today's meditation (Dt.32) Living Examples

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word...)

(Deuteronomy 32:1-52) “Listen, you heavens, and I will speak; 

    And let the earth hear the words of my mouth!
2  May my teaching drip as the rain,
    My speech trickle as the dew,
    As droplets on the fresh grass,
    And as the showers on the vegetation.
3  For I proclaim the name of the Lord;
    Ascribe greatness to our God!
4 The Rock! His work is perfect,
    For all His ways are just;
    A God of faithfulness and without injustice,
    Righteous and just is He.
5  They have acted corruptly against Him,
    They are not His children, because of their defect;
    But are a perverse and crooked generation.
6   Is this what you do to the Lord,
    You foolish and unwise people?
    Is He not your Father who has purchased you?
    He has made you and established you.
7  Remember the days of old,
    Consider the years of all generations.
    Ask your father and he will inform you,
    Your elders, and they will tell you.
8  When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance,
    When He separated the sons of mankind,
    He set the boundaries of the peoples
    According to the number of the sons of Israel.
9   For the Lord’s portion is His people;
    Jacob is the allotment of His inheritance.
10 He found him in a desert land,
    And in the howling wasteland of a wilderness;
    He encircled him, He cared for him,
    He guarded him as the apple of His eye.
11 As an eagle stirs up its nest,
    And hovers over its young,
    He spread His wings, He caught them,
    He carried them on His pinions.
12 The Lord alone guided him,
    And there was no foreign god with him.
13 He had him ride on the high places of the earth,
    And he ate the produce of the field;
    And He had him suck honey from the rock,
    And oil from the flinty rock,
14 Curds of the herd, and milk of the flock,
    With fat of lambs
    And rams, the breed of Bashan, and of goats,
    With the best of the wheat;
    And you drank wine of the blood of grapes.

15 “But Jeshurun became fat and kicked—
    You have become fat, thick, and obstinate—
    Then he abandoned God who made him,
    And rejected the Rock of his salvation.
16 They made Him jealous with strange gods;
    With abominations they provoked Him to anger.
17 They sacrificed to demons, who were not God,
    To gods whom they have not known,
    New gods who came lately,
    Whom your fathers did not know.
18 You forgot the Rock who fathered you,
    And forgot the God who gave you birth.

19 “The Lord saw this, and spurned them
    Because of the provocation by His sons and daughters.
20 Then He said, ‘I will hide My face from them,
    I will see what their end will be;
    For they are a perverse generation,
    Sons in whom there is no faithfulness.
21 They have made Me jealous with what is not God;
    They have provoked Me to anger with their idols.
    So I will make them jealous with those who are not a people;
    I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation,
22 For a fire has flared in My anger,
    And it burns to the lowest part of Sheol,
    And devours the earth with its yield,
    And sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.

23 ‘I will add misfortunes to them;
    I will use up My arrows on them.
24 They will be wasted by famine, and emaciated by plague
    And a bitter epidemic;
    And the teeth of beasts I will send against them,
    With the venom of crawling things of the dust.
25 Outside the sword will make them childless,
    And inside, terror—
    Both young man and virgin,
    The nursing child with the man of gray hair.
26 I would have said, “I will wipe them out,
    I will remove the mention of their name from humanity,”
27 Had I not feared the provocation by the enemy,
    That their adversaries would misjudge,
    That they would say, “Our hand is triumphant,
    And the Lord has not performed all this.”’

28 “For they are a nation destitute of counsel,
    And there is no understanding in them.
29 If only they were wise and they understood this;
    If only they would discern their future!
30 How could one chase a thousand,
    And two put ten thousand to flight,
    Unless their Rock had sold them,
    And the Lord had given them up?
31 Indeed, their rock is not like our Rock;
    Even our enemies themselves judge this.
32 For their vine is from the vine of Sodom,
    And from the fields of Gomorrah;
    Their grapes are grapes of poison,
    Their clusters, bitter.
33 Their wine is the venom of serpents,
    And the deadly poison of vipers.

