Devotions

fire from God

Posted on June 23, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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fire from God

Deuteronomy 32:22-25 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 32:22 For fire has been kindled because of my anger and burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the land and its produce, and scorches the foundations of the mountains.
Deuteronomy 32:23 “I will pile disasters on them; I will use up my arrows against them.
Deuteronomy 32:24 They will be weak from hunger, ravaged by pestilence and bitter plague; I will unleash on them wild beasts with fangs, as well as venomous snakes that slither in the dust.
Deuteronomy 32:25 Outside, the sword will take their children, and inside, there will be terror; the young man and the young woman will be killed, the infant and the gray-haired man.

fire from God

God’s fire is a metaphor for his punishment for sin. Sometimes he punishes sin with literal fire, but in today’s passage it is obviously a metaphor for death from a variety of sources: disaster, arrows, hunger, disease, wild animals, snakebite, swords, and fright.

Moses was singing his song of the future, and he was pretty comprehensive when he predicted the various ways God would avenge himself on those who claimed to be part of his covenant and yet rebelled against the commands of the covenant.

Lord, we are children of your covenant of grace, bought with the blood of Christ. Make us a people serious about following the commands of Christ.

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forgotten parent

Posted on June 22, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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forgotten parent

Deuteronomy 32:18-21 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 32:18 You ignored the Rock who gave you birth; you forgot the God who gave birth to you.
Deuteronomy 32:19 When Yahveh saw this, he despised them, angered by his sons and daughters.
Deuteronomy 32:20 He said: “I will hide my face from them; I will see what will become of them, for they are a changed generation – unfaithful children.
Deuteronomy 32:21 They have provoked my jealousy with what is not a god; they have enraged me with their worthless idols. So I will provoke their jealousy with what is not a people; I will enrage them with a foolish nation.

forgotten parent

The last few years of my mother’s life were difficult for her. Her mental condition continued to disintegrate from dementia. Most of her children were already dead, so she had few visitors in the nursing home. And I lived in another country, and when I returned to the USA, I was still in another State, many hours away.

But I called her every week. At first, the calls were delightful, because she still recognized me, and she would ask about my children and grandchildren. I looked forward to catching up with mom. But as her condition worsened, the calls were heartbreaking. Still, I kept up the calls. I didn’t want her to feel like her child had forgotten her.

Moses describes God here as a forgotten parent, who first despised Israel, then was angered by them, then was jealous and enraged by them. No parent likes to be put on the shelf. No parent wants to be forgotten.

Lord, we want to be in your presence, and to benefit from your parental love. Draw us closer.

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provider and pretenders

Posted on June 21, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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provider and pretenders

Deuteronomy 32:15-17 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 32:15 Then Jeshurun became fat and rebelled — you became fat, bloated, and gorged. He abandoned the God who made him and scorned the Rock of his salvation.
Deuteronomy 32:16 They provoked his jealousy with illegitimate gods; they enraged him with repulsive practices.
Deuteronomy 32:17 They sacrificed to demons, not God, to gods they had not known, new gods that had just arrived, which your fathers did not fear.

provider and pretenders

Moses’ song had just mentioned all the wonderful food and drink that the Israelites experienced at the hand of God after their long ordeal in the open country, once they arrived in the promised land. He described his nation as a person who was suddenly treated to a banquet after a long period of near starvation. The result was gorging on the feast, and abandoning the master of the feast. That is bad enough, but then Israel does the unthinkable. Israel sacrifices not to the provider, but to the pretenders, not to God, but to demons.

Lord, we acknowledge you as our one and only provider. Give us the wisdom to reject all those who would pretend to take your place.

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monotheon

Posted on June 20, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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monotheon

Deuteronomy 32:12-14 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 32:12 Yahveh alone led him, with no help from a foreign god.
Deuteronomy 32:13 He made him ride on the heights of the land and eat the produce of the field. He nourished him with honey from the rock and oil from flinty rock,
Deuteronomy 32:14 curds from the herd and milk from the flock, with the fat of lambs, rams from Bashan, and goats, with the choicest grains of wheat; you drank wine from the finest grapes.

monotheon

Moses continues his song, and he now traces the history of Israel from the open country to the promised land.

