Mar 12 (Daily reading: Deuteronomy 3-4) When it was time for the children of Israel to enter the Promised Land, Moses reminded them of God’s promise. “See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the LORD swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them” (Deut. 1:8). After reviewing what God had done for them, Moses encouraged them for their future. God would be faithful in the future as He had been in the past. Moses had told Joshua: “Your eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings; so the LORD shall do to all the kingdoms into which you are about to cross. Do not fear them, for the LORD your God is the one fighting for you” (3:21-22). They could trust God, who is unchangeable. What He had done, He would continue to do!
Moses encouraged the people to live in such a way that all the world would ask: “What other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the LORD our God is near us whenever we pray to him? (4:7, NIV). They were to be a unique people and refuse idolatry: “So watch yourselves carefully … so that you do not act corruptly and make a graven image for yourselves … (do not) be drawn away and worship (the sun and the moon and the stars)” (4:15-19). Other peoples of their time did this, but Moses reminded them, “The LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God” (4:24). Even today, if we will put God first in all we do, the world will want to know about the unchangeable God that we know in Christ!
Our God is also personal and accessible: “You will seek the LORD your God, and you will find Him if you search for Him with all your heart and all your soul” (4:29). He later said through Jeremiah: “You will seek Me and find Me when you search for Me with all your heart. ‘I will be found by you,’ declares the LORD” (Jer. 29:13-14). What a wonderful God we serve!
– Al Gary
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