"Then it shall be, if you by any means forget the Lord your God, and follow other gods, and serve them and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish."
--Deuteronomy 8:19 (NKJV)
From the daily Bible reading on April 2, 2013 of Psalm 68:8-19; Romans 3; Deuteronomy 7-9:6.
Moses, now in his final days, is preparing the children of Israel for entering into and claiming the land promised to their fathers. Soon they will be crossing the Jordan River and will face nations greater than them, armies mightier than them. But Moses tells the people to take heart and keep faith for God will be fighting at their side. The Lord will defeat their enemies and scatter them from before His people. Only they must not fear that these stronger nations may crush them, for the Lord will deliver them just as He delivered them from Pharaoh's hand, will sustain them just as He sustained them in the wilderness these forty years. With God at their side, none will be able to resist them.
Then Moses cautions them with a message we must take to heart and heed today. In effect, he warns the people not to become complacent, not to start taking the Lord and His goodness for granted once they fully take and inhabit this wonderful land, lest they begin thinking any of their accomplishments come solely through their own efforts or by their own hands alone. Too many of us too often fall into that very trap. If we are believers, we may pray and pray for something, and when we finally receive it, we account it to our own efforts and not to God's hand. We think we are the source of our good fortune rather than God.
But then Moses gets to a more crucial warning. Once things turn and stay good, with all the people's needs being met, he fears that they not only forget that God is the source of that goodness, that they not only think all this came from their own efforts alone, but they might even turn to other gods, worshiping and serving them. Moses' concern centered more on the gods of the nations they will be conquering and of those nations that will soon be their neighbors. Our concern today is more likely to be the gods of convenience, or personal achievement, or accumulated wealth, or selfish pleasure. There are those among us who count themselves as Christians who, when they face troubles or crises, come to church on a regular basis, kneel at the altar, and pray to God for help. Then when relief is given, they disappear back into the world not to be seen again until the next crisis. And there are those who profess belief in Jesus as Christ, yet who worship the gods of leisure and personal gain on Sunday mornings rather than worship the One True God. We must constantly be on guard not to become one of these people, lest we surely perish. Amen.
O Father, please forgive us those times when we profess with our mouth what we fail to live in our heart. Forgive us when we put other things ahead of You, O Lord, when we place more importance on things of the world than on the Creator of that world. Help us stay true to You, Lord, and to worship and serve only You. In Jesus' name we seek Your mercy. Amen.
Then Moses cautions them with a message we must take to heart and heed today. In effect, he warns the people not to become complacent, not to start taking the Lord and His goodness for granted once they fully take and inhabit this wonderful land, lest they begin thinking any of their accomplishments come solely through their own efforts or by their own hands alone. Too many of us too often fall into that very trap. If we are believers, we may pray and pray for something, and when we finally receive it, we account it to our own efforts and not to God's hand. We think we are the source of our good fortune rather than God.
But then Moses gets to a more crucial warning. Once things turn and stay good, with all the people's needs being met, he fears that they not only forget that God is the source of that goodness, that they not only think all this came from their own efforts alone, but they might even turn to other gods, worshiping and serving them. Moses' concern centered more on the gods of the nations they will be conquering and of those nations that will soon be their neighbors. Our concern today is more likely to be the gods of convenience, or personal achievement, or accumulated wealth, or selfish pleasure. There are those among us who count themselves as Christians who, when they face troubles or crises, come to church on a regular basis, kneel at the altar, and pray to God for help. Then when relief is given, they disappear back into the world not to be seen again until the next crisis. And there are those who profess belief in Jesus as Christ, yet who worship the gods of leisure and personal gain on Sunday mornings rather than worship the One True God. We must constantly be on guard not to become one of these people, lest we surely perish. Amen.
O Father, please forgive us those times when we profess with our mouth what we fail to live in our heart. Forgive us when we put other things ahead of You, O Lord, when we place more importance on things of the world than on the Creator of that world. Help us stay true to You, Lord, and to worship and serve only You. In Jesus' name we seek Your mercy. Amen.
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