When God Was King.

“Each year every man in Israel must celebrate these three festivals: the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters. They must appear before the LORD your God at the place he chooses on each of these occasions, and they must bring a gift to the LORD.” – Deuteronomy 16:16 NLT

There is something interesting going on in these two chapters that I have never noticed before. At first glance, they appear to be disjointed and a little confusing. Moses seems to jump around from talk about festivals and feasts to judges, idol worship, and then kings. It’s almost as if Moses suffers from ADD. He appears to be all over the map topically. And yet, after closer examination, the emphasis seems to be on the sovereignty and reign of God.

This section is all about God as king. In fact, when Moses reminds the people that they are to come before the Lord three times a year at the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Booths, he is calling them to bring tribute to God as their king. This was a practice common among the nations who occupied the land. This requirement that the men of Israel  report to the central sanctuary three times a year had a parallel in the Near Eastern treaty requirements. It was common practice for suzerains to require their vassals to report to them periodically, in some cases three times a year, in order to renew their allegiance and to bring tribute. So God is calling His citizens to come before Him three times a year to renew their allegiance and to bring tribute to Him as king.

As king, God would appoint judges, just and righteous men to help settle disputes and dispense justice. “Let true justice prevail, so you may live and occupy the land that the LORD your God is giving you” (Deuteronomy 16:20 NLT). God wanted justice to flourish in His kingdom. And as king, He would not tolerate the worship or veneration of other gods. He demanded unflagging loyalty from His citizens. Unfaithfulness was to be punished. Justice was to reign in His land and among His people.

But Moses also alludes to a day coming when the people of God would demand a king other than God. In spite of the fact that God would allow the people to enter the land, possess it, and live in it, they would decide that they want a king like all the other nations. They would become dissatisfied with God as their king and determine to place a human king on the throne of Israel. God anticipates this event and even gives requirements regarding this eventual outcome. This king would be chosen by God. He would rule according to God’s standards, and adhere to God’s laws. His kingdom would only be as successful as he was faithful. Sadly, we know the outcome of this story. Israel would demand a king. And God would give them a king after their own hearts – King Saul. He would be all they ever hoped for – tall, good looking, a natural born leader. But also a lousy follower of God. He would disobey God and disappoint the people of God. God would eventually replace him with David. But David and his son Solomon would both violate the very requirements outlines in this passage. And their disobedience would lead to God’s punishment on them and their kingdoms. Their legacy of less-than-perfect leadership would live on in the lives of the kings of Israel and Judah, most of whom were flawed and faithless kings and sorry replacements for the one true king – God Himself.

This is about God. It always has been and always will be. He is our God and we are His people. We owe Him tribute and honor. We are to live according to the rules of His kingdom, not our own. We are to remain faithful to Him and to be satisfied with His leadership in our lives.

Father, You are king. I am to answer to You and You alone. But so often I fail to obey You and I seek others kings in my life. Help me to remember that I owe all my allegiance to You. I am to worship You and You alone. I am to live according to Your rules and the terms of Your kingdom. You are a faithful and just king who rules with fairness and dispenses justice. There is no reason I should ever doubt You or dethrone You from my life. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Distinctively Different.

“You have been set apart as holy to the LORD your God, and he has chosen you to be his own special treasure from all the nations of the earth.” – Deuteronomy 14:2 NLT

The people of Israel were no different than anybody else. At least when it came to their worthiness. They were no better than any other nation. They were no more deserving of God’s love than any other people group on the planet. There was nothing about them that set them apart except for the fact that God had set them apart – for Himself. These chapters are all a reminder to the people of God that they belong to Him. As they get ready to go into the Promised Land and occupy it, Moses is reminding them that they are to live distinctively different lives. They have a different standard by which to live. God has called them to live lives that are reflective of their unique relationship with Him. Rather than blend in and fit in with the surrounding culture, they were to stand out and be set apart from it. In every area of their lives. The external appearance of the people should reflect their internal status as the chosen and holy people of God.