34 ‘Is it not stored up with Me,
    Sealed up in My treasuries?
35 Vengeance is Mine, and retribution;
    In due time their foot will slip.
    For the day of their disaster is near,
    And the impending things are hurrying to them.’
36 For the Lord will vindicate His people,
    And will have compassion on His servants,
    When He sees that their strength is gone,
    And there is none remaining, bond or free.
37 And He will say, ‘Where are their gods,
    The rock in which they took refuge?
38 Those who ate the fat of their sacrifices,
    And drank the wine of their drink offering?
    Let them rise up and help you,
    Let them be your protection!
39 See now that I, I am He,
    And there is no god besides Me;
    It is I who put to death and give life.
    I have wounded and it is I who heal,
    And there is no one who can save anyone from My hand.
40 Indeed, I raise My hand to heaven,
    And say, as I live forever,
41 If I have sharpened My flashing sword,
    And My hand has taken hold of justice,
    I will return vengeance on My adversaries,
    And I will repay those who hate Me.
42 I will make My arrows drunk with blood,
    And My sword will devour flesh,
    With the blood of the slain and the captives,
    From the long-haired leaders of the enemy.’
43 Rejoice, you nations, with His people;
    For He will avenge the blood of His servants,
    And will return vengeance on His adversaries,
    And will atone for His land and His people.”

44 Then Moses came and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people, he, with Joshua the son of Nun. 45 When Moses had finished speaking all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, “Take to your heart all the words with which I am warning you today, which you will command your sons to follow carefully, all the words of this Law. 47 For it is not a trivial matter for you; indeed it is your life. And by this word you will prolong your days in the land, which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

48 Now the Lord spoke to Moses that very same day, saying, 49 “Go up to this mountain of the Abarim, Mount Nebo, which is in the land of Moab opposite Jericho, and look at the land of Canaan, which I am giving to the sons of Israel as a possession. 50 Then you are to die on the mountain where you ascend, and be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother died on Mount Hor and was gathered to his people, 51 because you broke faith with Me in the midst of the sons of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, because you did not treat Me as holy in the midst of the sons of Israel. 52 For you will see the land at a distance but you will not go there, into the land which I am giving the sons of Israel.”

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

Once again God lays out the options for Israel.  And again, it is a no-brainer.  Just like as parents, we love our children, and want the very best for them, so we tried our very best to encourage them and equip them for life.  And even though they are adults now, we have told them that we are always around to give further encouragement and advice.  It is up to them to seek it out and follow it.  And it pains us to see them struggle, even when there are consequences to their ill-advised actions.

As parents, we have to be careful not to enable our kids by removing all struggles, or consequences.  Firstly, that's impossible to do.  And secondly, it will hurt them in the long run.  Even little kids need to learn that there will be consequences to bad behavior and bad choices.  These moments should also become opportunities to teach them how to reconcile issues correctly, and teach them to return to being obedient to God in everything - NOT just because "God said so" or "I said so" - but because God loves us and His commandments work things out for good!

Even more powerful than all of the above, we need to be living examples - leaning on the Rock of our salvation - and striving to follow the example that Jesus set for us!  And from that, others will see proof that God really does work in us and in our lives!

today's meditation (Dt.31) That We May Know

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word...)

(Deuteronomy 31:1-30) So Moses went and spoke these words to all Israel. 2 And he said to them, “I am 120 years old today; I am no longer able to go out and come in, and the Lord has told me, ‘You shall not cross this Jordan.’ 3 It is the Lord your God who is going to cross ahead of you; He Himself will destroy these nations before you, and you shall dispossess them. Joshua is the one who is going to cross ahead of you, just as the Lord has spoken. 4 And the Lord will do to them just as He did to Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites, and to their land, when He destroyed them. 5 The Lord will turn them over to you, and you will do to them in accordance with all the commandments which I have commanded you. 6 Be strong and courageous, do not be afraid or in dread of them, for the Lord your God is the One who is going with you. He will not desert you or abandon you.”

