Tuesday 2nd September
Read Deuteronomy 18:14-16
“The nations you will dispossess listen to those who practise sorcery or divination. But as for you, the Lord your God has not permitted you to do so. 15 The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your fellow Israelites. You must listen to him. 16 For this is what you asked of the Lord your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly when you said, ‘Let us not hear the voice of the Lord our God nor see this great fire any more, or we will die.’” (NIVUK)
People today are far more open to spiritual things. There is the residual influence of the new age movement from the eighties and nineties coupled with pandemic-induced loneliness. There is a thirst for the spiritual, for connection, that people will search far and wide to meet. Church attendance is growing in the previously dead Western countries amongst the young. Where will people hear an authentic voice?
Moses knows he will not be with them much longer and that the desire to hear from the supernatural will not go away. In a chaotic and uncertain world people will seek guidance from wherever they can. He also knows that there are folk like Balaam scattered across the land the Lord is giving to His people. People with skills in divination – or working out what God or gods would have folk do. The danger to God’s people is obvious to Moses so he outlines what they should do. He gives them the guidance they crave and writes it down so they remember.
Where do we go for guidance today? We may not seek out diviners and sorcerers – but we may pay heed to the advice of their modern equivalents – with Youtube clips and influencers everywhere. We may even listen to respectable scientific voices in articles explaining what we should do to ‘live long in the land’… How seriously do we take Moses’ warning to listen to the right people?
This week we will consider who we should listen to closely. Pray for wisdom in choosing the right voices.
