Deuteronomy 9:1-29
9:1-3 Journeying with God is a blessing; more specifically, journeying with God is a blessed responsibility. The gifts God gives to us are presents yes, but they are also opportunities to serve and represent Him. When we hand our autonomy over and give God complete control over the organization of our lives, He intends to fill that new space and time with chances for us to do the works of His will.
To whom much is given, much is expected, Luke 12:48. As the children of Israel endeavor to journey into new land, physically and spiritually, they need to be prepared for the responsibility. And so do we: God equips us with circumstance and talent and wisdom in order to create the environment we need to serve Him. Always remember that Jesus came as a servant, even though He is the King. Or Paul, the apostle, who God made wise and capable... the gifts were meant to abound. To be shared and spread throughout humanity.
When we begin our journey with God, He completely reorganizes our lives. To be saved and loved by Him is wonderful but it is only the beginning of the journey. Once established by Him, we are meant to utilize our blessings to produce good fruit, Matthew 7:17.
God prepares us to do things mightier than we alone are capable of. Therefore, if we walk into a situation with Him, we enter into waters deeper than we are tall. To abandon Him in deep water is to quickly be in-over-our-heads. Moses is here to remind the children of Israel, and us too, that we have all rebelled against God (directly and indirectly) and that we need to learn from those past events to not rebel against Him again.
God is a consuming fire against our enemies: once He clears them out of our way, He expects us to use that freedom, safety and space for justice, compassion, wisdom and truth. God does not clear out space in our lives just for us to create another mess there.
9:4 Perhaps you are wondering why the people of the land the Children of Israel are about to inherit are getting the boot. If you are wondering why these people are being removed from land that seems rightfully theirs, you have to remember something: this land, the entire planet and universe it exists in, is rightfully God's. And God has decided that any population of people who are workers of evil, producers of bad fruit, can and will be extinguished.
Moses proclaims here that these nations are being overtaken because of their wickedness. Whether or not God was choosing and leading the children of Israel, He planned to remove these corrupt nations from the land.
9:5 God does not "rob from Peter to pay Paul." God is abundant and offers abundance, infinite love and freedom and wisdom and land (on earth and spirit) to anyone who will receive Him. If you had two children and one was eating an ice cream, you wouldn't take that ice cream to give it to the other child. You'd just give them their own ice cream. If they both deserve the ice cream, they both get ice cream. The concept is the same with God's love: there's more than enough for everyone. The only reason these nations are losing their land is because they are perverting it. Ruining it. Committing injustice and violence and evil on it.
We also have to remember that God loves us to realize our humility. He loves us because He has taken pity on us. Jesus specifically, vouched for humanity, out of compassion. Collectively, we were (and sometimes are) a sorry-lot. Our blessings are not given because of our greatness but because even though we are not great, God sees great potential in us. That is a gift, not something we have earned or particularly deserve.
Remember that God loves us - deeply and intimately - and when He sees our weak and fickle frame (Psalm 103:14) His love becomes tender, merciful, magnanimous. Here on earth, we tend to choose who we love and what we love by how great or cool it is. That is not how God operates. God chooses what is good, even if it (we) are uncool or broken... and out of generosity, gives us the opportunity to be great in Him, Matthew 5:5.
Whatever anyone means for evil, God works for good: Genesis 50:20. These corrupt nations meant for their land to remain in the hands of evil, and to continue producing bad fruits (greed, violence, idolatry, injustice) but instead, they unknowingly built the place God intended for the children of Israel. He let them build the castle, and then He cleared them out of it. Ironic, right?
God is a master at orchestrating: He weaves complex details for inevitable good. Remember that the children of Israel were being plotted against during their time in the wilderness and they were not even aware, Numbers 22-24. God had it under control. He sees all sides at all times. So even while the children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt, God was working out the conditions for their inevitable good. While they were slaves, free nations far away from them were literally building them a home.
God is working with the same brilliance and generosity for you. No matter what enslaves you right now, whether its hopelessness or greed or selfishness or anything else, God is having a home built for you. Here and in heaven, John 14:3. Because God made a promise to our ancestors - Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob - He made a promise to all of humanity who would love and follow Him and He fulfills His promises.
