March 10, 2012 … Redundancy Teaches

Passage of the Day: Reference of Today’s Chronological Bible Study: Deuteronomy, Chapters 1-2 … To study these chapters, go to this link -

Deuteronomy 1: 1-3: … [God Speaks On Deafened Ears] ... 1 These are the words Moses spoke to all Israel in the wilderness east of the Jordan—that is, in the Arabah—opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth and Dizahab. 2 (It takes eleven days to go from Horeb to Kadesh Barnea by the Mount Seir road.) … 3 In the fortieth year, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses proclaimed to the Israelites all that the LORD had commanded him concerning them.

My Journal for Today: Okay, now we’re taken by our chronological Bible read into the “book of redundancy,” as I call it. … Deuteronomy, … which, when I’ve read it in the past, always seemed to be quite a bit repetitive from a lot of what was already covered in Leviticus and Numbers. Actually, I know that the word “Deuteronomy” comes from the Greek “deutero” [second] and “nomos” [law]; so, … the title for this book means a “restatement of the law;” and that’s exactly what Moses is writing here, an historical recounting and restatement of “The Law” for the posterity of the people, as well as a chronicling of their trek through the wilderness in God’s purification process of these very fallible and forgetful children.

And it is this latter reason for Moses writing Deuteronomy which has captured my application attention for blogging this morning. God repeating, via Moses, all of this information about why He turned an 11 day trek into one which lasted 40 years was worthy material for His people (which includes me). They needed to get it – AGAIN; and so do I. Therefore, it’s worthy enough for me to pay close attention to this Book as I read through it one more time, trying to glean what God has for me by reading what He had Moses write for the Israelites.

I’m certainly no different than God’s stiff-necked and recalcitrant Old Covenant Jews. I can so easily go into pity-party mentality and grumble about my circumstances. I too often tend to see things my way rather than seek out – or just simply trust – life as God’s way. I wander though life with a self-inflated attitude when my Savior keeps saying over and over to me, in a personally redundant paraphrase of Luke 9: 23, [God’s Spirit speaking to me Christ’s throughts] … “Bill, if you want to follow after Me as My disciples, you just have to deny yourself, trust me in all of our travels through life, and simply follow Me.”

But like the Israelites, wandering through the desert on the way to God’s promised-land, do I get it? No, … even though God redundantly keeps trying to show me this truth and message of obedience in so many different ways, I’m coming to believe that God needs to be very redundant in repeating His message of truth through His word over and over and over so that people like me can wander in the wilderness of life and die to our sin nature, giving us life and direction, through God’s grace and truth, taught so repetitively in His word.

So, as I read through Deuteronomy … AGAIN, … I’m going to expect that God is going to give me truth after truth after truth for my living just as He was doing through Moses in this Book of repetition for His children, the Israelites. Hopefully, I’ll see those truths and die to self, allowing me to live … in and through God’s truth revealed by His Spirit through His word.

My Prayer Today: … Lord, say it again so that I’ll hear it this time! Amen

2009 – Day 302.Oct 30 – Nothing New

Passage for Study: 2nd Corinthians 12: 1 – 10 … Linked for study …

My Journal for Today: As a teacher – and that’s one of my Spirit imparted gifts – I often repeat a mantra taught to me by my mentor years ago; and that is, “Redundancy teaches!” In other words, when you hear a message over and over again from a reliable source, we should listen and learn; because that lesson is probably important. How about God? As a source of learning, is HE reliable and important enough to listen and learn? So, I’ve learned – quite often in fact – if we read something from God’s truth, (i.e., the Bible), especially something that comes at us repeatedly, we should listen and learn (and yes, even memorize and internalize).

So, today, Chuck Swindoll hits on one of those repetitive truths; and it is one which our repeated passage today teaches just like the same message that goes back to the oldest recorded book in the Bible, which we just finished studying not too long ago, the Book of Job. The lesson: SUFFERING IS NOT NEW!

When we studied Job, we saw how he hated, by accepted God’s deal with Satan (unknown to Job) which visited horrible suffering upon Job and his family. We read of Job’s poor wife telling her man to curse God and die; and Job retorting that his family had accepted so many blessings from God; so why shouldn’t they accept adversity. But in today’s culture, even from so-called “christian” sources, we hear the teaching of the prosperity teachers, saying that when we find God, we’ll experience good health and great wealth. And the message of Job’s suffering and now Paul’s thorn just doesn’t sit well with a people who try to sell pain reduction at all costs and the pursuit of happiness as our inalienable right.

But my friend, we had better learn the lesson of inevitable suffering sooner, rather than later; because when suffering hits, if we are bowled over by it, we become easy prey for an enemy who would use our suffering to get us questioning the very presence of God, let alone that His love is found in the midst of the suffering.

Dear one, I hope – and will pray today – that we all learn and know the lesson of the OT and NT, … that God will never leave us, nor forsake us (see Deut. 31: 6 and Heb. 13: 5). I pray that we can be witness to the truth that God loves us just as much – if not more – in the hard times as He does in the easy times. I pray that we learn that God’s “blessings” might just include suffering as well as good fortune. Because if we can’t learn that lesson proactively, we’re very likely to have to learn it, as did Job and Paul, retroactively. It’s one of the most highly repeated lessons in all of Scripture; so, my friend, let us learn it and use if for God’s glory!

My Prayer for Today: Heavenly Father, help us to learn the lessons You have to teach us in suffering; so that our responses will be as Job or Paul, by giving witness to Your love in the midst of the suffering. Amen