Day 15: Truth or Consequences

Deuteronomy 28:1

New Living Translation (NLT)

At The Entrance To The Temple Mount,  Gustav Bauernfiend 

Blessings for Obedience

¹ “If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully keep all his commands that I am giving you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all the nations of the world.

Deuteronomy 28:15

New Living Translation (NLT)Curses for Disobedience

¹⁵ “But if you refuse to listen to the Lord your God and do not obey all the commands and decrees I am giving you today, all these curses will come and overwhelm you:

These verses, and the ones that follow them, are the essence of the Palestinian Covenant that God made with Israel. In this covenant, God has reaffirmed the promise that He made regarding the land which He would give to His people. That part is unconditional. But there is a conditional aspect to the covenant. That's what these verses are referring to. The "grace" aspect. The aspect where the Israelites write their own story, so to speak... or create their own (figurative) hell. Either obey and be blessed, or disobey and be cursed and scattered.

Sadly, the Israelites were, and are, only human. They mess up just like the rest of us do. They didn't keep God's commands, and so far, God has not set them high above all nations. Instead, Israel was, and continues to be, disobedient to God. They've been living the curses for thousands of years.

The good news is the unconditional aspects of the covenant. Israel will, eventually, turn back to God and keep His commands, at which point God will gather them from all over the world where they have been scattered, and will establish them in them where He promised their forefathers. In that day, nothing will thwart God's promise. 

Now that I've summarized what my study Bible explains at length, I have some questions. Maybe someone can help me out. A lot of God's commands include sacrifices and such. As I understand it, the Jewish people have been trying to breed and raise a perfect red heifer for a long time, and thought they had one back in 2002, but it was disqualified for some imperfection or other. But...

This covenant and the commands were made prior to the birth, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, the perfect sacrifice, the Lamb of God. Doesn't He supersede the heifer? Why must there still be an animal sacrifice?

Day 14: Prepare For Rain

Deuteronomy 11:13-14 
New Living Translation (NLT)

Photo by Shorelander, Creative Commons Share Alike License

13  “If you carefully obey all the commands I am giving you today, and if you love the Lord your God and serve him with all your heart and soul, 14  then he will send the rains in their proper seasons—the early and late rains—so you can bring in your harvests of grain, new wine, and olive oil.

Prepare for rain. In Deuteronomy, the Israelites were about to take possession of a land that, according to the scriptures immediately proceeding these, God deeply cared for and always had His eyes on. A land flowing with milk and honey. A land that God blessed with an abundance of  life-sustaining precipitation. A land that God had deemed suitable for His chosen people.

Prepare for rain. It's my favorite line from the movie, Facing The Giants. The film portrays a lukewarm Christian high school, filled with a lukewarm football team, led by a lukewarm coach. In the scene that I like so much, a very NOT lukewarm man known only as "Mr. Bridges" is seen walking the halls after school, touching every locker as he prays out loud for the students.  He steps into the coach's office and gives him a message that he'd been led by God to give. A message that the coach is to be deeply rooted and bloom where he is planted. Curious, the coach follows the older man back out into the hallway and asks if he really believes that stuff. Mr. Bridges then tells the coach of a story he'd heard about two farmers. One believed God would provide rain in a drought, and prepared for the rain to come. The other did not. The one who had prepared reaped the benefit of the rainfall.

Prepare for rain. What does it mean to prepare? The dictionary defines prepare as to put in proper condition or readiness. In the scriptures I posted above, Israel is promised that if they carefully obey His commands, love Him with all their hearts, and serve Him in all they do, that God would provide the right amount of rainfall in each season, so that the harvest would be abundant. That sounds exactly like a proper condition, a readiness, for God to rain down His blessings abundantly.

Are you prepared for rain?

Day 15: Deut 23-34

Billy Frank Alexander Designs, obtained from www.sxc.hu

S:
Deuteronomy 26:11 (New King James Version)

11 So you shall rejoice in every good thing which the LORD your God has given to you and your house, you and the Levite and the stranger who is among you. 

O:
The context is that of giving God the tithe that is due Him, and rejoicing in the good that God provides.

A: 
I'm so glad that I've been tithing faithfully for almost a year now. I made a commitment that I would not fail to give the Lord 10% of my income, and since God blessed me with a job, I have kept that commitment. there are times when i get a little stressed, wondering when all those blessings are going to come, but they do, just in the nick of time.

P:
God, i really can't thank you enough! my heart is just overflowing with praise and joy right now... just when it looked like things couldn't be worse, and you heard my prayer! i begged you not to test me any further, because i didn't think i could endure anymore, and within minutes, you granted relief from my concerns, providing exactly what i needed. thank you, sooooo very much! i promise, i will NOT forget what you have done for me today.

Day 10, Numbers 1-8

Cathedral Rock Hike near Las Vegas, Oct. 2009, photo by me

S:
Numbers 6:24-26 (New King James Version)

24 “The LORD bless you and keep you;
25 The LORD make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
26 The LORD lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.”’ 

O:
This was the way that God instructed the priests (via moses) to bless the people of israel

A: 
There really isn't much to say about this, other than it's just as beautiful and relevant today as it was back then.

P:
Lord, to all those who read this note, please shine your face upon them. bless them and keep them safe from harm, put joy in their hearts, and let peace and harmony rule their home. (even those homes that are on wheels!)

Day 9: Lev. 15-29

From VisualBibleAlive.com

S: 
Leviticus 26:3-4 (New King James Version)

3 ‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them,
4 then I will give you rain in its season, the land shall yield its produce, and the trees of the field shall yield their fruit.

O:
God was giving the Israelites the conditions of His provisions. Later in the chapter, God lays out the terms of disobedience.

A:
Why do we, as humans, fail to grasp the simplicity and significance of this? walk with God, and He provides for you, and protects you. step out of His will and you're stepping out from under His umbrella of protection. and then when we get drenched by the storm, whose fault is it? there's this common misconception in america today, i hear people all the time asking "why is God punishing me?" and people responding saying that God doesn't punish people like that... well, not true! when we live our lives in defiance of God's will, He does punish us by allowing calamity to befall us. we aren't all like job, living uprightly and righteously and undeserving of punishment, being allowed to be tested. yes, we go through tests and trials, but many of those, if we were to trace them backwards, are a result of our own stupidity, a consequences of our own disobedience to God. 

P:
Father, i screw up so frequently, and there are so many areas of my life that i know i do not fully submit to you. help me to let go of those areas, and give you full control. not just temporarily, but permanently! thank you for allowing us to live under grace, and not under the law. thank you for your unending patience and love for me!