It was the Lord alone who led Israel through the open country, with no help from any foreign god.
It was the Lord alone who lifted Israel up on his wings, and made him ride on the heights of the land.
It was the Lord alone who fed Israel with all the plentiful food and drink they found in the promised land.

Moses knows that the Israelites will soon be tempted to add other gods to their pantheon. But his song (which they are to memorize and keep singing for generations) will bring them back to this truth: Israel has a monotheon. They don’t have any other gods, because they don’t need any other gods.

Lord, thank you for being God enough.

What are the limits of inclusion for a Christian?

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his wings

Posted on June 19, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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his wings

Deuteronomy 32:9-11 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 32:9 But Yahveh’s portion is his people, Jacob, his own inheritance.
Deuteronomy 32:10 He found him in a desolate land, in a barren, howling open country; he surrounded him, cared for him, and protected him as the pupil of his eye.
Deuteronomy 32:11 He watches over his nest like an eagle and hovers over his young; he spreads his wings, catches him, and carries him on his feathers.

his wings

This portion of Moses’ song reflects the protective love of God. God is described as an eagle who hovers over her young, protecting them with the feathers of her wings. Biblical history showed how God had done that. The Israelites knew that God was capable of protecting them from any danger they might face in the future, because he had done so in the past.

How protected do you feel? Are you going through something right now that makes you wonder if there is an eagle eye watching over you, or wings ready to catch you and protect you from harm. It is so easy to lose that confidence, no matter how many times God has proven his love.

Lord, we want to feel protected today. Remind us of your faithful love today. Show us your wings.

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time travel song

Posted on June 18, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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time travel song

Deuteronomy 32:5-8 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 32:5 His people have acted corruptly toward him; this is their defect – they are not his children but a devious and crooked generation.
Deuteronomy 32:6 Is this how you repay Yahveh, you foolish and senseless people? Isn’t he your Father and Creator? Didn’t he make you and sustain you?
Deuteronomy 32:7 Remember the days long past; consider the years of past generations. Ask your father, and he will tell you, your elders, and they will teach you.
Deuteronomy 32:8 When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance and divided the human race, he set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the people of Israel.

time travel song

Moses’ song engages in a bit of time travel. It places itself in the future, where Israel has already occupied the land for a time, and encourages this future people to consider the years of past generations. It instructs these future people to ask their old-timers about how God gave them the various nations who had previously occupied the land. He asks this future people to remember when the land was restructured according to the tribes of Israel.

Songs can do that for us. They can connect us with the past. They can also help us to see our present selves in better perspective.

Lord, give us a clarified perspective on our relationship with you, and the courage to change where we are not living up to our heritage.

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bloom or shrivel

Posted on June 17, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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bloom or shrivel

Deuteronomy 32:1-4 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 32:1 Pay attention, sky, and I will speak; listen, land, to the words from my mouth.
Deuteronomy 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my word settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass and showers on tender plants.
Deuteronomy 32:3 You see, I will proclaim Yahveh’s name. Declare the greatness of our God!
Deuteronomy 32:4 The Rock – his work is complete; all his ways are justice. A faithful God, without bias, he is righteous and true.

bloom or shrivel

Moses begins his song by calling on the sky and the land to listen to his words. Every time it rains it will be a testimony of God’s greatness and justice. The rain is the teaching of Moses, and that rain falls gently, like dew, and gushes like showers onto the new people planted in the land.

The song of Moses identifies the purpose of the Mosaic covenant: it was to continue proclaiming the name of Yahveh, and demonstrating his work, justice, faithfulness, righteousness, truth and greatness. By doing so, the covenant adherents were to draw others in the surrounding nations to this one God.

The Israelites had the choice to become a garden or a desert. They could take in the teaching and bloom, or ignore the teaching and shrivel.

Lord, give us the wisdom to take in your word and bloom.

