Saturday 9th August
Read Deuteronomy 11
“Love the Lord your God and keep his requirements, his decrees, his laws and his commands always. 2 Remember today that your children were not the ones who saw and experienced the discipline of the Lord your God: his majesty, his mighty hand, his outstretched arm; 3 the signs he performed and the things he did in the heart of Egypt, both to Pharaoh king of Egypt and to his whole country; 4 what he did to the Egyptian army, to its horses and chariots, how he overwhelmed them with the waters of the Red Sea as they were pursuing you, and how the Lord brought lasting ruin on them. 5 It was not your children who saw what he did for you in the wilderness until you arrived at this place, 6 and what he did to Dathan and Abiram, sons of Eliab the Reubenite, when the earth opened its mouth right in the middle of all Israel and swallowed them up with their households, their tents and every living thing that belonged to them. 7 But it was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done.
8 Observe therefore all the commands I am giving you today, so that you may have the strength to go in and take over the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess, 9 and so that you may live long in the land that the Lord swore to your ancestors to give to them and their descendants, a land flowing with milk and honey. 10 The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt, from which you have come, where you planted your seed and irrigated it by foot as in a vegetable garden. 11 But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven. 12 It is a land the Lord your God cares for; the eyes of the Lord your God are continually on it from the beginning of the year to its end.
13 So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today – to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul – 14 then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your corn, new wine and olive oil. 15 I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.
16 Be careful, or you will be enticed to turn away and worship other gods and bow down to them. 17 Then the Lord’s anger will burn against you, and he will shut the heavens so that it will not rain and the ground will yield no produce, and you will soon perish from the good land the Lord is giving you. 18 Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19 Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20 Write them on the door-frames of your houses and on your gates, 21 so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the Lord swore to give your ancestors, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth.
22 If you carefully observe all these commands I am giving you to follow – to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him and to hold fast to him – 23 then the Lord will drive out all these nations before you, and you will dispossess nations larger and stronger than you. 24 Every place where you set your foot will be yours: your territory will extend from the desert to Lebanon, and from the River Euphrates to the Mediterranean Sea. 25 No one will be able to stand against you. The Lord your God, as he promised you, will put the terror and fear of you on the whole land, wherever you go.
26 See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse – 27 the blessing if you obey the commands of the Lord your God that I am giving you today; 28 the curse if you disobey the commands of the Lord your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known. 29 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. 30 As you know, these mountains are across the Jordan, westward, towards the setting sun, near the great trees of Moreh, in the territory of those Canaanites living in the Arabah in the vicinity of Gilgal. 31 You are about to cross the Jordan to enter and take possession of the land the Lord your God is giving you. When you have taken it over and are living there, 32 be sure that you obey all the decrees and laws I am setting before you today.” (NIVUK)
This chapter has an interesting beginning, focused on the next generation who have not seen the power of God at work, there is a necessity to remind them. Moses then moves to the present task of taking the promised land for their possession and to live long in the land flowing with milk and honey (v12). It’s a land God cares for continually (rain provided, unlike the Egyptians who had to irrigate!). Comfort and security are part of a covenant agreement whereby there is an expectation that Israel is to obey, love and serve the Lord with ‘all heart & soul’. God’s on-going provision depends on it, and you have a choice to make! Again, there is the reminder ‘be careful’ idolatry can happen so easily therefore you need in-your-face symbols to remind you and your children (v18-20) to be faithful. This is a repeat of the symbols from a few days ago, the words are to be fixed in heart and mind. If you choose faithfulness, then you will be provided for forever (as promised v21). However, you have the freedom to make the choice, a choice of a blessing or a curse (v26); to obey or disobey God who knows what is best for you. Moses ends with the recognition that no matter how wholehearted you are right now, keen to take up the promise, realise that the choices might be a whole lot harder when you are in the land (described in detail as Moses looks over it), safe and secure and in comfort. This chapter confirms the struggle of trying to be faithful to God in my own strength; I have the freedom to choose what God wants but my natural inclination is to forget God and trust in myself. Moses seems to be saying, when nothing is going wrong that’s the time when ‘myself’ is most likely to kick-in. I give thanks again for the Spirit’s presence that replaces the ‘in-your-face’ symbols as a constant reminder of God’s desire for my good shown in Jesus (I just need to listen!).
Geoff Hinch