From the food they ate and the clothes they wore to the way they worshiped, everything was to be different. They were not free to eat anything they wanted. They were not free to dress like the surrounding nations. All of these rules and regulations seem highly restrictive to us, but they were really God’s way of ensuring that His people stood out from the crowd. They were designed to keep the people of God from living like the Canaanites and other people groups who occupied the land. God did not want them eat like them, act like them, worship like them, or treat one another the way they did. So God provided the people of Israel with divine standards for everything from food consumption to debt reduction. Even their treatment of the poor was to be distinctive. God was blessing them so that they might be a blessing. That was part of the original Abrahamic covenant. They were going to be enjoying the blessings of God in the land, so they were required to pass that blessing along to those in need. “…as the Lord your God has blessed you, you must give to them” Deuteronomy 15:14b NET). Even to the point of suspending or forgiving debt. This would have been unheard of among the people who lived in the land. Word of this kind of relationship between brothers and sisters would have spread quickly among the pagan nations. News of forgiveness of debt and compassionate care for the poor would have gotten the attention of all the neighbors of Israel. It would have set them apart as different and distinct. But it would have also illustrated the heart of God.

We are called to live lives that are set apart. Not to inconvenience us, but to mark us as belonging to God. We are His and as such, we are to live lives that illustrate our unique relationship as His called out ones. We only are a people holy to GOD, our God; GOD has chosen us out of all the people on Earth as His cherished personal treasure. And we should live like it.

Father, You have called us out and set us apart. Yet so often we fail to live distinctively different lives. We would rather blend in than stand out. We would prefer to reflect the world’s standards than live according to Yours. Forgive us and continue to call us out. Show us how to be in the world but not of it. May our lives reflect our unique relationship as Your sons and daughters. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

A Crime Worthy of Death

“Stone the guilty ones to death because they have tried to draw you away from the LORD your God, who rescued you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery.” – Deuteronomy 13:10 NLT

So just how serious was God about His people keeping the first commandment? It seems that when He said that they were not to have any other gods in place of or besides Him, He meant it. Deuteronomy 13 is an explanation of what was to happen to anyone who tried to tempt the people of God to worship idols. Whether it was a prophet, brother, son or daughter, wife, or even a best friend who tried to entice the worship of false gods, the penalty was the same: death by stoning. In God’s eyes, these individuals were counseling rebellion against Him. God had called the people of Israel to follow Him, fear Him, keep His commandments, listen to His voice, serve Him, and cling to Him (Deuteronomy 13:4). God required faithfulness and fidelity from His people, and unfaithfulness was not to be tolerated. God saw idolatry as spiritual sedition. It was rebellion against His rule and authority in their lives, and it was a serious crime that carried a serious punishment.

But today we have softened our stance on idolatry. We seem to believe that we are safe and secure because we don’t have any idols in our lives. After all, we don’t worship totems or golden statues on the mantel of our homes. We don’t pray to other gods or offer sacrifices in pagan temples. But are we idol-free? Have we kept the first commandment fully and completely? In his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller helps us see that idol worship is a lot more evident in our lives than we might like to admit.

“The Bible often speaks of idols using the religious metaphor. God should be our true Savior, but we look to personal achievement or financial prosperity to give us the peace and security we need. Idols give us a sense of being in control, and we can locate them by looking at our nightmares. What do we fear the most? What, if we lost it, would make life not worth living? We make ‘sacrifices’ to appease and please our gods, who we believe will protect us. We look to our idols to provide us with a sense of confidence and safety. The Bible also speaks of idols using a political metaphor. God should be our Lord and Master, but whatever we love and trust we also serve. Anything that becomes more important and non-negotiable to us than God becomes an enslaving idol. In this paradigm, we can locate idols by looking at our most unyielding emotions. What makes us uncontrollably angry, anxious, or despondent? What racks us with a guilt we can’t shake? Idols control us, since we feel we must have them or life is meaningless.”

