. Oh how I long for The Lord My God to be what fills my blank every minute of every day of my life. I long for Him to bring blessings on my life, but I also know that there are times when I want to put myself in that blank when it comes to comfort and convenience. Oh how the hard times are a struggle for me and I just want a way out. Yet in the wilderness and hard times are the times where I should hold on to Him the closest and follow with a whole heart. I pray that in my weak times the Father will lovingly push me back close to His arms. I pray I will always have a tender heart to where I am astray and that I will run back when I know I have left the path. I long for all of my days to be able to say Jesus and the Lord my God are my life!

Deuteronomy 24-27: What you know you are to put into practice. I think that is the key to understanding Deuteronomy. Moses had given the law in the earlier books. Now he is telling Israel to put it into practice as they enter the land. He started the book by looking back at where they had come from. He then proceeds to say, and this is where you are and what you need to do, but the day is coming soon when this will be the rule of engagement for life in your new land. Practice what you know to do.

Isn’t that what God says to us as well? Here are the commandments. Here is how life is going to go best for you, but it is up to you to put into practice what you know.

Deuteronomy 26:16″This day the Lord your God commands you to do these statutes and rules. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. 17You have declared today that the Lord is your God, and that you will walk in his ways, and keep his statutes and his commandments and his rules, and will obey his voice. 18And the Lord has declared today that you are a people for his treasured possession, as he has promised you, and that you are to keep all his commandments, 19and that he will set you in praise and in fame and in honor high above all nations that he has made, and that you shall be a people holy to the Lord your God, as he promised.”

That promise is not just to Israel, but to us His children who walk in His ways. The choice really is ours as we make God through His Son Jesus the Lord of our lives.

Deuteronomy 20-23: How easy it is to get overwhelmed when we see the enemy coming at us? Israel sure felt that way as they saw the largeness of the inhabitants of the land. They knew fear as they looked at destroying them. It would have been easy to get overwhelmed had they kept their eyes on the enemy and their weapons, but God’s message was to keep their eyes on God and his presence with them. Here is how Moses wrote it.

Deuteronomy 20:1″When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the Lord your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. 2And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people 3and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, 4for the Lord your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’

Today we are not drawing up battles lines with an enemy who wears a uniform or even lines up in battle formation. Our enemy is not always evident but he is very real. The Bible tells us that he comes as a thief to steal, kill and destroy. He comes to destroy our families, our businesses, our churches. He comes to steal your joy and peace of heart and mind. He is a real adversary and as Peter describes him is like a roaming lion seeking to devour. Don’t allow yourself to get overwhelmed. The answer to you is the same as it was to Israel, the Lord is with you. By His power and His might you can and will overcome. Listen for his voice and obey. Even as temptation comes your way, so no to sin. You can’t keep temptation from coming your way, but you can keep it from setting up camp. Flee it and turn to your Commander in Chief. He is with you and will strengthen you.

Deuteronomy 16-19: Parenting is hard! It is the one job where you know the chances are very good at some point your children are going to disobey you and may even “hate you” for a time. They might even reject you as their leader and follow after their own way. I think sometimes that God allows us to have children so we can understand how He feels toward us when we do the same thing.

The first five books fo the Bible are filled with commandments and rules for the Children of Israel so that their lives could be full and blessed. Instead of obeying it was the nature of the children to rebel. In today’s reading God tells Moses that the Israel would reject God as its leader and want a king. How sad to know this is going to happen and to prepare the way anyway.

Deuteronomy 17:14″When you come to the land that the Lord your God is giving you, and you possess it and dwell in it and then say, ‘I will set a king over me, like all the nations that are around me,’ 15you may indeed set a king over you whom the Lord your God will choose.

Though they would refuse God He still loved them and provided a way for them to be made right. Even their king though not God’s choice of the way they should go would be under His hand and direction. That king was not to depend on horses from Egypt. He was to be from Israel. He was not to marry many wives. He was to write a copy of the law for themselves so they would know God’s word.

What a great reminder to us as well. Teach our children God’s word from the time they are small. Teach them to not depend on earthly things for power and strength. Keep their hearts pure, but most of all know that there is One God and He loves them beyond words. I pray for all of our children that when they wander astray that they will come back to the Father.

Deuteronomy 12-15: God reminded Israel in today’s reading that they are not to be like the people they are about to conquer. The people they were going to conquer trusted in false gods. Their gods could not save them, so why turn to them? They worshiped in ways that did not honor God and would even go so far as to give their children to their gods through the fire. God wanted His people to be distinctively different. Israel had a real God. They had no need for other gods.