7 Then Moses called to Joshua and said to him in the sight of all Israel, “Be strong and courageous, for you will go with this people into the land which the Lord has sworn to their fathers to give them, and you will give it to them as an inheritance. 8 And the Lord is the one who is going ahead of you; He will be with you. He will not desert you or abandon you. Do not fear and do not be dismayed.”

9 So Moses wrote this Law and gave it to the priests, the sons of Levi who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and to all the elders of Israel. 10 Then Moses commanded them, saying, “At the end of every seven years, at the time of the year of the release of debts, at the Feast of Booths, 11 when all Israel comes to appear before the Lord your God at the place which He will choose, you shall read this Law before all Israel so that they hear it. 12 Assemble the people, the men, the women, the children, and the stranger who is in your town, so that they may hear and learn and fear the Lord your God, and be careful to follow all the words of this Law. 13 And their children, who have not known, will hear and learn to fear the Lord your God, as long as you live on the land which you are about to cross the Jordan to possess.”

14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, the time for you to die is near; call Joshua and present yourselves at the tent of meeting, and I will commission him.” So Moses and Joshua went and presented themselves at the tent of meeting. 15 And the Lord appeared in the tent in a pillar of cloud, and the pillar of cloud stood at the entrance of the tent. 16 The Lord said to Moses, “Behold, you are about to lie down with your fathers; and this people will arise and play the prostitute with the foreign gods of the land into the midst of which they are going, and they will abandon Me and break My covenant which I have made with them. 17 Then My anger will be kindled against them on that day, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, and they will be consumed, and many evils and troubles will find them; so they will say on that day, ‘Is it not because our God is not among us that these evils have found us?’ 18 But I will assuredly hide My face on that day because of all the evil that they will have done, for they will have turned away to other gods.

19 “Now then, write this song for yourselves, and teach it to the sons of Israel; put it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for Me against the sons of Israel. 20 For when I bring them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to their fathers, and they eat and are satisfied and become prosperous, then they will turn to other gods and serve them, and spurn Me and break My covenant. 21 Then it will come about, when many evils and troubles find them, that this song will testify before them as a witness (for it shall not be forgotten from the mouth of their descendants); for I know their inclination which they are developing today, before I bring them into the land which I swore.” 22 So Moses wrote down this song on the same day, and taught it to the sons of Israel.

23 Then He commissioned Joshua the son of Nun, and said, “Be strong and courageous, for you will bring the sons of Israel into the land which I swore to them, and I will be with you.”

24 It came about, when Moses finished writing the words of this Law in a book until they were complete, 25 that Moses commanded the Levites who carried the ark of the covenant of the Lord, saying, 26 “Take this Book of the Law and place it beside the ark of the covenant of the Lord your God, so that it may remain there as a witness against you. 27 For I know your rebellion and your stubbornness; behold, as long as I have been alive with you until today, you have been rebellious against the Lord; how much more, then, after my death? 28 Assemble to me all the elders of your tribes and your officers, that I may speak these words in their hearing and call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against them. 29 For I know that after my death you will behave very corruptly and turn from the way which I have commanded you; and evil will confront you in the latter days, because you will do that which is evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking Him to anger with the work of your hands.”

30 Then Moses spoke in the hearing of all the assembly of Israel the words of this song, until they were complete:

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

The Israelites were told not to fear, as they were about to cross over the Jordon River into the promised land.  They were only to fear the Lord.  Moses already feared the Lord, and even though he was about to die soon, without being able to cross over the Jordon, he really had nothing to fear.  He was about to "cross over" into heavenly rest.  What better place of promise???!!!

When we fear the Lord, and are close to Him, resting in His strength and guidance, we can be strong and courageous.  This is the opposite of fear, dread or dismay.  When God says that He has given us something, we can confidently know that we have it!  These things include God's strength, guidance, wisdom, peace, love, faith, hope... and the assurance of eternal life in heaven.  

(1 John 5:13) These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

today's meditation (Dt.30) Being Consistent

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word...)

