Devotion in Deuteronomy 4

“See, I have taught you statues and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me, that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it. Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him? And what great nation is there, that has statues and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?” Deuteronomy 4:5-8

“Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples…” I am here reminded of the words of Jesus in Matthew 7:24, “Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock.” Keeping and doing the word of God by faith is a manifestation of godly wisdom. As far as I can tell, it has been from the very “beginning” that God has desired for man to keep His Word. The man who abides in God’s Word will never be shaken.

“For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon him?” The people who make the Word of God their dwelling place will be a city set on a hill that will shine forth the light, love, and wisdom of God to a famished and dying world.

But what really? What religion on earth has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is near to us? Among the world’s religions who can dare ask in faith? Who can dare come before the throne of God with boldness? Who can pray anytime and in anyplace? What religion can offer the indwelling of God’s Spirit. There is no other God who saves, who transforms, who loves, who judges in truth and mercy, who comforts the downcast, who cares for the widow, the orphan, the naked, the thirsty, and the hungry. Who is like our GOD?

Devotion in Deuteronomy 3

“And I commanded Joshua at that time, ‘Your eyes have seen all that the Lord your God has done to these two kings. So will the Lord do to all the kingdoms into which you are crossing. You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.’” Deuteronomy 3:21-22

Throughout the Biblical history of Israel we have many examples of the Lord fighting for His people in a diversity of ways—and may I say, “God does not fight fair.” I think it is generally understood that some of God’s methods have either changed or been put on hold under the glory and grace of the New Covenant. Therefore, we shouldn’t expect to be hearing God tell us to go kill our flesh and blood enemies. But, much like the Children of Israel traveling from Egypt to the promised land, we too (all born again saints) are traveling from a spiritual Egypt to a promised land. Like the Israelites of that time we also have many enemies along the road.

The Word of Lord, “You shall not fear them, for it is the Lord your God who fights for you.” remains just as true and sure now as it did thousands of years ago. We can count on God fighting for us but only as we walk in faith and obedience with him.

Devotion in Deuteronomy 2

Then the Lord said to me, “You have been traveling around this mountain country long enough. Turn northward and command the people, ‘You are about to pass through the territory of your brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir; and they will be afraid of you. So be very careful. Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession…’” Deuteronomy 2:2-5

Though they were not yet born and had done nothing bad—in order that God’s purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” As it is written, “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” Romans 9:11-13

I am not going to pretend to know what exactly is meant by the statement, “But Esau I hated.” Nevertheless, I will say that I don’t think we should project a worldly and sinful definition upon God’s hatred of Esau. God’s hatred is pure and undefiled and I don’t believe we can pretend to understand the full scope of it (not that we can’t understand it at least in small part).

Despite whatever hatred God had for Esau, the passage I read in Deuteronomy reveals to me that God’s hatred for Esau is very different from our hatred. For He blessed Esau by giving him and his descendents Mount Seir as a possession and by protecting them from war with the Israelites. What these Scriptures reveal to me, is something that I am seeing over and over again in Deuteronomy, is that there is a complex unity or diversity in God. God is both just and merciful, holy and loving. There is not a single attribute in God that could be fully explored for all eternity.

Devotion in Deuteronomy 1

“The Lord your God who goes before you will himself fight for you, just as he did for you in Egypt before your eyes, and in the wilderness, where you have seen how the Lord your God carried you, as a man carries his son, all the way that you went until you came to this place. Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the Lord your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go. And The Lord heard your words and was angered, and he swore, ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation shall see the good land that I swore to give to your fathers, except Caleb the Son of Jephunneh.” 1:30-36

“And the Lord said to me, ‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ So I spoke to you, and you would not listen; but you rebelled against the command of the Lord and presumptuously went up into the hill country.” 42-43

Two mistakes are listed here that are still repeated today. The first is unbelief in the Word of God. The second is presumption upon the word of God.