How does that affect our lives? We too serve God, the same God that Israel worshiped. When God tells us He is sufficient for all of our needs we can live in that truth. We have no need to have to be the one in control. For those of us who struggle with anxiety we can rest in knowing that the Creator of the Universe is working on our behalf providing our every need. We also can rest in the fact that He is our defender. We need not fear for He is with us and fights for us. For those who struggle with physical health, He is our healer. That does not mean we will be healed of every disease. Sometimes God has a purpose for the sicknesses in our lives because it draws us closer to Him, but we can be assured that He loves us and He can heal if it is in His will. Even if not we know that one day we will be completely healed as our bodies are perfected in heaven. We can have so much peace as we rest in Him alone.

Deuteronomy 8-11: Are you facing something that just seems to be giant in your life? Maybe you feel like you will never be able to defeat it. If you feel this way you are in good company. People all through out the Bible faced things that in their own strength they could not beat.

Deuteronomy 9:1″Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, 2a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 3Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the Lord your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the Lord has promised you.”

If you are facing your own giants know that the answer for you is the same as for Israel. Trust God. Give your battle to Him and then do as He says to do. He is much bigger than anything you face, and as you give your whole heart to Him and allow Him to have control He will go before you and fight the battle with and for you. In your own power you probably will fail, but you are not fighting in your own strength when God is your leader. He has a great track record. Check out the many stories in the Bible of leaders who trusted and obeyed. You will be challenged and encouraged.

Numbers 29-32: Before Moses turned the reigns over to Joshua there was one final battle that Israel would fight. They chose 1000 men from each tribe. The men went to battle and won killing every man from Midian and taking the wives, children and plunder. When they returned Moses was angry that they did not kill the wives too because they were the reason Israel had suffered a plague. The women of Midian had been with some of the Israelite men and the hearts of the people were turning to Baal, a false god instead of Jehovah. Moses knew that the influence of these women would cause the men to once again rebel and in order to stop that from happening he removed them completely.

How often do we come out of a time of sin and are so grateful to be out because it was a hard battle only to slowly but surely edge our way back to the temptation. The problem with that is that it is so easy to go back when you are weak. In human terms, if you don’t plan to go into the house, stay off of the porch! As long as we linger close or even over our temptation we are more likely to go back.

If you are tempted to over eat or eat the wrong things, don’t purchase them and bring them home. You are much less likely to eat what you have to make an effort to go and get. If you are trying to stop smoking or drinking, you would never have a pack in your house or a bottle in that far to reach place. With nothing close at hand you are much less likely to fall. Same with relationships. If you are tempted by another person toward sinful thoughts or actions, delete the number, block the calls, delete from social media, don’t go to the same places. As we take those people and things out of the equation it makes it much more likely that we will be free from the sin. No, it isn’t easy, and I don’t completely understand what you are going through, but God’s word is a great example for us to follow. I am praying for you today that you will be able to step away from the temptation and head another way.

Numbers 17-20: Have you ever taken credit for something you did not do? I think part of the reason Moses was not allowed to go into the promised land after 40 years of leading the people was not just that he disobeyed by hitting the rock instead of speaking to it like he was instructed. He also included himself in bringing the water from the rock.

Numbers 20:10 “Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”

The impression here is that Moses is doing something to bring that water forth. Moses knew that God alone possessed that power. And yet he put himself in the position of producing something he really had nothing to do with. He was strictly the mouth piece. Even his physical touching of the rock did not produce the water. It was a gift from God.

My prayer for all of us is that we all remember that every good and perfect gifts truly does come from above as James says. It is a gift I have nothing to do with other than the fact that God may use me in the sending of it as a conduit. Father, please forgive me for when I have taken any of your glory. Please know my heart is to honor and glorify You and to led others to do the same. Thank you for Your bountiful blessings to me. I am so grateful! May you be glorified in me.

Numbers 10-13: In today’s reading it was moving day! We have read how Moses organized the tribes of Israel into an orderly form and given them instructions because they knew that one day the cloud of God’s presence would move and they would need to follow. How would they know what to do and when to do it especially without a public address system. The answer was to listen for the trumpet blasts. The leaders had been informed. When you hear the trumpet blow an alarm, it was time for the leaders to meet. When another trumpet sound came it was time to meet at the Tabernacle, but when there was one long blast from the bell of the trumpet it meant it was time to move.

I woke up this morning with the song These are the Days of Elijah singing through my head. Here are the lyrics

These are the days of Elijah
Declaring the word of the Lord, yeah
And these are the days of Your servant Moses
Righteousness being restored

These are the days of great trials
Of famine and darkness and sword
Still we are the voice in the desert crying
Prepare ye the way of the Lord!

Say, behold He comes, riding on the clouds
Shining like the sun at the trumpet’s call
Lift your voice, year of Jubilee
Out of Zion’s hill, salvation comes

Oh Friends we too must be ready for the move that is ahead of us. It will come at the trumpet’s blast and we too need to be ready. Until they we are to prepare the way by saying He is coming, come and join me. I can’t help but think about the gospel message being declared to every continent with the death of Billy Graham and thinking it won’t be long before He returns. May we all tell someone today. HE IS COMING!