For a full description of the (Y3) reading plan, see the “About” page.
- What attributes of God’s character does this passage reveal?
- How does the passage point to Jesus?
- How should the truth of this passage change me?
- How do the events of today’s reading help you better understand the grand narrative of Scripture?
Deut. 7
I had the thought this morning that when God told His people to totally destroy the people of the land and to show them no mercy, He was asking them to be holy and righteous. God’s perfect righteousness is a consuming fire. It refines what is good and destroys what is evil. If His people had been able to completely obey God’s law, they would have had this same righteousness. Thus, they would have destroyed all that was evil in the land. Of course that ‘if’ was never an expectation on God’s part. He knew they couldn’t do it. Rather, the commands God gave the Israelites, along with all He did for them and everything He put them through, are to demonstrate to them and to us both His character and ours.
I am glad the original covenant was never God’s ultimate plan. I am so grateful that He introduced mercy in the person of Jesus Christ. Turns out the character of God is deep and complex. It is even often conflicting from the perspective of our finite minds. Which means that, even though we are to show God’s love and mercy to others, regardless of their behavior, we are also not to look with pity on anything that stands in opposition to God. As they say, love the sinner but hate the sin. If we have pity on the sinner, however, we are setting ourselves up to accept their sin.
Deut. 8
Many Christians think that having wealth and prosperity is sinful. Others think that life as a Christian is the ticket to an easy road. This chapter refutes both of those ideas. I believe that God wants to bless and prosper us. However, He knows that wealth and prosperity tend to make us comfortable, which tends to make us forget where our wealth and prosperity come from. Then we get proud, thinking, “My power and my own ability have gained this wealth for me” (Deut. 8:17b). So it isn’t the wealth and prosperity that is the problem. It is our pride, when we forget that it is God alone who blesses us.
Which brings us to that second mistaken thought. God led His people, “through the great and terrible wilderness” (from Deut. 8:15) and confronted them with many trials and hardships there. He did it, “in order to humble and test [them] so that in the end He might cause [them] to prosper.” (Deut. 8:16b). He does the same for us in this wilderness we call life. He never intended our walk with Him here on earth to be easy. However, whether or not God blesses us with wealth and prosperity here and now. If we endure to the end of this wilderness journey, His prosperity promise is certain.
Deut. 9
Three times during the Israelites’ journey from Egypt to the Promised Land Moses went before God for forty days and forty nights. The first time he received the law in writing. The second two times he interceded for the people because of their sin. What an awesome image of what Jesus did for us! At the beginning of His ministry, right after John baptized him with water, Jesus also spent 40 days in the wilderness before God, not eating or drinking. Like Moses, Jesus interceded with God on behalf of His people, because of our sin. But instead of bringing us God’s law and repeatedly interceding for us, Jesus brought us God’s mercy, interceding for us with His own life once for all.