So you see, idols are more prevalent in our lives than we might like to admit. And when you couple that fact with God’s hatred for them, we have to take this as a wake-up call. We must see our tendency to seek other source of satisfaction and fulfillment as a serious crime against God. It is nothing less than spiritual sedition. God is to be our sole source of comfort, security, safety, strength, hope, satisfaction, joy, and fulfillment. Any time we seek for those in something or somebody else, we have made that thing or individual an idol in our lives. And God will not tolerate it. Is He asking us to stone one another today for our acts of idolatry? Probably not, but He is testing us. “The LORD your God is testing you to see if you love him with all your heart and soul” (Deuteronomy 13:3 NLT). He wants to see if we will worship Him and Him alone. Will we remain faithful. Are we willing confess our love affair with other things and return to Him? If we do, He promises to bless us. Because He is faithful even when we are not.

Father, I have so many idols in my life and I ask Your forgiveness for allowing myself to turn to them in place of You. The sad thing is that they never really deliver what they promise. They disappoint all the time, but I keep going back to them. But You are always faithful and true and never let me down. Help me see the seriousness of my sin. Help me to take idolatry seriously and see it as rebellion against Your rule and authority in my life. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

No Other Gods!

“So have love for the Lord your God, and give him worship, and keep his laws and his decisions and his orders at all times.” – Deuteronomy 11:1 BBE

We are entering a portion of the book of Deuteronomy where Moses begins to unpack the commandments of God in practical ways. He is preparing the people for entering the land and giving them a recap of the Law that God had given them back at Sinai. He is explaining in greater detail the meaning of the various Ten Commandments and helping the people understand how they will apply to their life in the Promised Land. But in revisiting the commands of God, Moses is giving them and us a glimpse into the heart, mind, and will of God. We see how He thinks, how He relates, and what His desires are for the people He chooses. Chapter 11 is a call to love and obey God, to keep His commandments, to walk in His ways, and to hold onto Him. “Be careful to obey all the commands I give you; show love to the LORD your God by walking in his ways and clinging to him” (Deuteronomy 11:22 NLT). It paints a picture of blessings and curses based on obedience or disobedience to the commands of God. Chapter 12 is really an elaboration of the first commandment: “You must not have any other gods besides me” (Deuteronomy 5:7 NET). Moses is making sure the people understand the commandments fully so they can keep them completely and enjoy the blessings of God.

God gives the people very explicit instructions regarding the worship of Him when they arrive in the land. He makes it clear what they are to do and not do. They are to completely purge the land of all alters, high places, and shrines to false gods. They are not to leave any remnants of them in the land. Why? Because God knew the people would be tempted to worship these gods in place of Him or in addition to Him. They had to worship the one true God, not the god of their choice. They were not to worship their version of the one true God, but only God Himself. And not only were they to worship God and God alone, they had to worship Him correctly. They couldn’t worship Him using an alter built for a false god. They couldn’t worship Him in a place other than the one designated and determined by God. The bottom line is that God is very specific about how we are to worship Him. So He tells the people that it is going to be very different when the arrive in the Promised Land. He even tells them, “Today you are doing whatever you please, but that is not how it will be” (Deuteronomy 12:8 NLT). They were going to play by His rules and live according to His standards, not their own.

In the introduction to his book, Counterfeit Gods, Tim Keller makes this sobering statement: “Our contemporary society is not fundamentally different from those ancient ones. Each culture is dominated by its own set of idols. Each has its ‘priesthoods,’ its totems and rituals. Each has its own shrines – whether office towers, spas and gyms, studios, or stadiums – where sacrifices must be made in order to procure the blessings of the good life and ward off disaster. What are the gods of beauty, power, money, and achievement but these same things that have assumed mythic proportions in our individual lives and in our society?” We are called to love and worship God and Him alone. We are commanded to have no other gods beside Him. Yet each of us struggles daily with the temptation to offer our time, talents, money and attention on something other than God. We worship at the shrines of power, position, pleasure and possessions. We have taken the idols of our culture and made them our own. We seek satisfaction, fulfillment, joy, and contentment from them. We expect them to deliver what only God Himself is capable of providing. And we suffer as a result. We are disillusioned, disappointed, dysfunctional, dissatisfied, and distant from the very God who wants to bless us beyond our wildest dreams. But our God wants to be our only god. He wants us to worship Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. He wants our undivided attention and love.