Why look for examples anywhere else then in my own life. I cannot count how many times and in how many ways God has been miraculously good to me. Yet despite how many times I have seen his outstretched arm on my behalf I still waver in unbelief. Knowing the short term memory loss of humanity is probably one of the reasons why God is constantly reminding his people to remember, to return, and to repent.

Unbelief in the Word of God is tragic. We often don’t realize how tragic it really is because we tend to only think about it from our point of view. But because God is “invested” in his Word, to not believe is to reject God. Such is the great tragedy. We are shown in these verses that the God whom they rejected was not an evil and angry master but a loving and compassionate Father. Like a weak son carried by his father so Israel was carried tenderly by God despite their sins. The greater the revelation of God the more tragic is our unbelief.

Now the second sin listed in this chapter may be a little more serious than the first. Presumption of this kind is rooted in deception. To presume that God has spoken when he is silent can get you killed.

‘Say to them, Do not go up or fight, for I am not in your midst, lest you be defeated before your enemies.’ I think we make this same kind of assumption in many different ways both in our homes and in our churches. We assume that the manifested presence of God is in our midst when he really isn’t. Perhaps this is why we experience so much tragedy and defeat in both our homes and churches. We prophecy “Peace, Peace,” over people when God hasn’t spoken. We pull scriptures out of context to tickle peoples’ ears and end up leading them into greater and greater deception.

The Sons of God are led by the Spirit of God

“So then, brothers, we are not obligated to the flesh to live according to the flesh, for if you live according to the flesh, you are going to die. But if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. All those led by God’s Spirit are God’s sons. Romans 8:12-14

The sons and daughters of God are to be a people led by the Spirit of God. Unlike the broad way of the flesh that leads to destruction, the “narrow way” of the Spirit leads to life-Christ. The way of the Spirit is the way of Jesus. It was how he walked, totally dependent and reliant upon His Father through the Spirit. And if this was how Jesus walked (the unique Son of God), then how much more should we walk in the same way!

When Jesus came to earth the Scriptures are clear that He laid aside His divine nature, humbled Himself by becoming a man, and became totally dependent upon the leading of the awesome Holy Spirit. That same Spirit who was in and upon Christ now lives in us. “Do we not know that we are the sanctuary of the living God and that His Spirit lives in us?” If we believe this truth to be so then why do we allow our carnal desires (the flesh) to lead us and not the Spirit of God? Perhaps it is because we do not believe God to be better then earthly pleasure and treasure. Or maybe we have not yet learned the language of the Spirit and do not know when He is speaking.

I proclaim it loud and clear, “the way of the Spirit is the better way. It is the way that leads to life.”

In part, to be led by the Spirit means to submit ourselves to the revealed Word and Will of God. But it also means something more specific, it means that we learn to discern and identify His compelling, leadings, whispers, voice, and follow. I love my neighbor simply because the love of God has given me love for them, and because His Word commands it. But I may bake my neighbor some banana bread because I feel the Spirit of God wanting to use that as a tool to open up their heart to the gospel. I promise you that if we are listening, the Holy Spirit will be speaking.

“I say then, walk by the Spirit and you will not carry out the desire of the flesh… Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. If we live by the Spirit, we must also follow the Spirit.” Galatians 5:16, 24-24

Let us walk by the Spirit, follow the Spirit, for our own joy and for the world to see what a son and daughter of God are really supposed to look like. May we imitate Jesus.

Why I Trust the Scriptures

In speaking with a young man who called himself a Buddhist and claimed to really admire Jesus but not trust the Bible, he asked me why I trust and believe the Bible. My answer was because through the Bible God revealed Jesus to me. I saw Jesus in and through the Bible and in return this Jesus whom I have both seen and experienced has confirmed the Bible as being not just the work of man but the work of God. The promises that are made in the Bible I have come to enjoy and realize in Jesus.