Even though you are loved as an individual, you are part of a generational-fabric. You are part of the history in this Bible. You do not remember the children of Israel, how could you? But God knew you then just as He knows you now, Ephesians 1:4...
9:6 ... which means that everything we read and learn here applies directly to us. Therefore when Moses says here that they are a stiff-necked, stubborn people, so are we. Moses wants us to be and remain humble, to remember that God's gifts are gifts... not things we have earned. Every blessing from God is a manifestation of His generosity and compassion.
9:7 Therefore always remember the times and ways which we provoked God: the times when we doubted Him or blamed Him, went against Him or neglected Him. We cannot forget how we came into the world knowing nothing, but He provided us the brilliant bodies (little universes) which supported us as we came to grow and learn.
9:8-11 Moses reminds the children of Israel of how they so quickly turned to idol-worship while he was on the mountain with God, receiving the commandments. We do not worship golden-calves anymore but we do worship gold. We do worship what it buys us. We do worship the status it gives us in society. Moses wants us to remember that we are frequently adulterers in this faith-relationship.
9:12 When we act corruptly, God sends His love (tough-love) and concern rushing after us. Moses was the intercessor for humanity and God and Jesus became the ultimate intercessor. Just as Moses fled the mountain to retrieve the children of Israel before they reached a place of no return, so does the Holy Spirit come running after us. Jesus sent us the Holy Spirit as an advocate, as a tether to keep connected with Him and God, John 14:16. As a child of God, recognize when He is reaching out for you, trying to pull you back into His sphere.
9:13-14 The disparity some have caused in the world has, in the past, tempted God to destroy them. But His baseless capacity of mercy and forgiveness have saved us time and time again. He keeps giving us chances to improve, individually and collectively.
9:15-17 Moses himself became exasperated with the children of Israel - and can't we relate? Haven't we felt frustration with our own world? The people in our own generation?
9:18-19 Yet through our faith and compassion, God turns our frustration into production. Moses fell down before the Lord in prayer on behalf of the children of Israel. He fasted, plead for forgiveness... because he believed in them. Our compassion for others thaws God's anger every time, it is after all, His most important commandment: Matthew 22:36-40. God shows us the way to make our situation better, to save another person or nation. It all begins with compassion and prayer.
9:20 Intercessory prayer is powerful because it is powered by compassion and faith. When we pray for another person, it is a selfless act. It is an act of compassion and trust in God. We trust Him to hear, listen, care and act. God loves to answer the prayers which are for the well-being of others.
9:21 After prayer, our next powerful action is to remove the idol which turned us away from God. To remove the greed or anger that caused us to forget Him and His commandments. When we show God that we want to help ourselves, He helps us tremendously.
9:22-24 Moses continues to remind the children of Israel of their unfaithfulness to God. Moses' intention is not to rub their mistakes in their face but to prepare them for the journey ahead. Their unfaithfulness will cause them a lot of strife and Moses wants to prevent that.
The children of Israel have been unfaithful before... and therefore they are capable of it again. Moses' speech is meant to encourage them to built up stronger faith. He wants them to find ways to block the temptations and greed which drew them away from God the first time. Life is like a video game, until we learn and beat the level, we keep re-playing it.
9:25-27 Keep prostrating yourself before the Lord. Lay yourself flat in reverence and adoration and submission. God is mightiest when we are weakest, 2 Corinthians 12:10. We are not perfect, opposite of that we are fallible. When we realize that, God is able to help.
9:28:29 As His children, we should fairly represent our God. We should live lives which welcome His blessings and utilize them for further, abounding good. When we fail, it makes God look bad. He's okay with our mistakes... He's able to clean them up, turn them into something good, but out intentional disregard and opposition taints His perfect name. If the children of Israel fail in faith, the peoples around them will think God failed. That would be unfair because God never fails us.
Be a good child of God; it will encourages others to seek out their good, true Parent.