Father, You have called me to love and obey You. But to do that I must remove all the other gods in my life. And there are a lot of them. I worship anything and everything, including myself sometimes. And even though none of these things really deliver on their promises, I find myself going back to them time and time again. You have told me to have no other gods before me. You have commanded me to remove all these idols from my life. Give me the strength and determination to do just that. So that I might worship You and You alone. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

God Chose Me!

“Look around you: Everything you see is GOD’s–the heavens above and beyond, the Earth, and everything on it. But it was your ancestors that GOD fell in love with; he picked their children–that’s [you]!–out of all the other peoples. That’s where we are right now.” – Deuteronomy 10:14-15 MSG

I have to be honest. Sometimes I don’t fully understand or appreciate the reality that the God of the universe has chosen to have a relationship with me. For some reason I lose sight of just how incredibly awesome that fact is. I take it for granted. I even convince myself that I somehow deserve to have a relationship with God. But I know I’m not alone. The Israelites had the same problem, and Moses knew it. That’s why he has spent the last few chapters reminding them of all the great things God has done for them. Now in chapter 10 he gives them a not-so-subtle reminder that God chose them, not the other way around. The Creator of all things, the God of the entire universe, “set His affection” (NASB) on Abraham and his descendants. He showed them favor. He delighted in them. All so He could express His love for them. His choosing of Abraham had nothing to do with Abraham himself. It was not based on anything Abraham had done or not done. God chose Abraham. And God chose Abraham’s descendants. And God chose the Israelites who found themselves standing on the edge of the Promised Land, waiting to inherit the blessings of God, in spite of their stubborn hearts and rebellious spirits.

And God chose me! Not because I deserved to be chosen. He just chose me. That ought to blow my mind every time I think about it. But instead, I have grown so accustomed to the reality of it, that it sometimes carries no weight with me at all. I use phrases like “child of God” so flippantly and casually, not realizing or appreciating the remarkable nature of my relationship with the Almighty God, creator of all things. When I think about the reality of my relationship with God, it should blow me away. And it should engender a response, much like the one Moses encouraged the people of Israel to have. To fear Him, obey Him, love Him, and serve Him with all my heart and soul. “So now Israel, what do you think GOD expects from you? Just this: Live in his presence in holy reverence, follow the road he sets out for you, love him, serve GOD, your God, with everything you have in you” (Deuteronomy 10:12 MSG). I am to serve Him with everything I have in me. But I will never do that fully if I don’t come to realize just how marvelous it is that He chose me! Moses describes God in these amazing terms: “GOD, your God, is the God of all gods, he’s the Master of all masters, a God immense and powerful and awesome” (Deuteronomy 10:17 MSG). That same God chose me! He wants to have a relationship with me. He put HIS Spirit within me. He calls me His child. He has made me His heir. That incredible reality should produce in me a desire to obey Him, love Him, follow Him, fear Him, listen to Him, and more than anything else, appreciate the fact that I can have a relationship with Him.

Father, thank You for choosing me! What more can I say? Thank You, thank You, thank You. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

The Danger of Disregarding God.

“After the LORD your God has done this for you, don’t say to yourselves, ‘The LORD has given us this land because we are so righteous!’ No, it is because of the wickedness of the other nations that he is doing it.” – Deuteronomy 9:4 NLT

Excessive self-reliance and self-importance can destroy our concept of God. We can become so self-consumed that we turn God into a caricature of Himself. He becomes less the all-powerful, Holy God than a personal valet who meets our desires and rewards us for our good deeds. This is a risk the Israelites faced and it is one that confronts us today. In chapters eight and nine, Moses covers two themes with the people: remembering/forgetting and wilderness/Promised Land. He warns them to remember all that God has done for them during their years in the wilderness. He led them, fed them, humbled them, tested them, taught them, and disciplined them. Then he warns them not to forget all that God has done for them once they arrive in the Promised Land. Moses knew that they would have a tendency to think they somehow deserved all they are getting because of their own righteousness. In spite of their track record of rebellion and sinfulness. They would develop short-term memory loss and forget what the incident of the golden calf and their habit of grumbling and complaining against God. Instead, they would falsely think of themselves as righteous and somehow deserving of all the blessings found in the land of promise. They would wrongly conclude that all this was all because of THEM. So Moses wants to remind them of their own sin, so they would understand God’s mercy and grace.

