"After the LORD your God has driven them out for you, do not say to yourselves that he brought you in to possess this land because you deserved it. No, the LORD is going to drive these people out for you because they are wicked. It is not because you are good and do what is right that the LORD is letting you take their land. He will drive them out because they are wicked and because he intends to keep the promise that he made to your ancestors, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You can be sure that the LORD is not giving you this fertile land because you deserve it. No, you are a stubborn people. "Never forget how you made the LORD your God angry in the desert. From the day that you left Egypt until the day you arrived here, you have rebelled against him.
Deu 9:4-7
Since when did I receive something form God that I truly I deserved?
I remember a pastor (or is it a teacher) defining grace as getting something that you do not deserve.
Listening to pastors and preachers preach about law versus grace, I, in my mind developed this understanding that the law is a device for the salvation of the Israelites. It’s like a state law where if one got convicted of a crime, punished for it and after serving that punishment he/she is cleared of the crime. Maybe it is, maybe it is not. The relationship of God with the Israelites shows more of his grace. How many times have the Israelites angered God and how many times have God forgiven them?
The law reveals sin but, I think, the most important thing that the law has done and is doing is to reveal grace. Getting something you do not deserve like mercy, salvation, blessings and even trials.
And I prayed, 'Sovereign LORD, don't destroy your own people, the people you rescued and brought out of Egypt by your great strength and power. Remember your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and do not pay any attention to the stubbornness, wickedness, and sin of this people. Otherwise, the Egyptians will say that you were unable to take your people into the land that you had promised them. They will say that you took your people out into the desert to kill them, because you hated them.
After all, these are the people whom you chose to be your own and whom you brought out of Egypt by your great power and might.'
Deut. 9:26-29
Friday, January 18, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Deuteronomy 7-8
Deuteronomy 8
"Obey faithfully all the laws that I have given you today, so that you may live, increase in number, and occupy the land that the LORD promised to your ancestors. Remember how the LORD your God led you on this long journey through the desert these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that he might know what you intended to do and whether you would obey his commands. He made you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that you must not depend on bread alone to sustain you, but on everything that the LORD says.
Deuteronomy 8:1-3
I was talking with one of my church co-worker who together with her husband is the junior church ministers, and she told me that she has applied for a job as a call center agent. I was depressed because this husband and wife team has started a very good discipleship program for the juniors in the church, and the first thing that came into my mind is what will happen to their ministry?
Another church worker, this time the youth minister, I later found out tried to apply for a job as a call center agent too. They are also a husband and wife team ministering to the youth in our church. I was loosing a little sleep with the idea of two church workers working as a call agent centers. Call center agents work graveyard shift and it would be difficult for them to work in the church on their rest days because their bodies will want to catch up on sleep.
I am praying that God will provide for these people the way he had provided for the Israelites. I pray and believe that God will supply the needs of these people.
This is the challenge facing our church today.
And after reading this chapter, the message is clear, as it was in the old testament that God will provideas long as we do our part.
Deuteronomy 7
Remember that the LORD your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him.
Deu 7:9-10
God has given to the Israelites the defeat of the seven nations. God also reminded the Israelites against idolatry and intermarrying with the pagans. The Israelites are a chosen people and that God will keep his covenants with them. Obedience is rewarded and disobedience punished.
"Obey faithfully all the laws that I have given you today, so that you may live, increase in number, and occupy the land that the LORD promised to your ancestors. Remember how the LORD your God led you on this long journey through the desert these past forty years, sending hardships to test you, so that he might know what you intended to do and whether you would obey his commands. He made you go hungry, and then he gave you manna to eat, food that you and your ancestors had never eaten before. He did this to teach you that you must not depend on bread alone to sustain you, but on everything that the LORD says.
Deuteronomy 8:1-3
I was talking with one of my church co-worker who together with her husband is the junior church ministers, and she told me that she has applied for a job as a call center agent. I was depressed because this husband and wife team has started a very good discipleship program for the juniors in the church, and the first thing that came into my mind is what will happen to their ministry?
Another church worker, this time the youth minister, I later found out tried to apply for a job as a call center agent too. They are also a husband and wife team ministering to the youth in our church. I was loosing a little sleep with the idea of two church workers working as a call agent centers. Call center agents work graveyard shift and it would be difficult for them to work in the church on their rest days because their bodies will want to catch up on sleep.
I am praying that God will provide for these people the way he had provided for the Israelites. I pray and believe that God will supply the needs of these people.
This is the challenge facing our church today.
And after reading this chapter, the message is clear, as it was in the old testament that God will provideas long as we do our part.
Deuteronomy 7
Remember that the LORD your God is the only God and that he is faithful. He will keep his covenant and show his constant love to a thousand generations of those who love him and obey his commands, but he will not hesitate to punish those who hate him.
Deu 7:9-10
God has given to the Israelites the defeat of the seven nations. God also reminded the Israelites against idolatry and intermarrying with the pagans. The Israelites are a chosen people and that God will keep his covenants with them. Obedience is rewarded and disobedience punished.
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