Deuteronomy 3: 23-29: … [The Price of Disobedience] ... 23 At that time I pleaded with the LORD: 24 “Sovereign LORD, You have begun to show to Your servant Your greatness and Your strong hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do the deeds and mighty works You do? 25 Let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan—that fine hill country and Lebanon.” >>> 26 But because of you the LORD was angry with me and would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the LORD said. “Do not speak to me anymore about this matter. 27 Go up to the top of Pisgah and look west and north and south and east. Look at the land with your own eyes, since you are not going to cross this Jordan. 28 But commission Joshua, and encourage and strengthen him, for he will lead this people across and will cause them to inherit the land that you will see.” 29 So we stayed in the valley near Beth Peor.
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Deuteronomy 4: 39-40: … [Obey and Live] ... 39 Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. 40 Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the LORD your God gives you for all time.
My Journal for Today: Reading through Chapters 3-4 of Deuteronomy today in my chronological Bible reading, I’ve decided to back off a bit with minimal comments as to what you’ll read and understand from these two chapters. I’ll make a few brief comments below (yeah, I know – “promises, promises!”); but I am going to ask anyone who’s here to read my blog to read the two chapters to which I link you above for study. Then I’ll ask you to see if you’re not a bit overwhelmed with conviction – as was I when I meditated on these two chapters today.
I think you can tell from my titles above that obedience and/or disobedience of our God was as the heart of the reading today; and that fact carries my degree of conviction. If we are serious about living as our God demands of His people and we want the results of what God promises His followers, … OBEDIENCE is the key to living the God-promised and God-fulfilled life our Lord lays before us as we trek toward His promised land.
Below you see a picture I’ve copied into this blog which was taken from the highest peak of what is now Mount Nebo in Jordan [the highest peak in the mountain range referred to in Deut. 3: 27 above as “Mount Pisgah”]. In the photo you see a group of pilgrims, which included yours truly, looking over at exactly what Moses would have seen, … the land God would not allow him to enter because of his disobedience. As I took that picture, looking out over the promised-land from Jordan into Israel, I just couldn’t help but imagine how much more in my life I could have realized if I had lived so many years of my life in obedience, rather than in disobedience to God’s established order and His teaching from His word.
BUT … I do have the rest of my life ahead; and if I cross the Jordan of decision and trek through the wilderness of this life, keeping my eyes on the prize ahead, as Paul wrote about in Philippians 3: 13-14; and if I live as my Lord, Jesus, charged me to live in Acts 1: 8 and Luke 9: 23. following Him in faith with the witnessing power of God’s Spirit in me, as well as living in obedience to His word, … I will have the success that God promised to Joshua (see Joshua 1: 8) in living out my life successfully as an obedient follower of God’s word and law.
What about you? Are you on board with this obedience deal? Come along, my friend; let’s cross over any Jordan of decision we need to cross and let’s trek toward the promised-land, living obediently and following our Lord in the battles of life which lie ahead. His promise is to take us home; and that’s all we need to follow Him, isn’t it?
My Prayer Today: … Lord, lead me; … I will follow in obedience. Amen
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