SCRIPTURE
Deuteronomy 8:1-20 (NRSV)
You will eat your fill
This entire commandment that I command you today you must diligently observe, so that you may live and increase, and go in and occupy the land that the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember the long way that the Lord your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, in order to humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commandments. He humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. The clothes on your back did not wear out and your feet did not swell these forty years. Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you. Therefore keep the commandments of the Lord your God, by walking in his ways and by fearing him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a good land, a land with flowing streams, with springs and underground waters welling up in valleys and hills, a land of wheat and barley, of vines and fig trees and pomegranates, a land of olive trees and honey, a land where you may eat bread without scarcity, where you will lack nothing, a land whose stones are iron and from whose hills you may mine copper. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.
Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid wasteland with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. Do not say to yourself, "My power and the might of my own hand have gotten me this wealth." But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today. If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.
DEVOTION
As a mommy, today’s scripture reading really hits home. I love the verse that states, “Know then in your heart that as a parent disciplines a child so the Lord your God disciplines you.”
I have a little boy who makes it his mission to find and discover every single dangerous thing he can do in our home. He is naturally curious and has a high tolerance for adventure. Just this morning I woke up to find him perched on the edge of the bed, getting ready to jump off whilst shouting, “Ha! Ha! Ha!” On a regular basis I have had to remove him from the stairs and on yesterday we had to barricade the kitchen door because the oven was hot and we were afraid he would burn himself.
As I’m sure you know from your own life experience, most parents do not create and enforce rules in order to be mean, but rather to keep their children safe from harm! Most parents provide discipline so that their children will have the opportunity to grow up healthy, happy, holy, and whole!
In today’s reading we find that God feels the same way about us! God gives us rules—or commandments—meant to keep us physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually safe. When we obey God’s rules, we receive many blessings and privileges and when we disobey God’s rules we experience the natural consequences that accrue as a result of our poor choices!
I think most human being intuitively understand this spiritual truth. For example, when I tell my son not to touch the hot oven and then he touches it anyway, he gets burned. If I tell my daughter to look both ways before she crosses the street and she doesn’t, she will have an unpleasant encounter with a car!
Help us Jesus!
Aren’t you glad that God loves us enough to teach us to love God and neighbor as ourselves? Aren’t you blessed by the fact that God cares so much about us that God is determined to bring us into a good land, with much abundance, and where we will lack nothing as we praise the Lord for all of eternity?
I am so glad that God loves us so much that God gave Jesus to die on the cross to save us from our sin and gift us with eternal life! Although we don’t always follow God’s commandments or rules, God has made provision for our sin to be forgiven and for our relationship with God to be restored.
Just as I forgive my children when they consciously—or unconsciously—disobey our family’s rules, God forgives us when we disobey God’s rules!
In all cases, the way to receive forgiveness when we “miss the mark” is to confess our sin to God who is faithful and just and who will forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:9)
I don’t know about you, but I am so grateful for God’s Amazing Grace which looks beyond my faults and sees my needs.
Now, ain’ta that GOOD NEWS?!
Will you tell God, “I’m sorry,” for those times you have disobeyed God’s rules? Will you put all of your hope in Jesus to make things right again? If so, please pray with me:
Dear God, thank you for loving me so much that you give me commandments meant to keep me safe in body, mind, and spirit. I am sorry that I have been guilty of disobeying your rules and I see the consequences of my behaviors! Please forgive me of my sin and fill me with the Holy Spirit. Thank you for Jesus who died on the cross as atonement for my sin! Thank you that He did not stay dead, but was resurrected on the third day just like He promised! I’m excited about Your Love and I want to share it with others. Please help me to do so! In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
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http://aintathatgoodnews.blogspot.com/2009/03/come-to-jesus.html
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