I have
set a goal for myself this year of reading the Bible through – from Genesis to
Revelation. However, as it always seems to happen, I find myself slogging
through Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy as if they are just squares to
check off as I skim through the Old Testament and eagerly move to the New
Testament. But God has reminded me that there is always great purpose in every
Word that has proceeded from His mouth, whether spoken directly to His people
or spoken through a messenger He appointed.
In
Deuteronomy, we find Moses preparing God’s people, Israel, to go in and possess
the land the Lord was giving them. They had wandered in the desert for 40 years
after their release from captivity in Egypt –- a rebellious and stiff-necked
people who continued to disobey God. Their wandering was the consequence of
their rebellion, as was the death of an entire generation. Yet despite their
rebellion, their children would still possess the Promised Land!
Even
though Moses would not enter the Promised Land, nevertheless, he was God’s
chosen leader to prepare Israel for their new life of promise. So how did he prepare them? With the Word of
God. Deuteronomy 6:1 says, “Now this is
the commandment, the statutes and the judgments which the Lord your God has
commanded me (Moses) to teach you . . .”
He
continues to instruct them to obey God so they will prosper in the new land. In
verses 4-7 he tells them, “Hear, O
Israel! The Lord is our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These
words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach
them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house
and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. You
shall bind them as a sign on your hand and they shall be as frontals on your
forehead. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your
gates.”
Of
course, we know God never speaks without purpose and verse 24 give us the
reason for obeying God --- “So the Lord
commanded us to observe all these statutes, to fear the Lord our God for our good always and for our survival. .
. ” (emphasis mine)
As Moses
continues to ‘preach’ to them, he implores them in Deuteronomy 8 to remember
God’s gracious dealings with them. Verses 2-3 “You shall remember all the way the Lord your God has led you in the
wilderness these forty years, that He might humble you, testing you, to know
what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. He
humbled you and let you be hungry, and fed you with manna which you did not
know, nor did your fathers know, that He might make you understand that man does not live by bread alone, but man
lives by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of the Lord.” (emphasis
mine)
In the
final chapters of Deuteronomy, we read of Joshua’s commission as new leader of
Israel, the beautiful “Song of Moses” in Chapter 32, and “The Blessings of
Moses” in Chapter 33. In Deuteronomy 32:45-47 we read, “When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, he
said to them, “Take heart all the words with which I am warning you today,
which you shall command your sons to observe carefully, even all the words of
this law. For it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your
life. (emphasis mine) And by this
word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the
Jordan to possess.”
What the
children of Israel were to learn and what we are to learn about God’s word, is
that it is “for our good always and for
our survival”; it is what we are to live by; and “it is not an idle word for you; indeed it is your life.”
If we
are New Testament believers, we have God’s Word in the form of His Son to speak
to us. John 1:1 tell us that “In the
beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” We
are also told in John 1:14 that “the Word
became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only
begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.”
And His
Word, Jesus, speaks with great purpose just as that of the Old Testament did.
John
6:35 –-- “Jesus said to them, “I am the
bread of life; he who comes to Me will not hunger, and he who believes in Me
will never thirst.”
John
11:25 --- “Jesus said to her (Martha), I am the resurrection and the life; he who
believe in Me will live even if he dies.”
John
14:6 --- “Jesus said to him (Thomas), “I am the way, and the truth, and the
life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
We see
that God’s words through Jesus are the same as He spoke to His children of the
Old Testament. His Words are our ‘bread’ (sustenance), The ‘way’ we should
walk, The absolute ‘truth’, The ‘life’, the way to the Father, and assurance of
inheriting our Promised Land – eternal life!
My vision
has definitely been re-awakened to God’s Story from Old to New!! The threads
that weave themselves seamlessly through the entirety of God’s Word become
treasures if we will just stop and let God’s Words --- even those of the Old
Testament --- settle in our hearts and minds as words that are not ‘idle’ but
are our ‘Life.’
Holy
Father, thank You for how You speak through Your Word to us. Give us open
hearts to receive it, ready ears to hear it, and willing feet to obey all that
You command! In the precious Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.
