Deuteronomy 31

DAILY DEVOTION

FOR

FRIDAY, DECEMBER 7 

SCRIPTURE:  Deuteronomy 31

By:Josh Boles

Today we begin the closing words of Moses to the Israelite people. Moses had just completed his very ling, and detailed sermon over the Law. Remember that is has been two years since Moses started doing that. Now that we are done with that portion we get to move into the final states of the Israelites moving into the promise land. I could imagine at this point, there is a lot of excitement in the air. I could also imagine there is some sadness there as well.

Moses was 80 years old when God called him to lead the Israelite people out of Egypt. He is not 120 years old and has been leading the people for 120 years. I think at this point the automatic assumption is that Moses was old, brittle, and on his death bead. This simply is not the case, just go look in chapter 34. The fact is that God had told Moses that he would not be able to enter the promise land because of his sin at Kadesh.

Even though Moses did not obey God ons several occasions, he was still a faithful, and good leader to the nation of Israel. The fact of the matter is, that God’s promises are a sure thing. This means that Moses will not be able to see the promise land. This is a sad fact, but it did not distract Moses from doing what he was supposed to do. This section of Deuteronomy starts what we call “the Song of Moses.” This chapter specifically is meant to encourage Joshua, his predecessor, to stand strong in the Lord.

We will soon find out that Joshua will become a great leader to Israel in a most important time. We also know that he is on a very short list of people in the Old Testament who had the ability to obey God. It is not by accident that Moses is speaking of his not being able to enter the promise land in his song. It fits very well into the content of the rest of the chapter, for just as sure is Moses’ inability to enter the land, is the promise Israel has to finally enter. Moses understands this so he encourages Joshua with some very powerful words, and perhaps some of the most influential words spoken in the Old Testament.

Moses says in verse 6, “be strong and courageous. Do not fear or be in dread of them, for it is the Lord your God who goes with you. He will not leave you.” There are a few things that we can pretty much count on in our lives. One of those being that fact that we are human and we will certainly fall short of the glory of God. It is in our nature. We are sinner, and we will continue to sin until the day we get to be with the Lord.

Another thing we can count on is the fact that the Lord has gone before us. He is fighting for his people, and will never stop doing so. I think the reason that the Israelites fell so often is because they forgot this promise. We know that even though the Israelites get to go to the long awaited promise land, they will still fail many, many times. They will forget about the promises of God, and turn to other gods. That is the very reason Moses wrote this song.

I think the reason we stumble a lot of times is because we too forget the promises of God. Moses did not just write this song for the Israelites, he wrote it for us too! We have to remember Church that the Lord is always with us, he is always fighting for us. He will never leave us, or forsake it. Even when it feels like nothing is going our way, or we can’t seem to place one foot in front of the other. Trust in God’s plan for your life, it is going to be good!

Deuteronomy 30

DAILY DEVOTION

FOR

THURSDAY , DECEMBER 6  

SCRIPTURE:  Deuteronomy 30

By: Josh Boles

Reading through the Old Testament can be tough sometimes, especially in books such as Deuteronomy. There is often a tone of judgement and destruction. This is what makes the Old Testament hard for people to digest sometimes. Most of the time when we struggle to understand these tough scriptures it is because we are not observing them in the larger context of the story. There certainly are a lot of messages about judgement and destruction in the Old Testament. Basically the entire thing is a cycle of Gods grace, Israels inability to obey, followed by more grace, and so on. The fact is however, that we get hung up and the stories of judgement.

What we need to realize is that so many times throughout scripture the message of judgement of followed by a voice of hope and redemption. Deuteronomy is no exception to that. In yesterdays chapter, verses 16-29 offered a warning of judgement. Moses reminded the people of the gross idolatry the people witnessed in Egypt and their wilderness journey. It is almost as if there is a question in the air at the end of this chapter. Will the Israelites actually obey this time?

Deuteronomy 30 opens up in a very different way. We see a message of Israels blessings being restored to them. Take a look at some of the key words used in the first part of this chapter. “Heart,” is found in verse 2, 6, and 10. Command or commandment is found in 2, 8, 10, 11, and 16. Turn or return is found in 2, 6, and 10, and life is found in 15, 19, and 20. If we observe these words in these verse the connection becomes obvious, If we turn back to God from our sins with our full heart and obey his commandments, blessings of life that only the Lord can give will be given.

What we can learn from this passage is that these blessings are not just an automatic thing that are going to happen regardless f the people’s actions. When Moses writes these things he is looking forward to a day when the chastised nation will repent and turn to God. The same is true for us. When we repent of our sins and turn to God, blessings will be bestowed upon us.

This becomes evident in the later part of this chapter. Pay close attention to verse 11, “for this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.” Throughout the next few verses it becomes evident that the Israelites have a choice to make. These blessings are not just going to happen to them by default. Yes, it will be hard, but not “too” hard as Moses just said.

The promise of hope that is offered toward the end of this chapter is that if we keep the commandments of the Lord and walk in his ways, we will be blessed. The point of all of this is revealed in the last verse of this chapter. If they obey, then they get to dwell in the Land of the Lord forever. Each and every day o our lives we have a choice to make. We can dwell in the promises of the Lord and find immeasurable blessings, or we can dwell in the empty promises the world has to offer us.