Yielding Not

“If your brother, the son of your mother, or your son or your daughter or the wife you embrace or your friend who is as your own soul entices you secretly, saying, ‘Let us go and serve other gods,’ which neither you nor your fathers have known, some of the gods of the peoples who are around you, whether near you or far off from you, from the one end of the earth to the other, you shall not yield to him or listen to him, nor shall your eye pity him, nor shall you spare him, nor shall you conceal him."

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭13‬:‭6‬-‭8‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We live in a very pluralistic culture. And, as I say this, I’m not talking about race or heritage. What I’m referring to is the variety of faiths and belief systems that are held to and promoted all around us.

For this reason, we often encounter those who seek to evangelize us in these other faiths. We encounter those who seek to draw us in and to disciple us in these other faiths. We encounter those sharing their scriptures and their version of the truth.

While this may include the Jehovah’s Witnesses or the Mormon missionaries who come knocking on our door, it also includes those who are much nearer to us. It can be a religious leader. It can be a family member or a friend. And it can be a neighbor or a teacher. 

We are often inclined to listen to such people. We are so inclined because we respect them. We are so inclined because they are intelligent or influential. We are so inclined because we love them, and it seems that they love us. And we are so inclined as we desire to be accepting.

We fail to recognize, however, what it is they are doing. We fail to recognize that, by encouraging us to pursue another god, another religion, or another belief system, they are leading us away from the Lord. And we fail to recognize that, in this way, they are leading us away from salvation.

It’s this that Moses is addressing in the above passage. If we read the chapter in its entirety, this is even more clear. He addresses the prophet who sought to lead them away. He addressed family members who sought to do so. And he addressed worthless fellows who were drawing away the people of their city.

Moses is clear that, regardless of who they were, the people were not to yield to them. They were not to listen to them. They were not even to pity or spare them as they receive what they’re due. And they were not to conceal or hide them, seeking to protect them from their fate.

This, to our modern ears, sounds harsh. We must realize, however, their motive. And we must realize the gravity of their sin. 

As we rightly condemn those who take human life in this world by way of murder, we must also recognize the sin of those who seek to take or to keep from us eternal life. We must recognize the sin of those who seek to take from us the eternal life, provided to us by the Son of God and received by faith in him. And we must refrain from falling into their trap.

Remembering the Lord

 "Beware lest you say in your heart, ‘My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day."

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭8‬:‭17‬-‭18‬ ‭ESV‬‬

Growing up, especially in the United States, we’re raised with a “pull yourself up by your own bootstraps” mentality. We believe that, if we’re to succeed, we must simply work hard. And if we haven’t obtained all that we want in life, we simply need to work harder.

Consequently, we have a tendency to take credit for all that we have. We have a tendency to take credit for all that we’ve done. And we have a tendency to take credit for our successes.

We fail to realize, however, that this tendency results from our sinful nature. It results from our sinful nature that wants to keep the focus on ourselves rather than the Lord. It results from our sinful nature that wants not to receive, but to achieve and attain.

It was against this mentality that Moses warned the people of Israel in Deuteronomy 8 as they prepared to enter into the land of promise. As we see in the verses above, he warned them against saying in their heart that their power and that the might of their hand had gotten them the wealth they possessed.

He told them, instead, to remember the Lord their God. They were to remember the Lord who gave them the power to get wealth. They were to remember the Lord who had blessed them in accordance with the covenant he’d made with their fathers.

We are called, in Scripture, to work. And hard work is certainly a virtue. Likewise, laziness or sloth are condemned in Scripture.

The strength to do so, however, is a gift of God in itself. Apart from the life given to us by God, we could not work. Apart from the strength given to us by God, we could not work. And apart from the gifts and abilities given to us by God, we could not work.

It’s clear, in this way, that there is nothing we have attained in ourselves. Every blessing, from the greatest to the least, is a gift from the hand of God. It is a grace he has bestowed due to the great love he has for us.