(Deuteronomy 30:1-20) “So it will be when all of these things have come upon you, the blessing and the curse which I have placed before you, and you call them to mind in all the nations where the Lord your God has scattered you, 2 and you return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and soul in accordance with everything that I am commanding you today, you and your sons, 3 then the Lord your God will restore you from captivity, and have compassion on you, and will gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you. 4 If any of your scattered countrymen are at the ends of the earth, from there the Lord your God will gather you, and from there He will bring you back. 5 The Lord your God will bring you into the land which your fathers possessed, and you shall possess it; and He will be good to you and make you more numerous than your fathers.

6 “Moreover, the Lord your God will circumcise your heart and the hearts of your descendants, to love the Lord your God with all your heart and all your soul, so that you may live. 7 And the Lord your God will inflict all these curses on your enemies and on those who hate you, who persecuted you. 8 And you will again obey the Lord, and follow all His commandments which I am commanding you today. 9 Then the Lord your God will prosper you abundantly in every work of your hand, in the children of your womb, the offspring of your cattle, and in the produce of your ground, for the Lord will again rejoice over you for good, just as He rejoiced over your fathers; 10 if you obey the Lord your God, to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this Book of the Law, if you turn to the Lord your God with all your heart and soul.

11 “For this commandment which I am commanding you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it far away. 12 It is not in heaven, that you could say, ‘Who will go up to heaven for us and get it for us, and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ 13 Nor is it beyond the sea, that you could say, ‘Who will cross the sea for us and get it for us and proclaim it to us, so that we may follow it?’ 14 On the contrary, the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may follow it.

15 “See, I have placed before you today life and happiness, and death and adversity, 16 in that I am commanding you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in His ways and to keep His commandments, His statutes, and His judgments, so that you may live and become numerous, and that the Lord your God may bless you in the land where you are entering to take possession of it. 17 But if your heart turns away and you will not obey, but allow yourself to be led astray and you worship other gods and serve them, 18 I declare to you today that you will certainly perish. You will not prolong your days in the land where you are crossing the Jordan to enter and take possession of it. 19 I call heaven and earth to witness against you today, that I have placed before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants, 20 by loving the Lord your God, by obeying His voice, and by holding close to Him; for this is your life and the length of your days, so that you may live in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give them.”

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

Everyone wants justice and everyone wants good things.  God desires to give us good things and work things out for us;  but so often people try to bargain with God, saying, "If YOU do this for me, THEN I will believe and be obedient." 

God already has done the most amazing thing for us.  He, Himself, has come down to earth in flesh to pay for our sins on the cross.  And God has given us His word so that we can fully know and understand.  God has made it very "easy" to follow Him.  He pretty much does it for us.  All that is required of us is giving Him our heart and soul - which is trusting and having faith in Him.  

And we should desire to love, and listen, and obey His voice.  Even in this, God makes this "easy".  When we become believers, God immediately seals us with the Holy Spirit, indwelling our hearts and souls, to guide us and prompt us.  All that is required is our willingness to respond, and then God works in our hearts to change us from the inside out.

When we do stray, we need to remember God's words, and return to Him, and strive to be obedient - with all our heart and soul - in every aspect our lives.  THEN (as verse 3 says) God will restore and continue to work in our hearts that we may love and live.  God knows that we will mess up, yet He will never tire of us returning and returning to Him!  No matter how far away we have allowed ourselves to be "scattered"!  Our consistency in striving to remain obedient is that we consistently keep getting back on the path to follow Him.

today's meditation (Dt.29) Know That God Sees Everything

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word...)

(Deuteronomy 29:1-29) These are the words of the covenant which the Lord commanded Moses to make with the sons of Israel in the land of Moab, besides the covenant which He had made with them at Horeb.

2 And Moses summoned all Israel and said to them, “You have seen all that the Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh and all his servants, and to all his land; 3 the great trials which your eyes have seen, those great signs and wonders. 4 Yet to this day the Lord has not given you a heart to know, nor eyes to see, nor ears to hear. 5 And I have led you in the wilderness for forty years; your clothes have not worn out on you, and your sandal has not worn out on your foot. 6 You have not eaten bread, nor have you drunk wine or other strong drink, in order that you might know that I am the Lord your God. 7 When you reached this place, Sihon the king of Heshbon and Og the king of Bashan came out to meet us for battle, but we defeated them; 8 and we took their land and gave it as an inheritance to the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of the Manassites. 9 So you will keep the words of this covenant and do them, in order that you may be successful in everything that you do.

