Verse for the Day, 21 June 2017.

Deuteronomy 10:12-22, “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul,  (13)  and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?  (14)  Behold, to the LORD your God belong heaven and the heaven of heavens, the earth with all that is in it.  (15)  Yet the LORD set his heart in love on your fathers and chose their offspring after them, you above all peoples, as you are this day.  (16)  Circumcise therefore the foreskin of your heart, and be no longer stubborn.  (17)  For the LORD your God is God of gods and Lord of lords, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who is not partial and takes no bribe.  (18)  He executes justice for the fatherless and the widow, and loves the sojourner, giving him food and clothing.  (19)  Love the sojourner, therefore, for you were sojourners in the land of Egypt.  (20)  You shall fear the LORD your God. You shall serve him and hold fast to him, and by his name you shall swear.  (21)  He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.”

Why should I love, worship and obey God? The command for us to do exactly this appears numerous times in the Bible, especially in the book of Deuteronomy, but why? As a child, I lost count of the times I was told to obey, and when I asked why, I was given the answer, “Because I said so, that’s why!”. Sadly, such answers are far from helpful or satisfactory. Are we to love, worship and obey God, just because He tells us, commands us to? To be honest, God could require and command us to love, worship and obey Him, without giving us any explanation or reason as to why, after all, He is God. However, in His goodness, God gives us numerous reasons that not only explain why, but also serve to motivate and excite us to love, worship and obey Him.

In Deuteronomy 10:12-22, we see just some of the reasons that God gives us. We can divide these reasons into two categories: Who God is, and who God is to us.

In these few verses we are given a wonderful description of who God is. We are told He is the LORD God, to whom everything belongs, the earth, the heavens and the heavens of the heavens. The LORD God is not just a god, or one of many gods, He is God, He is the God, He is God of gods and the Lord of lords. God owns everything, He rules over everything and He is the most powerful, great, mighty and awesome being in all existence. Simply put there is no one and nothing that can compare with God. Everything you and I see, whether with our eyes, or through the lens of a telescope, or via the images of a satellite, it all, every speck and spot, belongs to God, it is His. Think of the most majestic, glorious, mighty and awesome sight you have ever seen. Multiply that by 1 million and you will still come up short of how majestic, glorious, mighty and awesome God is! The truth of all this means that when we come into God’s presence, our automatic, reflex reaction will be to fall down to our knees, and bow in worship of God. We won’t even think about it, debate it, or question it, such is God that we will respond by bowing before Him, automatically and immediately. No matter how big you think your understanding and picture of who God is, it is too small, too limited, He is infinitely greater!

Secondly, we are told who God is to us. This should be point of great encouragement to us, especially if we think about who God is and then who we are by contrast, why should God give even an ounce of care about us? Yet, remarkably, God extends an abundant love and care to all of us. We read that He is a God who is perfectly just, He has a deep care and concern for those who are in need, for those who are oppressed, and He is our rescuer. Why is God all this and more to us? We are told that God is all this because, “the LORD set his heart in love…” upon us. Is that not incredible? The God who is infinitely greater than we can imagine has chosen to set His love upon us!

Some might think, “So what if God set His love upon us, what difference does that make?” This is where we see who God is to us and what He has done for us. He is not only just and perfect in all His dealings with us, He not only has a deep care and concern for us, He is good to us, He provides for our every need, He pours out His love upon us, He prospers us, He uses His power to work for our good, He reveals Himself to us and He saves us from oppression! The God of the Universe, sets His heart in love upon us and saves us from all our oppression, and sets us free through Christ!

It is tragic that we spend so little time thinking upon who God is, and who He is to us, and too much time thinking upon matters of much lesser importance. Our failure in this regard has a far reaching impact upon our lives, from a failure to trust God, to becoming increasingly spiritually complacent and apathetic. This is something which God knows the danger of, and how it can cause great distress, even destruction amongst His people. It is for this reason that God gives these clear instructions in Deuteronomy 10, He knows that if once the people of Israel have settled in the Promised Land, in the midst of their comfort and ease, they forget God and fail to love, worship and obey Him, it will have devastating consequences. God is not insecure, nor is He over-reacting, presuming the worst, God is all-wise! We need only to turn a few pages to Judges and there we will read of what happened to this nation when they did forget. God is warning them of what will happen if they continue in their stubborn sinfulness and how through a joyful obedience a better and more prosperous way can be found.

