“Now it shall come to pass, if you . . .” (Deut. 28:1a)
Moses obeyed God and was used as the deliverer of the Children of Isreal out of Egypt (book of Exodus). He lead them through the wilderness to find the Promised Land. God set him up as a leader and an example for the Chilren of Israel. He was their example to follow and to learn how to walk in faith and obedience by watching his actions as a leader.
At the end of Deuteronomy Moses is about to die and getting ready to hand the reigns over to Joshua as God had commanded. [ 1 “Here are the words I spoke to all of the people of Israel. 2 I said, “I am now 120 years old. I’m not able to lead you anymore. The Lord has said to me, ‘You will not go across the Jordan River.’ 3 “The Lord your God himself will go across ahead of you. He’ll destroy the nations that are there in order to make room for you. You will take over their land. Joshua will also go across ahead of you, just as the Lord said he would. ” – Deut. 31:1-3] He knows he’s not going to the Promised Land with them, because God had told him so when he disobeyed him in Numbers 20.
As one of his last acts of service to the Children of Israel he gather the elders of the people and he and them together “1 …. commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. 2 When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the LORD your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 3 Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the LORD your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the LORD, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. 5 Build there an altar to the LORD your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. 6 Build the altar of the LORD your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the LORD your God. 7 Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the LORD your God. 8 And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.” – Deut. 27:1-8 [emphasis mine]
In the rest of chapter 27 he lists cursings for not obeying God. In chapter 28 he goes on to tell them of blessings for obeying God, with more cursings listed for disobedience at the end.
There are a few points I’d like to make here:
1 – God’s grace covers ALL our sins: past, present, and future. Though we are completely forgiven, we are not always completely sinless. We forget the grace that covers us, and begin to dwell on how bad we are capable of being. (II Peter 1:5-9) Even though we are forgiven, God does not take disobedience lightly – especially disobedience of the leaders of His people. Disobedience causes a rift in our relationship with HIM, and makes it difficult for us to hear when HE speaks to us. (James 3:1)
2 – God wants to bless us, but our obedience is a factor in whether we receive blessing, cursing/discipline or natural consequences for our actions. Scripture is filled with “If . . then” statements regarding obedience/disobedience and the results of each.
3 – WRITE IT DOWN!!! – Learn it, post it on the wall, put it on your bathroom mirror & the visor of your car . . . If you know you have trouble learning God’s principles, or if you know there are certain things God is trying to teach you, “set up some large stones” & “write very clearly” on them as reminders. Drill it in until it is written “on the tablet of your heart” (Proverbs 7:3). I used to be very good at this, but since the brain tumor it has become more of a struggle. But I’m determined to keep trying. As I’m learning through the Chronological Bible Discipleship (Iva May), the opposite of “Remember” is not FORGET. It is “Dis-memeber” – to take apart. Through CBD I’m learning the WHOLE Story of HIS-story in chronological order, and this is helping me “REMEMBER” better, when I can relate something I’ve learned or am learning to a timeline. And if I can’t remember the whole thing I know where it fits in the story so I can go back and refresh my memory. CBD has helped me more than any other “Bible Study” I’ve done in my whole Christian life. Find what works for you then make a life long habit of it. If you’d like more info on CBD then go to: http://www.ivamay.com/.
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Unless otherwise noted all verses in my blogs are NKJV
“Scripture taken from the New King James Version.
Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson,
Used by permission. All rights reserved.”
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