SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/22/2012
11:39:12 AM
As I was looking through my
older Spiritual Diaries in order to post them onto my blog there was one
missing from the book of Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verses 16-29. In order to make sure that there is something
here I have decided to copy the commentary from Warren Wiersbe on what he says
about these verses.
Warning of Judgment (vv. 16-29): 16
(for you know how we lived in the land of Egypt, and how we came through
the midst of the nations through which you passed; 17 moreover, you have seen their abominations
and their idols of wood, stone, silver, and gold, which they had with them); 18
so that there will not be among you a
man or woman, or family or tribe, whose heart turns away today from the LORD
our God, to go and serve the gods of those nations; that there will not be
among you a root bearing poisonous fruit and wormwood. 19 "It shall be when he hears the words of
this curse, that he will boast, saying, ’I have peace though I walk in the
stubbornness of my heart in order to destroy the watered land with the dry.’
20 "The LORD shall never be willing
to forgive him, but rather the anger of the LORD and His jealousy will burn
against that man, and every curse which is written in this book will rest on
him, and the LORD will blot out his name from under heaven. 21 "Then the LORD will single him out for
adversity from all the tribes of Israel, according to all the curses of the
covenant which are written in this book of the law. 22 "Now the generation to come, your sons
who rise up after you and the foreigner who comes from a distant land, when
they see the plagues of the land and the diseases with which the LORD has
afflicted it, will say, 23 ’All its land
is brimstone and salt, a burning waste, unsown and unproductive, and no grass
grows in it, like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which
the LORD overthrew in His anger and in His wrath.’ 24 "All the nations will say, ’Why has the
LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?’ 25 "Then men will say, ’Because they
forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with
them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt. 26 ’They went and served other gods and
worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to
them. 27 ’Therefore, the anger of the
LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in
this book; 28 and the LORD uprooted them
from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into
another land, as it is this day.’ 29
"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things
revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the
words of this law.”
“Moses reminded the people of the gross idolatry they
witnessed while enslaved in Egypt and then while traveling through the
wilderness. If they witnessed it with
hearts devoted to the Lord, they couldn’t help but be repulsed by what they
saw, and they surely wouldn’t want to participate in it. Nobody in Israel—no individual, family, or
tribe—was to get involved in idolatry; for any idolater could become a ‘bitter
root’ that could defile the whole nation.
Hebrews 12:15 applies this same warning to local assemblies of believers,
for ‘one sinner destroys much good’ (Ecc. 9:18, NKJV). Even if the offenders kept their sins hidden
and were confident that they could escape judgment, the Lord would know and
would judge. There could be no
forgiveness; they would be plagued and killed and their names would be blotted
out from under heaven (Deut. 9:14; Ex. 32:32-33). They would suffer from all
the plague named in Deuteronomy 28.
“If the nation followed the idolaters and disobeyed the
Lord, the Lord would judge the whole land and it would become an example to
others of what happens when God’s law is violated. Visitors would behold a country without
people, farms without produce, land like the devastated land of Sodom and
Gomorrah, and cities destroyed and left in ruin. The utter desolation of Israel would be a
reminder that it’s a costly thing to disobey the will of God.
“Will Israel be an obedient people? Would God send these curses? What does the future hold for the
nation? Some of the Jews might have been
asking themselves those questions, but this was not a time for speculation; it
was a time for dedication. ‘The secret
things belong to the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed belong
to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law’
(29:29). Our responsibility as God’s
people isn’t to try to pry open the doors of the future but to obey God’s will
here and now. When a man asked Jesus, ‘Lord,
are there few that are saved?’ His reply
was personal and not philosophical. ‘Strive
to enter through the narrow gate, for many, I say to you, will seek to enter
and will not be able’ (Luke13:23 NKJV). It’s not necessary to know God’s
secrets, but is essential that we obey what the Lord has clearly revealed to
us.”
I can say that Deut. 29:29 has been a verse that means a
great deal to me and I am glad that I went over this section today so that it
can be a reminder to me that all I have to do is obey the Lord and not worry
about things that I have no control over.
10/22/2012 12:03:20 PM
No comments:
Post a Comment