The very same encouragements and challenges come to us today. We who are believers in Jesus Christ have even greater reason to love, worship and obey God. Sadly, many of us follow the poor example of the Israelites, forgetting who God is, who He is to us and how we should respond. It should be no surprise to us that we are spiritually dry, just going through the motions of Christian life, with little joy and even less desire for God and the things of God. It should be no surprise that we find reading God’s Word, prayer, witnessing, worship and service so hard. If our hearts are not constantly meditating upon who God is, who He is to us, and what He requires of us, then our hearts will never be moved. They key to reviving our Christian lives and our church doesn’t lie in a programme, a dynamic preacher, an excellent book, or in a motivating video, it lies in focusing and centring our lives and minds upon what matters most, who God is, who He is to us and what He requires of us. It starts with us loving God, worshipping God and obeying God. Until we begin to do this, we cannot hope to reignite our hearts to burn with a white-hot love for God.

God of might, splendour, majesty and awesome power, God of love, justice, compassion and grace. You and You alone are God, to You all things belong and before Your throne all things will bow in worship. Help us LORD God to understand who You are, forgive us for being so quick to forget, may You burn onto our minds Your awesome power and majesty. Thank You that even though You are the infinite God, who is beyond all human comprehension, that You chose to set Your love upon us, and came to redeem us from our lives of sinful oppression. We cannot fathom how great an act of love and humility it is that the God of infinity should become a man and suffer and die for our salvation. Help us to keep these all-important truths as the very centre of our lives and the forefront of our minds, so that we might then respond in love, worship and obedience, through which You will deepen our knowledge of You and joy in You. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 19 June 2017.

Deuteronomy 9:3-7, “Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.  (4)  "Do not say in your heart, after the LORD your God has thrust them out before you, 'It is because of my righteousness that the LORD has brought me in to possess this land,' whereas it is because of the wickedness of these nations that the LORD is driving them out before you.  (5)  Not because of your righteousness or the uprightness of your heart are you going in to possess their land, but because of the wickedness of these nations the LORD your God is driving them out from before you, and that he may confirm the word that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.  (6)  "Know, therefore, that the LORD your God is not giving you this good land to possess because of your righteousness, for you are a stubborn people.  (7)  Remember and do not forget how you provoked the LORD your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day you came out of the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against the LORD.”

There are passages in Scripture that are both frightening and encouraging, passages that both humbles us and build us up. Deuteronomy 9:3-7 is one of these passages. God at times needs to remind us of who He is and who we are, He needs to remind us of our place in contrast to His position. God also needs to sound out very clear warnings to us, so as to keep us from straying into sin, or taking His grace for granted. When we have received so much from God’s hand and have known His goodness, it can lead us to forget who God is, it can cause us to no longer fear God and not take obedience to Him seriously. God is eager for the people of Israel not to make this mistake.

This generation of Israelites had received daily from God’s good hand for forty years, they had enjoyed a unique and special relationship with God, and had not only heard all of God’s promises, but were seeing those promises coming to pass. In Deuteronomy, they stood on the cusp of receiving the largest, greatest of these promises, entry into the Promised Land and the enjoyment of life in a land flowing with milk and honey. When this has been all you have known and experienced in your life, it can cause you to think that you are entitled to this, it is your due, and thus you fail to appreciate that it is in fact an undeserved gift of God’s grace. Furthermore, if they had this sense of entitlement, it could cause them to make the dangerous error of forgetting how importance obedience towards God still is.

In light of this, God seeks to remind them who He is. Moses declares to them that God is a consuming fire, all that stand in His way, who oppose Him, will be consumed by God, they will not stand a chance against God. Secondly, Moses states that God is able to destroy, overthrow, thrust out, overwhelm and wipe out anybody whom He wishes to. There is no nation, or man that could resist God’s power and might. Moses continues to tell them that God is holy, and because He is holy, God will always deal with, oppose, judge and punish all acts of evil and wickedness. It is because God is holy and these nations in the Promised Land are wicked and evil, that God is driving them out before the people of Israel. It was because of God’s holiness that He dealt justly with their parents in the wilderness when they rebelled against God. Moses wants them to understand that God is and always will be holy and thus the unjust, sinful and wicked can only ever expect to face God’s judgement. Fourthly, Moses reminds them that only God is righteous, faithful and true. The people are not receiving the Promised Land because they are righteous, faithful and true, Moses tells them that they are far from being this. However, it is because God is righteous, faithful and true, that He is fulfilling His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

How is this passage encouraging? It is encouraging for they are being reminded that God is righteous, faithful and true and will do all that He has promised. It is because of who God is, and God’s favour upon them that they are enjoying all these blessings. And they can go into the Promised Land trusting in God, knowing that God has the power and ability to drive out the nations before them, just as He had already done at other times. It would have encouraged them in reminding them of the special grace and favour they had received from God, so that they are now regarded as being His people, His nation.

