MONDAY 12th
Deuteronomy 1:1-8
NIV (v8) – ‘See, I have given you this land. Go in and take possession of the land the LORD swore he would give to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob—and to their descendants after them.’
ESV (v8) – ‘See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the LORD swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them.’
We arrive in the book of Deuteronomy today, and I have chosen the verse above as a launching verse.
In the first three chapters Moses recalls the years from when the people of Israel left Egypt up until the point where they now are, beyond the Jordan in the wilderness. They had been journeying for 40 years (v3). Moses had been forbidden to enter the land and Joshua had been appointed as his successor (chapter 3:23-29)
To me, the saddest verses in these three chapters are the ones found in chapter one and verses 26 and 32, but first in verse 21, we read, ‘See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ But verse 26 says, ‘Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.’
The land was there for them, the land was given to them, it was promised to them by God himself and yet they refused to enter. They were choosing instead to listen to the ten negative spies rather than to the two positive spies and the promises of the LORD God who had continually said that he would go before them, verse 32 says, ‘Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God.’
I guess looking back, we can easily criticise the people of Israel for their unbelief, because we now know the full story, we can see how when they did eventually move forward that God did act on their behalf and grant them success, but I wonder when we look inwardly where do we stand in our trust and our belief in the Lord our God? Do we fully trust him, do we have a strong and confident trust in him when our journey gets tough or seems almost impossible, to continue when we see our giants, or when we see our impossibilities? Do we waver each day according to our circumstances or are we constant in our faith because we trust God? (We will touch on this theme again later in the week, Thursday)
Isn’t it sad that the people of Israel missed out through their disbelief, they could have entered the land so much sooner, knowing its blessing and benefits, and enjoying the full blessing of the LORD God. May God help us to trust him to move forward with him, by keeping in step with the leading and the prompting of the Holy Spirit so that we can enter into all that he has made available, and is making available for us as individuals and as a local Church.