What a week! It wasn’t as busy as I expected. It was just weird. Very weird. My work days were cancelled. The progress I made on projects in my house stalled and I came to the end of the week disappointed. I don’t like to get to the end of my week feeling like I didn’t get much done…especially when I feel like I didn’t make good use of my time! Add to that, much of my week I was very behind in my reading. I caught up this weekend.**
What was in this week’s reading? We got through Numbers…and Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy is like reading a review of Exodus. It hit on the high points and underlined a lot of things Moses under the inspiration of GOD, wanted us to know.
Reading again what the important things are is helpful. Over and over, he talks about the importance of worshiping GOD above all the other gods around them, the importance of dealing brutally with sin as GOD understands it. He talks about how important it is to deal with sin not only because of its effect on the person who commits it, but on the community around them as well!
The readings have been sobering indeed!
Now I have started on Joshua. After almost 40 years of wandering in the desert, the children of Israel finally crossed the Jordan River. The people who were faithless all those years ago had now died. They were not only grown up, they were in their 40’s!
Another thing that struck me was that GOD via Moses was not afraid to give an honest assessment of the situation of this nation. I almost had to laugh when I read this passage at the end of Deuteronomy! Moses really knew how to give a compliment didn’t he? He knew these people…and GOD knows us intimately. There is no pretending with Him! He knows where we are weak. He knows our areas of repeated sin…and we need to be reminded of where we came from so we know where the glory goes when GOD gives us success.
“Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ 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.
“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. 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.
“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. 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. Deuteronomy 9:1-7
STOP AND THINK ABOUT YOUR LIFE. WHAT WOULD GOD’S ASSESSMENT OF YOUR LIFE BE?
WHEN YOU ARE TEMPTED TO LOOK AT YOURSELF THROUGH SELF-RIGHTEOUS LENSES, WHAT DOES HE NEED TO REMIND YOU OF SO YOUR VIEW IS TRUE, NOT SELF-RIGHTEOUS?
** Just wanted to tell you about our weekend. We took some time to go into Fort Worth to the DEAD SEA SCROLLS AND THE BIBLE display at Southwestern Seminary. It will be there until mid January. If you are anywhere in the vicinity, I would recommend that you make the time to see it. You will not only see some of the actual pieces of those scrolls, but will learn about and see artifacts from that region including some history of that historical period.
The tour takes about 45 minutes. There is also an opportunity to tour some parts without the guide. Outside is an area that allows you to see what a dig site is like…if you want, you can dig there. The website gives all the information re tickets, groups, etc. I came away appreciating again how GOD protected His WORD over the years from weather, war, error, etc. It is a wonderful background for the reading we are doing now.
I thought this would make a great home school trip. There were hands-on displays in the lobby for kids…that I enjoyed as well:)