How is this passage frightening? Just as God is righteous, faithful and true, God is also holy, just and all-powerful. No one can escape from God, nor can anything be hidden from Him. They had learned for themselves just how frightening it is to come under God’s hand of wrath and just judgement, they had witnessed what God does to those who oppose and rebel against Him. The generation had also seen what God does to His enemies and how He can utterly destroy them. To come up against God is to come against someone against whom you have no chance of success or victory, God will crush all who are against Him, and therefore it is wisest to live in humble and willing obedience of God.

How is this passage humbling? By thinking through these words of Moses, they would have understood that they are not nearly as good, righteous and desirable as they like to think they are. They would understand that they are not greater or better than any other group of people or nation. God’s choice to be their God had nothing to do with them, it was God’s choice alone. They had no right or room to pat themselves on the back. In fact, they would have been deeply humbled for God had not only dealt with the sinful, arrogant, foolishness of their parents, God needed to do deal with them in the same manner, for they had not been much better than their parents. They must never forget that they are sinners who live before a holy and awesome God, upon whom they are dependant for daily grace or else they would perish.

How does this passage build up? This generation would be encouraged by the fact that God was patient and long-suffering, that He was a God of love, compassion and mercy, and He had promised to continue to be such a God to them. God had also promised to remain faithful to them to fight for them, lead the way, provide for them and bring them into the Promised Land. They could draw confidence that if they sought to obey God and live in righteousness they would know God’s blessing and favour. Greatest of all, they could know that God was a God of grace, who could be sought for the forgiveness of their sins, a God who was willing and able to forgive and save.

For those of us who are true believers in Christ Jesus, this passage serves as being the same warning and encouragement to us. It is a timely reminder not to forget who God is, an all-powerful, all-knowing, ever-present, holy, just, righteous, true and faithful God. He is not to be toyed with, nor disrespected or disobeyed, for all who stand against Him will fall. We may be the children of God, but that doesn’t mean we should ever regard God as being anything less than what He truly it. We must never allow ourselves to think we deserve any form of favour from God, or that we are less sinful than others. Prior to Christ we were utterly sinful and justly condemn to eternal damnation in hell. It is only because of God’s grace, mercy and love that any of us have been set free through Christ. Finally, it should give us confidence and joy before God, for we know who He is, who we are, how He has redeemed us and that He is righteous, faithful and true to all His promises and works. Our God is a consuming fire who will crush all His foes, but He is also a gentle Saviour, faithful to His promises and His people.

Our God who is a consuming fire, the righteous, just and true One, we humble ourselves and bow before Your throne today. May You give us an even greater understanding of who You are and who we are, so that we might respond and live for You accordingly. We thank You for the grace and love You have given to us, in the midst of our sin. Thank You for Christ who has become our righteousness, and has made us Your very own people. May we never take this special relationship for granted, or fail to take our sin and disobedience seriously. Help us to be faithful and true towards You, seeking at all times to love, honour, obey, respect, revere and glorify You. Amen.

Verse for the Day, 14 June 2017.

Deuteronomy 8:1-6, “The whole commandment that I command you today you shall be careful to do, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land that the LORD swore to give to your fathers.  (2)  And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.  (3)  And he humbled you and let you hunger and fed you with manna, which you did not know, nor did your fathers know, that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.  (4)  Your clothing did not wear out on you and your foot did not swell these forty years.  (5)  Know then in your heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines you.  (6)  So you shall keep the commandments of the LORD your God by walking in his ways and by fearing him.” (ESV)

We can often be guilty of failing to take note of God’s faithfulness and provision with regards to the little things, the areas that we don’t always pay attention to, or even consider. We rightly see and give thanks to God for the large, super-natural and unexpected provisions, but then forget the hundreds of hidden provisions.