For example, Romans 10:11-13 says this, “Now the Scripture says, ‘No one who believes on Him will be put to shame, for there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, since the same Lord of all is rich to all who call on Him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Guess what, I called upon Jesus and He answered me, He richly answered me, He saved me. When I saw Him, I believed in Him. When I believed in Him, I saw Him. The Scriptures say that He will richly answer us when we call upon Him and I can testify of this being true in my own life. I am rich with evidence and confirmation that Jesus is for real.

I cannot see how anyone could possibly say that they believe that the Word of God is truth if they have not experienced it to be true. This is why so many people lose faith in the written Word of God when they pick up a book like “Misquoting Jesus” by Bart Ehrman. Firstly, most people are not biblical scholars and so do not have the resources needed to challenge and resist the claims made by people like Ehrman. Secondly, if they have never experienced the claims and promises of the Bible to be for real then they have nothing left to stand on, and I cannot blame them for questioning and rejecting Scripture.

Not until Christians begin to believe what the Bible says, to live as it tells us, and to walk in its supernatural promises will the world have any reason to take the Bible seriously. The reality is that the modern western Church offers no supernatural confirmation. There is no demonstration of the Spirit and power of God. If there was ever a time that we needed “the Lord working with (us) and confirming the word by the accompanying signs,” it is now.

The battle for the Bible does not simply belong to the scribes and scholars but it belongs to the Church. If by sound, rational, and persuasive arguments we manage to show the Bible to be the Word of God but do not live as if it were the Word of God to us then we have still lost the debate. Most people don’t really believe what they cannot see, and if they do not see us living by the Word of God why should they believe us?

Even though Christianity is a historical religion it is also an experientially supernatural religion. We are rooted in history and presently enjoy it by experience. The Bible introduces us to one Jesus but in two different contexts. In the first context we are exposed to a Jesus who claimed to be the Son of God, come down from heaven, born of a virgin, lived as a Jew in a nation under Roman occupation, and He was betrayed, crucified, and raised on the third day to reconcile all who would believe in him to Father God. The second Jesus context that Bible exposes us to is the Jesus of history in present reality as the risen savior able and desiring to save all who would call on His name. From my own testimony, as I was exposed to this Jewish man who lived two thousand years ago, by the grace of God I believed on Him as my risen Savior.

Meditating on the Word

“Instead, his delight is in the Lord’s instruction, and he meditates on it day and night. He is like a tree planted beside streams of water that bears its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither. Whatever he does prospers.” Psalm 1:2-3

“So if you have been raised with the Messiah, seek what is above, where the Messiah is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on what is above, not on what is on the earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with the Messiah in God.” Colossians 3:1-3

Meditation is the art of seeking, pondering, praying, asking, and repeating. By meditating on the Word of God we are setting our minds on what is above. The discipline of the mind is essential for the follower of Jesus. Like every other human faculty the mind must be trained and transformed by submitting itself to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. An untrained mind is a playground for all kinds of demonic and fleshly activity while a renewed mind enjoys the peace and prosperity of God.

Through careful and intentional meditation on the Word of God double-mindedness must eventually pack its bags and leave. I believe this is so because godly meditation doesn’t just think or ponder over the Word of God for pondering sake but it ponders for the sake of doing or acting on the Word of God. While biblical meditation is a spiritual discipline whereby the Holy Spirit brings revelation to us it is not a transcendental one. It is practical and ultimately is meant to help change or transform our praxis.

“Finally brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable—if there is any moral excellence and if there is any praise—dwell on these things. Do what you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you.” Philippians 4:8

I once heard Pastor Kerry Kirkwood say that, “if you know how to worry then you know how to meditate.” By worrying, he means that ones mind is dwelling in a place of turmoil, poverty, death, materialism. But for the mind trained in the Word of God meditation is dwelling on whatever is true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, morally excellent, and praise-worthy.

Meditating on the things of God is an act of worship. In “dwelling on these things” we are fellowshipping and experiencing God. “And the God of peace will be with you.” Not the God of politics, anxiety, depression, but the God of peace