While there is an extreme form of pride that completely leaves God out of the picture and tends to attribute success and prosperity self-effort, there is another kind of pride that is more insidious and dangerous. It comes disguised as a false sense of humility expressing gratitude to God for all His blessings. But hidden behind the veneer of gratefulness and admissions of God undeserved goodness is a subtle belief that we somehow deserve what we are getting. His blessings are somehow proof of our own righteousness. Like the Israelites we say, “Because of my righteousness the Lord has given me this land.” In other words, we can acknowledge God’s goodness while basing it on our own righteousness. God is good to us because we are good!

This kind of thinking tends to distort and disregard the true nature of God. He was a sovereign God who had chosen them, not because of anything special about them, but because He chose to do so. They were no more deserving of His goodness than any other nation. He was displacing the Canaanites and other people groups because of their own rebellion and sinfulness, not because of the righteousness of Israel. Whenever we begin to think that we somehow deserve or have in any way earned God’s favor, we diminish God. He devalue His grace and mercy. We make ourselves the hero and God the dispenser of rewards for our righteousness. And in doing so we fail to remember the truth: We are sinners saved by grace. We are rebels who deserved death, but have been given life and righteousness. We are a stubborn and stiff-necked people whom God has chosen to redeem, in spite of us, not because of us.

Father, we are so prone to take credit for all You have done for us. We want to somehow think we deserve Your blessings. We want to believe that we have earned Your good favor by our good actions. But we are a stubborn and stiff-necked people. We suffer from short-term memory loss and a false sense of self-worth. Forgive me for devaluing all You have done by wrongly valuing what I have done. You get all the credit all the time. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Slow and Steady.

“No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the LORD your God is among you, and he is a great and awesome God. The LORD your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, for if you did, the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you.” – Deuteronomy 7:21-22 NLT

Transformation takes time. But we live in a quick-fix society that wants everything to happen instantaneously. Whether it’s losing weight or gaining wealth, we don’t want to wait. TV shows like The Biggest Loser give us glimpses into the lives of individuals attempting to lose significant amounts of weight, but collapse the entire process into a single season of 30-minute shows. We love before-and-after images of people who have been transformed. We like stories about people who have gone from rags to riches, obscurity to fame – seemingly overnight. Every day millions of people waste their hard-earned money playing the  lottery in the hopes of winning big and getting rich quick. And if we’re honest, many of us as Christians approach our spiritual transformation with the same results-while-you-wait mentality. We are in a hurry to get where we think we need to be. But God doesn’t seem to be in a rush. He is in no hurry. Instead He seems willing to slowly and methodically work out His plan of spiritual transformation in our lives.

We see the same no-hurry mentality when it comes to God’s plan for the people of Israel possessing the land of Canaan. Moses reminds the people that their God is great and awesome. He is powerful and fully capable of doing whatever He sets His mind to do. But that same powerful God was NOT going to give the instant access to the land and immediate victory over all their enemies. No, this was going to be a slow and steady process. God was going to clear away the nations little by little – one step at a time. When it comes to the renovation of our lives, we can sometimes get intimidated by the sheet size of the task ahead of us. There seems to be so many things we need to work on. We have so many flaws and faults that stand in the way of our transformation. It can be easy to get overwhelmed and lose heart. God knows this about us. He knew it about the people of Israel. He also knew that giving them instantaneous victory would have been disastrous. They wouldn’t have been able to handle the success. And neither can we. So God works slowly and methodically. He gives us small victories and steady glimpses of growth taking place. He wants us to move forward one step at a time. He wants us to be faithful and to face our fears knowing that He is with us. He chose us. He loves us. And He is going to change us. On His time frame and in His own unique way. We can count on it.

Father, You are transforming me daily. Forgive me for the many times I get impatient or even upset that You are not working fast enough. Your plan is perfect and Your timing is impeccable. Help me to rest in You and wait on You. Help me to recognize the change that is taking place each and every day. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

The Great Commandment.