Posted in Bible, dependence upon God, discipleship, growth, Moses, righteousness | Tagged Deuteronomy 32 | 3 Comments

congressional warning

Posted on June 16, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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congressional warning

Deuteronomy 31:28-30 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 31:28 Collect all your tribal elders and officers before me so that I may speak these words directly to them and call sky and land as witnesses against them.
Deuteronomy 31:29 You see, I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future, because you will do what is evil in Yahveh’s sight, angering him with what your hands have made.”
Deuteronomy 31:30 Then Moses recited aloud every single word of this song to the entire collected assembly of Israel:

congressional warning

The collected assembly was like a parliament or congress. It consisted of all the tribal elders and officers, as representatives of the whole nation. Moses met with them as a group and sang his song to them. He knew they would be responsible to pass the Mosaic commission along to all the covenant followers under their charge. He did not want to be guilty of hiding what was going to happen in the future. He knew that the nation was going to rebel, and that God was going to punish them for that rebellion.

It is amazing to me that the Bible has so much material like this, and we fail to hear the message in our pulpits. We are so busy trying to encourage our listeners with a positive message that we fail to tell them the whole truth. Sometimes bad things do happen to us when it is not not our fault — as testified by Job. But we need to warn each other that sometimes those tough times are the result of our wrong choices.

Lord, may your words of warning flow from our pulpits, and may we be wise enough to listen, and repent.

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double-edged witness

Posted on June 15, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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double-edged witness

Deuteronomy 31:23-27 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 31:23 Yahveh commanded Joshua son of Nun, and this is what he said, “Be strong and tough, because you will bring the Israelites into the land I swore to them, and I will be with you.”
Deuteronomy 31:24 When Moses had finished writing down on a scroll every single word of this instruction,
Deuteronomy 31:25 he commanded the Levites who carried the ark of Yahveh’s covenant, and this is what he said:
Deuteronomy 31:26 “Take this book of the instruction and place it beside the ark of the covenant of Yahveh your God so that it may stay there as a witness against you.
Deuteronomy 31:27 You see, I know how rebellious and hard-necked you are. Notice, if you are rebelling against Yahveh now, while I am still alive, how much more will you rebel after I am dead!

double-edged witness

The scroll inside the Ark of the Covenant was a witness of that covenant. As such, if the Israelites obeyed, it would witness to that obedience in favor of the Israelites. But if they disobeyed, this same sword would manifest its other edge. Moses told the Levites to put the book in there as a witness against the people. Every act of rebellion and unfaithfulness was already recorded in the scroll.

The Bible is a faithful witness of God’s grace and love, demonstrated by Christ. But it is also a double-edged sword, attesting to every act of rebellion and transgression and omitted act of righteousness. By it we learn how high and holy God is, and how low and depraved we can be. We travel with that witness. It helps us stay true to the one who called us to himself, and commands repentance when we fail him.

Lord, thank you for your sacred word, a double-edged witness.

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the other verses

Posted on June 14, 2020 by Jefferson Vann

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the other verses

Deuteronomy 31:19-22 (JDV)

Deuteronomy 31:19 Therefore write down this song for yourselves and teach it to the Israelites; place it on their lips, so that this song may be a witness for me against the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 31:20 When I bring them into the land I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising me and breaking my covenant.
Deuteronomy 31:21 And when many troubles and afflictions come to them, this song will testify against them, because their descendants will not have forgotten it. You see, I know what they are prone to do, even before I bring them into the land I swore to give them.”

the other verses

Moses wrote a song about what was going to happen. It predicted the conquest of the land, and the prosperity to follow. These verses ensured that the song would be remembered and repeated by the next generations. But then there were the other verses of the song. These would predict that Israel would turn to other gods and worship them, despising their God and breaking his covenant. Over time, these verses would drop off, as no one wanted to remember these predictions. But the prophets would keep reminding them. The whole song is important.

Lord, we confess that we don’t like to think about negative things, and we also are guilty of dropping off the other verses of your song. But help us to walk in integrity, paying attention to your whole word.

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