Moses sure likes to repeat Himself and I’m sure the Israelites soon lost interest in listening to him rehash their long and treacherous journey and their brokenness, but all the while reiterating God’s faithfulness. This must be the sound of many Christian teachers today including myself who live in a parallel universe (mentally) and cannot relate to the present reality. What is God really speaking to us through this long and arduous message?

Either because of lack of sleep or a bored disposition, my first reading of this chapter amounted to simply glossing over the words with the question, is there really anything in this chapter for me? I am often caught in this rut and don’t make much of it because I simply look for the next interesting thing to grab my mind. Much like watching TV where I shuffle through channels to find something exciting to watch and simply gloss over anything that I don’t consider exciting. Is that true for you too?

On reading this chapter again and doing a bit of research, I found that there was really a wealth of information in it that we could draw from and like it often happens, I am again humbled and ashamed about my poor attitude to life, especially God’s word. How different am I from the Israelites, who journeyed from slavery in Egypt to freedom in Israel, whom we have often referred or thought of as hard-hearted, disobedient, self-serving, forgetful…?

God challenged them through 3 real incidents that they recently underwent in this same regard to help them shake off their forgetfulness. First was a challenge to learn from the example of Baal-Peor. When the Israelites were camped at Acacia Grove, some of the Israelite men had sexual relations with the local Moabite women who invited them to attend sacrifices to their idols and God issued Moses a command to execute the ringleaders to avert God’s wrath on the people of Israel but eventually 24,000 Israelites and a Moabite woman lost their lives as a consequence of disobedience.

As the Israelites were preparing to enter the promised land, God wanted them to understand their need for present obedience in light of their past rebellions. One of satan’s great strategies is to make us remember what we should forget and forget what we should remember. Falling in our false sense of confidence is painful but for the grace of God, as we are reminded in this passage:

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure. 1 Corinthians 10:12-13 (NLT)

The second challenge was to learn from the example at Mount Sinai (Horeb) when God revealed the ten commandments and the people of Israel responded by saying two times, “We will do everything the LORD has commanded.” God reminded them not to forget and to always teach their children of it. There was also clear instructions about never worshipping any image or creation but rather that we were to only worship God and not ascribe form or factor to Him. Contorting the truth of God for a lie we can live with has significant consequences as we are reminded here:

They traded the truth about God for a lie. So they worshiped and served the things God created instead of the Creator himself, who is worthy of eternal praise! Amen. Romans 1:25 (NLT)

The last challenge was to learn from the example of Moses’ own failures. While we hold Moses in great regard, God’s punishment of Moses is an important lesson for us who esteem great men before God because no man is above the law of God, forget God Himself. We need God more than anyone or anything else and Moses’ prevention from entering Israel is how God reminds us of our need of Him.

There is much more we can draw from this chapter but to respect your time, I pray that these 3 challenges will remind you and I to never forget our past brokenness, God’s hand of grace, His leading and our desperate need for Him. Call on Jesus Christ today if you sense the need to be reminded, refreshed and redirected.

In His Loving Service,

ServantBoy

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