10 “You stand today, all of you, before the Lord your God: your heads, your tribes, your elders and your officers, that is, all the men of Israel, 11 your little ones, your wives, and the stranger who is within your camps, from the one who gathers your firewood to the one who draws your water, 12 so that you may enter into the covenant with the Lord your God, and into His oath which the Lord your God is making with you today, 13 in order that He may establish you today as His people, and that He may be your God, just as He spoke to you and as He swore to your fathers, to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

14 “Now it is not with you alone that I am making this covenant and this oath, 15 but both with those who stand here with us today in the presence of the Lord our God, and with those who are not with us here today 16 (for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we passed through the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17 moreover, you have seen their abominations and their idols made of wood and stone, silver and gold, which they had with them); 18 so that there will not be among you a man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the Lord our God, to go to serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19 And it shall be when he hears the words of this curse, that he will consider himself fortunate in his heart, saying, ‘I will do well though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land along with the dry.’ 20 The Lord will not be willing to forgive him, but rather the anger of the Lord and His wrath will burn against that person, and every curse that is written in this book will lie upon him, and the Lord will wipe out his name from under heaven. 21 Then the Lord will single him out for disaster from all the tribes of Israel, in accordance with all the curses of the covenant which is written in this Book of the Law.

22 “Now the future generation, your sons who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when they see the plagues of that land and the diseases with which the Lord has afflicted it, will say, 23 ‘All its land is brimstone and salt, burned debris, unsown and unproductive, and no grass grows on it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24 All the nations will say, ‘Why has the Lord done all this to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25 Then people will say, ‘It is because they abandoned the covenant of the Lord, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 And they went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods that they have not known and whom He had not assigned to them. 27 Therefore, the anger of the Lord burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book; 28 and the Lord uprooted them from their land in anger, fury, and in great wrath, and hurled them into another land, as it is this day.’

29 “The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, so that we may follow all the words of this Law.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

God warns the Israelites that no individual should think that they can secretly be rebellious and still be recipients of His blessings.  For the covenants to be fulfilled, God looks at the nation of Israel's obedience as a whole;  but for salvation, God looks at the hearts of each individual.  So it doesn't matter if you grew up in a Christian nation, or if you were born into a Christian family, or if you attend church regularly, or if you are a "good person"... 

We all have one choice to make:  to not believe, or to believe.  The only way to heaven is to put our faith and trust in Jesus!  And when we do, our names will be written in the book of Life, because God does see everything.  

today's meditation (Dt.28) Wisely Choose

(Dear Lord Jesus, guide me and give me insight as I read and study Your word...)

(Deuteronomy 28:1-68) “Now it shall be, if you diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments which I am commanding you today, that the Lord your God will put you high above all the nations of the earth. 2 And all these blessings will come to you and reach you if you obey the Lord your God:

3 “Blessed will you be in the city, and blessed will you be in the country.

4 “Blessed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, and the offspring of your animals: the newborn of your herd and the young of your flock.

5 “Blessed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

6 “Blessed will you be when you come in, and blessed will you be when you go out.

7 “The Lord will cause your enemies who rise up against you to be defeated by you; they will go out against you one way and will flee at your presence seven ways. 8 The Lord will command the blessing for you in your barns and in everything that you put your hand to, and He will bless you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you. 9 The Lord will establish you as a holy people to Himself, as He swore to you, if you keep the commandments of the Lord your God and walk in His ways. 10 So all the peoples of the earth will see that you are called by the name of the Lord, and they will be afraid of you. 11 And the Lord will give you more than enough prosperity, in the children of your womb, in the offspring of your livestock, and in the produce of your ground, in the land which the Lord swore to your fathers to give you. 12 The Lord will open for you His good storehouse, the heavens, to give rain to your land in its season and to bless every work of your hand; and you will lend to many nations, but you will not borrow. 13 And the Lord will make you the head and not the tail, and you will only be above, and not be underneath, if you listen to the commandments of the Lord your God which I am commanding you today, to follow them carefully, 14 and do not turn aside from any of the words which I am commanding you today, to the right or the left, to pursue other gods to serve them.

