Deuteronomy: the law of love

Due to some poor planning on my part, I missed the first two studies in this six-part Beth Moore lecture series.  However, because we serve an awesome and perfect God, lesson three was the first lesson I got to listen to and it was perfectly timed.  The lecture portion of the study focused on portions of Deuteronomy chapter 8 where God has brought the Israelites out of Egypt and to the doorstep of Canaan, the Promised Land.  In verses 7-10, the word land is mentioned 7 times and 7 types of produce are listed.  Being that 7 is the number of perfection, we could insinuate that this land is completely good and perfectly productive.  The interesting thing about this though was that the Israelites were going to have to allow themselves to be used by God to reap the blessings of this good land.  There were fields and fields of wheat, but it had to be made into bread.  Phillipians 4:13 says that we can do all things through Christ.  It doesn't say Christ will do all things.  It says we can do all things through Christ.  The Promised Land was a place where man would participate alongside God so his glory could be put on display.  Isn't this true in our lives too?  God withholds no good thing from those who love him (2 Cor 9:8).  But are we willing to do the work alongside Christ to reap the full benefit of what Christ has given us?  Just as the Israelites had to harvest the wheat and process it to make bread, we too must harvest the good things in our life. 

“Good” references

2 Timothy 3:7

Colossians 1:10

1 Timothy 6:8

1 Timothy 1:18

Romans 12:21

Romans 8:28

One of the points in this lesson that hit home the most was that the Israelites sure knew how to have a “bad time” in a “good land.”  Beth Moore said that spiritual amnesia can kill, and it’s so true.  Deuteronomy Chapter 8 in my bible is subtitled “A Call to Remember and Obey.”  This message is repeated often throughout the chapter.

-Verse 2: And you shall remember

-Verse 11: Take care lest you forget

-Verse 14: Then you heart be lifted up and you forget

-Verse 18: You shall remember

-Verse 19: And if you forget you will surely perish

God had been so good to the Israelites yet they forgot how bad it was in Egypt as soon as they left.  Isn’t the same true of my life?  How often I praise God for something good then I forget what life was like before the blessing.  Sadly, I take God for granted.  To really get personal, this season of my life is an example of this.  I feel like our family is going through a time of testing our attachment to physical, worldly goods and how much we trust God to provide all things.  We suffered through months of hard to find water leaks and atrocious water bills, where one leak led to the next.  After a huge rainstorm last fall, we lost electricity to the bathroom and laundry room on the west side of our house for six months.  The cost to have Richard was five times more expensive than it was to have either HB or Katherine so our medical bills this past year were huge.  The list could go on and on.  But as I sat and listened to Beth Moore talk about spiritual amnesia it struck me that I suffer from the same ailment.  Has God ever failed to provide for my family?  Certainly not.  Then why in the world am I fretting and stressing that the God of this world will fail to provide for our needs now?

After six long months having no electricity in my bathroom, an electrician friend of ours helped us find a screw that had touched the wiring coming from the breaker box and ended up shorting all power from that particular breaker.  Who knew this could happen after Kelly living in this house for 19 years?  I can’t remember the last time I felt such delight at such a simple thing…electricity.  In my bathroom.  PRAISE THE LORD.  God is good, and he cares about even the simplest things in our lives like having lights on in your bathroom.  It is my prayer that I leave this study remembering the powerful lessons contained in Deuteronomy 8.  I plan on reading this chapter often so I can revisit the deep and profound delight I experienced during this difficult season of testing and refinement for our family.