“And you must love the LORD your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” – Deuteronomy 6:5 NLT

Sounds a bit familiar doesn’t it? Here in chapter six of the book of Deuteronomy, we have the words that Jesus quoted in answer to the question, “Which is the greatest commandment in the Law?” Jesus replied, “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment” (Matthew 22:37-38 NLT). But the love of God must include obedience to God. That is what Deuteronomy chapter six is all about. Here Moses unpacks the first commandment to love the Lord your God. He expands on it and gives the Israelites a more in-depth understanding of just what that love must include. It must include a healthy fear of God. The fear of God is the respect that comes from an appreciation of His character. He is holy, righteous, just, pure, and yet faithful, constant, consistent, loving, and forgiving. As we have seen, God is a covenant-keeping God. He follows through on His promises. He can be trusted. The love of God also includes fidelity on our part. We must remain faithful and true. We must not have any other gods, or worship anything other than God Himself. The love of God includes obedience. To love Him is to obey Him. Even Jesus said, “If you love me, obey my commandments” (John 14:15 NLT). He went on to say, “Those who obey my commandments are the ones who love me. And because they love me, my Father will love them, and I will love them. And I will reveal myself to each one of them” (John 14:15 NLT).

Loving God also includes bragging about God. Moses told the people of Israel to tell their children all the wonderful things God had done for them. When their sons and daughters asked them about the meaning behind all the laws and commandments, the people were to respond, “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the LORD brought us out of Egypt with amazing power. Before our eyes the LORD did miraculous signs and wonders, dealing terrifying blows against Egypt and Pharaoh and all his people. He brought us out of Egypt so he could give us this land he had solemnly promised to give our ancestors. And the LORD our God commanded us to obey all these laws and to fear him for our own prosperity and well–being, as is now the case” (Deuteronomy 6:21-24 NLT). And in the same way, we’re to tell our kids about the incredible things God has done in our lives. We obey Him because He delivered us. We obey Him out of delight, not duty.

We are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. Nothing has changed. That is still the expectation. It is still the Great Commandment. But it is so easy to love other things. It is so easy to give our affections to someone or something else. It is so easy to disobey and to fail to fear God, refusing to show Him the proper respect His character deserves. We can easily become complacent and forgetful of all He has done. We can become self-sufficient and self-satisfied. But He has called us to express our love to Him through obedience, fear, faithfulness, and a desire to talk about Him constantly because of all He has done.

Father, I want to continue to learn what it means to love You with all my heart, soul, mind, and strength. I want to show that love to You in tangible ways. I want to express my love for You in a life of obedience, faith, and fear, telling others of Your powerful presence in my life. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

A Covenant Breaking People.

“What I wouldn’t give if they’d always feel this way, continuing to revere me and always keep all my commands; they’d have a good life forever, they and their children!” – Deuteronomy 5:29 MSG

As we saw yesterday, the theme of the book of Deuteronomy seems to be the covenant-keeping aspect of God. The covenant is mentioned over and over again. It comes up again in our two chapters for today. Moses reminds the people once again of the covenant God had made with them. He had promised to give them the land of Canaan – the Promised Land. But His covenant with them had a clause that required them to obey. As part of His covenant, He provided them with the Ten Commandments, as a set of rules or regulations for them to keep. Moses reiterates the requirements at the beginning of chapter four. “And now, Israel, listen carefully to these laws and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you from the LORD your God. Just obey them” (Deuteronomy 4:1-2 NLT). Then at the beginning of chapter five, he goes back over the original Ten Commandments again.

Moses repeatedly tells the people to keep, to obey, to do them, to beware, to watch themselves, and to remember. He reminds them of God’s faithfulness and His compassion. But he also warns them that their failure to obey will result in their destruction and ultimate captivity. What is amazing is that God is predicting through Moses exactly what was going to happen. God knew the people were going to fail to keep His commandments. He knew they were going to be unfaithful and rebel against Him. He knew He was going to have to follow through on His threat to send the into captivity. But in spite of all this, God was going to prove His unfailing faithfulness yet again. “From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him. When those bitter days have come upon you far in the future, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. For the LORD your God is merciful––he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors” (Deuteronomy 4:29-31 NLT). Even in the midst of the punishment for their rebellion, God would make Himself known to them. He would not abandon them or destroy them. Instead He would show compassion and mercy. He would remember the covenant He had made and keep it.