15 “But it shall come about, if you do not obey the Lord your God, to be careful to follow all His commandments and His statutes which I am commanding you today, that all these curses will come upon you and overtake you:

16 “Cursed will you be in the city, and cursed will you be in the country.

17 “Cursed will be your basket and your kneading bowl.

18 “Cursed will be the children of your womb, the produce of your ground, the newborn of your herd, and the offspring of your flock.

19 “Cursed will you be when you come in, and cursed will you be when you go out.

20 “The Lord will send against you curses, panic, and rebuke, in everything you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and until you perish quickly, on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have abandoned Me. 21 The Lord will make the plague cling to you until He has eliminated you from the land where you are entering to take possession of it. 22 The Lord will strike you with consumption, inflammation, fever, feverish heat, and with the sword, with blight, and with mildew, and they will pursue you until you perish. 23 The heaven which is over your head shall be bronze, and the earth which is under you, iron. 24 The Lord will make the rain of your land powder and dust; from heaven it shall come down on you until you are destroyed.

25 “The Lord will cause you to be defeated by your enemies; you will go out one way against them, but you will flee seven ways from their presence, and you will be an example of terror to all the kingdoms of the earth. 26 Your dead bodies will serve as food for all birds of the sky and for the animals of the earth, and there will be no one to frighten them away.

27 “The Lord will strike you with the boils of Egypt and with tumors, the festering rash, and with scabies, from which you cannot be healed. 28 The Lord will strike you with insanity, blindness, and with confusion of mind; 29 and you will be groping about at noon, just as a person who is blind gropes in the darkness, and you will not be successful in your ways; but you will only be oppressed and robbed all the time, with no one to save you. 30 You will betroth a woman, but another man will violate her; you will build a house, but you will not live in it; you will plant a vineyard, but you will not make use of its fruit. 31 Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will not eat of it; your donkey will be snatched away from you, and will not be restored to you; your sheep will be given to your enemies, and you will have no one to save you. 32 Your sons and your daughters will be given to another people, while your eyes look on and long for them constantly; but there will be nothing you can do. 33 A people whom you do not know will eat the produce of your ground and every product of your labor, and you will never be anything but oppressed and mistreated continually. 34 You will also be driven insane by the sight of what you see. 35 The Lord will strike you on the knees and thighs with severe boils from which you cannot be healed, and strike you from the sole of your foot to the top of your head. 36 The Lord will bring you and your king, whom you appoint over you, to a nation that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods, made of wood and stone. 37 And you will become an object of horror, a song of mockery, and an object of taunting among all the peoples where the Lord drives you.

38 “You will bring out a great amount of seed to the field, but you will gather in little, because the locust will devour it. 39 You will plant and cultivate vineyards, but you will neither drink of the wine nor bring in the harvest, because the worm will eat it. 40 You will have olive trees throughout your territory but you will not anoint yourself with the oil, because your olives will drop off prematurely. 41 You will father sons and daughters but they will not remain yours, because they will go into captivity. 42 The cricket will take possession of all your trees and the produce of your ground. 43 The stranger who is among you will rise above you higher and higher, and you will go down lower and lower. 44 He will lend to you, but you will not lend to him; he will be the head, and you will be the tail.

45 “So all these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you would not obey the Lord your God by keeping His commandments and His statutes which He commanded you. 46 And they will become a sign and a wonder against you and your descendants forever.

47 “Since you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and a cheerful heart, in gratitude for the abundance of all things, 48 you will serve your enemies whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, thirst, nakedness, and devoid of all things; and He will put an iron yoke on your neck until He has destroyed you.