While this is true of believers, it is true of unbelievers as well. As Jesus tells us in Matthew 5, the Lord makes his sun to rise on the evil and the good. And he sends rain on the just and the unjust.

So, rather than taking pride in our accomplishments, let us praise God. Rather than taking credit for our wealth and possessions, let us praise God. And rather than claiming our successes as our own, let us praise the Lord.

Forget Not

 “…and when you eat and are full, then take care lest you forget the Lord, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭6‬:‭11‬-‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

We often hear how people struggle with their faith in times of hardship. We hear how they lose faith in times of sorrow. And this indeed happens.

As people are diagnosed with a serious medical condition, they can begin to question God. As people lose loved ones, they can struggle with their faith. And as they suffer a job loss and struggle financially, they can begin to doubt.

The opposite, however, is also very common. What I mean is that people often lose faith when times are good. They often turn from the Lord when things are in their favor.

This reality is brought out in the above passage. Looking at the immediate context, Moses had just shared with the people who God is. And he told them that they were to hold fast to his Word. They were to be guided by it in every aspect of life, and they were to teach it diligently to their children, lest it be forgotten.

He then reminded them how the Lord was bringing them into the land of promise. He was bringing them into a land where everything was provided for them. He’d provided for them cities that they did not build and cisterns that they did not dig.

These blessings, in other words, were not things they would provide for themselves. They would not be attained by their hard work. Nor would they be produced by their own effort. 

They were being given to them freely by God, as promised to their forefathers. They, in other words, were being graciously provided to them. They were undeserved blessings, freely given to them by God.

He then, however, went on to warn them. As they enjoyed these blessings, they were not to forget the Lord. And this implies that forgetting the Lord was a very real danger. 

This, then, is a warning we also need. After all, we too are recipients of God's salvation. And we too are recipients of blessings we do not deserve and cannot produce on our own.

As we enjoy these blessings, we must not forget the Lord. We must not forget the Lord who saved us. And we must hold fast to his Word.

We must continue to look in faith to the giver of these blessings. We must look to him in a spirit of thanksgiving, acknowledging our dependence upon him. We must look to him with an ongoing trust as we continually experience needs of various kinds.

Then & Now

 “The Lord our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. Not with our fathers did the Lord make this covenant, but with us, who are all of us here alive today.”

(‭Deuteronomy 5:2-3 ESV‬)

As we read Scripture, it seems that everything happened so long ago. After all, even the most recent writings of Scripture were penned almost two thousand years ago. And, for this reason, it doesn’t seem that it applies to us. It doesn’t seem that it speaks to us.

In reality, however, it does. Words that were spoken hundreds, even thousands of years ago, speak also to us today. And events that happened so long ago happened also to us.

This is brought out in the passage above. As the people of Israel were about to enter the Promised Land, Moses spoke to them these words. And, as we read them, we can only imagine how strange they must have sounded.

I say this because the people to whom Moses was speaking were not alive at Mount Horeb. Or, if they were, they were young children. It was their fathers who experienced the events to which Moses refers.

Their fathers heard the voice of God, speaking from the mountain. Their fathers trembled at the sound of his voice. And their fathers responded to the Lord, saying they would do all that he commanded.

But Moses emphasizes to the people, on the verge of entering the Promised Land, that God’s covenant was made with them. He emphasizes that God’s Word was spoken to them. He emphasizes that it was they who trembled at the sound of his voice. And he emphasizes that it was they who had received the salvation of God.

And the same, you see, is true for us. Words that God spoke to his people, thousands of years ago, he speaks also to us. The promises of Christ, given to his disciples, are given also to us. Jesus’ suffering and death were not only for the people of that one point in time, but also for us. 

We, then, are called to receive them as such. We are called to believe them. And we are called to proclaim them in this way.

God’s Word, you see, speaks across the generations. His work blesses the generations. And we receive the benefits of this by faith in his Son.