God didn’t want to bring destruction on His people. He didn’t want to send them into captivity. He longed that His people would have a heart for Him. “Oh that they had such a heart in them, that they would fear Me and keep all My commandments always, that it may be well with them and with their sons forever! (Deuteronomy 4:29 NASB). God knew His people would break the covenant. He knew they would rebel. He knew they did not have the capacity or capability to hold up their end of the covenant. But it did not change His commitment to them. In fact, God would eventually provide a way for all mankind to keep His law and fulfill His commands – through the provision of His own Son. He knew we were incapable of keeping His law. So He sent His Son to do it for us, and to pay the price for our sin. He is the covenant-keeping God. He is faithful, even when we are not.

Father, I would not be here if not for You. I would not even have chosen to have a relationship with You if not for Your Holy Spirit drawingme to You. I can’t thank You enough for Your faithfulness and mercy. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org

Our Covenant Keeping God.

“The LORD your God has blessed everything you have done and has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you and provided for your every need so that you lacked nothing.” – Deuteronomy 2:7 NLT

The first few chapters of the book of Deuteronomy are a recap of the events of the past 40 years. In an effort to set up the real theme of this book, Moses recounts everything that has happened in the lives of the Israelites up until this point. In chapters two and three we have a review of the early days of the conquest of the land. But at the heart of the story is God Himself. He is the hero. It is all about Him and His faithfulness to fulfill and complete what He began all those years ago in His call of Abram out of Ur. He made a covenant with Abram and He has been fulfilling it all along. He made a promise and He was keeping it. God had promised Abram a land, a seed, and a blessing. He had already given him a seed in the form of a great multitude, now He was going to give the descendants of Abram the land He had promised.

God had taken care of them all those years they had wandered in the wilderness. They had not lacked a thing, except the ability to be obedient and to not complain. But in spite of their unfaithfulness, God had remained faithful. And now He was giving them the very land He had promised to their father Abraham all those years ago. Their conquest of Canaan was going to be God-directed and God-blessed. “Beginning today I will make all people throughout the earth terrified of you. When they hear reports about you, they will tremble with dread and fear” (Deuteronomy 2:25 NLT). God was not leaving it up to chance. He was going to complete what He began and fulfill what He promised. Because He is a covenant keeping God.  The Hebrew word translated “take possession” (v. 21), is used more than 50 times in Deuteronomy.  It always refers to the Promised Land and expresses God’s great desire for His people that they possess what He had promised them. God wanted them to take possession of the promised land. He had promised it, now they must possess it. “The LORD your God has given you this land to possess it…” (Deuteronomy 3:18 NASB).

We can’t look past all that had taken place to get the people of God to this point. The call of Abraham. The betrayal of Joseph by his brothers. Joseph’s ultimate elevation to prominence in Egypt. The relocation of Jacob and his family to Egypt. The blessing of God on the descendants of Jacob and their miraculous proliferation in the land of Egypt. The subsequent abuse of the Israelites at the hands of the Egyptians. The birth and rescue of Moses. His exile and ultimate call by God. The redemption of the people of God by God. The passover. The exodus. The wilderness wanderings. And now, the conquest of the land. The common theme throughout this entire time line is the covenant-keeping ability of our God. He was responsible for it all. He is faithful. He will do what He promises to do – whether we hold up our end of the bargain or not.

Father, You are the covenant-keeping God. You are faithful and true. You do what You promise. You finish what You start. You complete what you begin. Thank You for reminding me of that fact. Because there is another promise You are going to fulfill – the return of Your Son and the restoration of all things. I can trust You to do what You said You would do. In spite of what I see happening all around me. Thanks for that word of encouragement. Amen

Ken Miller
Grow Pastor & Minister to Men
kenm@christchapelbc.org