49 “The Lord will bring a nation against you from far away, from the end of the earth, as the eagle swoops down; a nation whose language you will not understand, 50 a nation with a defiant attitude, who will have no respect for the old, nor show favor to the young. 51 Furthermore, it will eat the offspring of your herd and the produce of your ground until you are destroyed; a nation that will leave you no grain, new wine, or oil, nor the newborn of your cattle or the young of your flock, until they have eliminated you. 52 And it will besiege you in all your towns until your high and fortified walls in which you trusted come down throughout your land, and it will besiege you in all your towns throughout your land which the Lord your God has given you. 53 Then you will eat the offspring of your own body, the flesh of your sons and of your daughters whom the Lord your God has given you, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will oppress you. 54 The man who is refined and very delicate among you will be hostile toward his brother, toward the wife he cherishes, and toward the rest of his children who are left, 55 so that he will not give even one of them any of the flesh of his children which he will eat, since he has nothing else left, during the siege and the hardship by which your enemy will oppress you in all your towns. 56 The refined and delicate woman among you, who would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground because of her delicateness and tenderness, will be hostile toward the husband she cherishes and toward her son and daughter, 57 and toward her afterbirth that comes from between her legs, and toward her children to whom she gives birth, because she will eat them secretly for lack of anything else, during the siege and the hardship with which your enemy will oppress you in your towns.

58 “If you are not careful to follow all the words of this Law that are written in this book, to fear this honored and awesome name, the Lord your God, 59 then the Lord will bring extraordinary plagues on you and your descendants, severe and lasting plagues, and miserable and chronic sicknesses. 60 And He will bring back on you every disease of Egypt of which you were afraid, and they will cling to you. 61 Also every sickness and every plague, which are not written in the book of this Law, the Lord will bring on you until you are destroyed. 62 Then you will be left few in number, whereas you were as numerous as the stars of heaven, because you did not obey the Lord your God. 63 And it will come about that, just as the Lord rejoiced over you to be good to you, and make you numerous, so will the Lord rejoice over you to wipe you out and destroy you; and you will be torn away from the land which you are entering to possess. 64 Furthermore, the Lord will scatter you among all the peoples, from one end of the earth to the other; and there you will serve other gods, made of wood and stone, which you and your fathers have not known. 65 Among those nations you will find no peace, and there will be no resting place for the sole of your foot; but there the Lord will give you a trembling heart, failing of eyes, and despair of soul. 66 So your lives will be hanging in doubt before you; and you will be terrified night and day, and have no assurance of your life. 67 In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ And at evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’ because of the terror of your heart which you fear, and the sight of your eyes which you will see. 68 And the Lord will bring you back to Egypt in ships, by the way about which I said to you, ‘You will never see it again!’ And there you will offer yourselves for sale to your enemies as male and female slaves, but there will be no buyer.”

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

I recently saw a facebook post which said, "Marriage is hard.  Divorce is hard.  Choose your hard.  Obesity is hard.  Being fit is hard.  Choose your hard.  Being in debt is hard.  Being financially disciplined is hard.  Choose your hard.  Communication is hard.  Not communicating is hard.  Choose your hard.  Life will never be easy.  It will always be hard.  But we can choose our hard.  Pick wisely."  Even the world can understand this.  How much more should we understand?

God clearly lays out the two choices for the nation of Israel.  And it really is no-brainer!!!  But our sinful nature will try to lead us astray and sabotage the goodness that God desires for us.  Like in this allegory... I recently figured out that I can work out the knots in my back by going to the edge of a doorpost and pressing on the problem areas.  If I just did that every day, I could alleviate a lot of my suffering.  But I don't!  I either forget or become lazy and wait until it's too painful to move or turn my neck.  Why???

That's often how we are in our relationship with God.  We could be going to Him every day for every problem (big and small) and lean on Him for all our solutions.  But we tend to wait until the problems are beyond our strength and control.  So how different are we from the Israelites when it comes to being fully obedient to God's will?  Especially when we know that even when do follow God's direction, there will still be suffering.  

There is a decision that we need to make, in order to form good habits, which better equip us in trusting God always.  And I would rather go through suffering while being on God's side!!!  As we trust in God, He is faithful to help us through all the hard times!!!