For my first study, I will be stumbling through the book of Deuteronomy. Deuteronomy 1:1-8 is as follows:
These are the words that Moses spoke to all Israel beyod the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Dizahab. It is eleven days' journey from Horeb by the way of Mount Seir to Kadesh-barnea. In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses spoke to the people of Israel according to all that the Lord had given him in commandment to them after he had defeated Sihon the king of the Amorites, who lived in Ashtaroth and in Edrei. Beyod the Jordan, in the land of Moab, Moses undertook to explain this law, saying, "The Lord our God said to us in Horeb, 'You have stayed long enough at this mountain. Turn and take your journey, and go to the hill country of the Amorites and to all their neighbors in the Arabah, in the hill country and in the lowland and in the Negeb and by the seacoast, the land of the Canaanites, and Lebanon, as far as the great river, the river Euphrates. See, I have set the land before you. Go in and take possession of the land that the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give to them and to their offspring after them."God really did set a straight path for them didn't he? There is quite often a lot of talk about the "vengeful" God of the Old Testament, but I don't believe that to be quite accurate. God literally cleared everything in the path of the Israelite people so that they might have the land promised to them. God certainly does not break a promise. However, Moses himself was not able to make it to the Promised Land and the chosen people wandered for 40 years because they fell short of the covenant. All they had to do was follow God's word and they would receive the world. However, they faltered and failed as all of us do. Yet God was STILL there. God made a promise to Abraham and he kept it despite the perpetual failure of humans to follow His word. You know what's even worse? In the 21st century, we are seemingly even further from God. We as a people break the covenant every single day. God is not longer in the front of our minds. Rather, he has been abandoned and shoved into the recesses of our childhood memories or present in our hearts only on Sunday morning. Remember, just as God gave Israel the Promised Land, he has promised us glory beyond our wildest dreams, so long as well follow him. Yet, it is seemingly too easy for us to lose sight of the prize. Perhaps we are more like the Israelites than we would like to admit. Most likely, we are further down the path of corruption than they were. Israel had to wander for 40 years because they broke the covenant. How many years have we been wandering? How do we make it back? Are we still paying for the sins of our fathers? I choose God. I do not want to wander. Rather, I want to locate God's path in the swirling sands of the desert we have chosen to occupy. Our culture, our nation, is declining in its relationship with Christ. I want to choose the path to Him, will you join me?
