Obedience is not the way we earn promised lands, heaven. Obedience is the evidence that we are walking There to our eternal home.
Moses introduces his sermon over the next chapters. This patriarch knows what it means to obey. He will view Canaan from the top of Pisgah because of his disobedience. Moses knows something of a rest that most people in life do not know. He just led 40 years of people through a good and terrible wilderness to find a Promised Land. Moses will encourage those who follow him to obey in this new land as he cannot. But, this great believer will obey fully right where he is. Will I?
A dying Moses sits right on the edge of a wilderness from which he will never escape. "I must die in this land...take care, lest you forget the Covenant of the LORD your God, which He made with you, and make a carved image, the form of anything that the LORD your God has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a Jealous God." Deut 4:22-24.
Take care just in case the form of anything becomes more important than finding God---success, validation, recognition, safety, security, success, marriage, husbands, children, relationships, family, money, affluence, jobs, adventure, fun, nature, personal peace---the form of anything becomes too important!
PRAYER FROM PSALMS
Psalm 18:14 ~ As soon as they hear, they obey Me. Amen! May this be said of us, O God.
OVERVIEW: Deuteronomy 3-4
The secret to obedience is to remember--keep your soul in an obedient state to remember the Lord is God. There is no other. And everything else falls into place...
ReplyDelete"Only give heed to yourself and keep your soul diligently, so that you do not forget the things which your eyes have seen and they do not depart from your heart all the days of your life; but make them known to your sons and your grandsons. Remember..."
"Know therefore today, and take it to your heart, that the Lord, He is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. So you shall keep His statutes and His commandments which I am giving you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may live long on the land which the Lord your God is giving you for all time.”
So that you do not forget...the phrase spoke to my heart today. How quickly we can forgot not only what He has done for us, but what He promises to do for us.
ReplyDeleteFather, I praise You for Who You are, not what You have done or will do for me. I praise Your Holy Name.
What jumped out at me was the fact that God had "personally", brought them out of Egypt by His great power.They had been first hand witness to His power. These left had heard the stories over and over and had seen that their own clothes had not worn out and their parents and grandparents had survived the wilderness but had to die off because of disobedience. Moses told them to therefore take it to heart that the LORD, He is God in heaven above and earth below, there is NO other! How often do we forget. We have those hearts that are prone to wander away from Him. Oh, here is my heart again today, LORD, take it and keep it and seal it for Your throne above.
ReplyDeleteAmen!
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