This generation of Israel had witnessed some of the most spectacular provisions of God, and for a good number of them, they had been brought up on God’s faithful supply of food. For those forty years they had seen the pillar of cloud and fire, they had picked up manna from the ground and caught the quail. They witnessed God part the Red Sea, fight off their enemies, save them from pestilence and protect them time and time again. But did they ever think about the clothes they wore and the sandals upon their feet? Travelling hundreds and hundreds of miles, through rough, hot, rocky and unforgiving terrain can take its toll on clothing and shoes. Yet we read that God’s gracious, good, divine and supernatural power and faithfulness even extend to things such as these, clothes and shoes. God’s goodness, His faithfulness, His care and provision towards us doesn’t just see to our larger, greater and more visible needs, it also extends to the myriad of unknown and unseen aspects of life.

God’s constant faithfulness towards us is beyond what we know, however it is also there to teach us several important lessons.

Firstly, we are completely dependent upon for everything. Moses tells the people that God had to humble them and let them hunger. God took the Israelites to the point of great need, to the point where they had come to the end of their own resources, ability and strength. Once they had reached this point, He then worked to show His power and faithfulness. Why did God wait until this point? It is often necessary for God to take us to our end, because we are slow to trust in Him and are tempted to take the credit for ourselves. When the people of Israel had no food left, and God then sent the manna, none of the people could take credit it for it. Furthermore, God wisely, only gave enough for each day so that the people had to rely upon God daily, rather than on their own efforts. This is where the truth behind verse 3 lies, “that he might make you know that man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.” It was not the bread made by their own hands that the people lived, by rather by the command of God who sent the manna each day to them.

Secondly, God would have the people of Israel understand that He is not required or obligated to be faithful towards them and supply for their every need, especially to the extent that He did during their wilderness years. As Moses says to them, God was testing their hearts, unfortunately, their parents had failed this test miserably and proved to be constantly disobedient, stubborn and rebellious. Yet what is remarkable is that whilst the people of Israel were faithless and abandoned God, God remained faithful and continued with them. Sadly, God’s faithfulness and patience towards us can often be presumed upon, expected or even lead us to think that God is obliged to supply our needs. This could not be further from the truth, God is not required to do anything for us, or to even supply our most basic needs. Rather it is because of who God is, His nature, attributes and character that He is a faithful, patient and loving God. However, God could choose at any time to no longer provide for us and no one would have any right to accuse Him. We need to be quick to give thanks to God for His faithfulness and guard ourselves from every presuming upon it.

Third, whilst God is not required to be faithful towards us, we are required to be obedient towards Him. It is tragic how many times we can be guilty of trying to blackmail or manipulate God, how we look for excuses for our sinful behaviour. “God if you had given me what I asked for, I would not have had to take matters into my own hands to get it!”, “God if you do this, if you give me this, then I promise to obey you.”! How we need to cast ourselves upon God’s mercy for living and thinking in such a manner. The simple fact is this, God is God, we are His creatures and we are created, commanded and required to obey Him, irrespective of whether or not we receive something in return for our obedience. The fact that God is faithful, patient and good towards us each and every day should give us all the more cause and reason to joyfully obey God, but it should never be the grounds or basis of our obedience.

Fourthly and most importantly God’s Word is life, it is the source of all life and the sustainer of all that which lives. God’s word brought all things into existence, we are told in Hebrews 1, that God upholds the Universe simply by the word of His power. Scripture teaches us that at His command, at His word, the rain falls, the seasons change, the sun rises and the earth produces our food. Such is the power of God’s word that it can speak both life and death. God’s word is not just the source of physical life, it is also the source of eternal life. One of the well-known titles, or names for Jesus is the Word. John tells us that Jesus is the Word, Jesus is the very revelation of God, full of grace and truth, Jesus as the Word has come to make God known to us and that by believing in Jesus we will receive life. When God says through Moses, “man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD”, God is not just referring to physical life, but also to real, spiritual and eternal life, that come through God the Son, the Word.

Unfailing, ever-faithful, most gracious God, we thank You this day for Your constant and abundant provision in every aspect of our lives. Forgive us for the many times we have expected it, presumed upon it or even demanded it. We pray further that You would forgive us for failing to be faithful to You, despite our many promises to obey and declarations of love for You. We thank You that You don’t treat us as we deserve, but are exceedingly patient and gracious towards us. We praise You for granting us all we need for life, providing our daily needs, and most of all for Christ, the Word, who has become our life. May we cling to You with a steadfast devotion and a faithful obedience. Amen.