Deuteronomy 9:1-10:22, Luke 8:4-21, Psalms 69:19-36, Proverbs 12:2-3
Today is the 28th day of March welcome to the Daily Audio Bible I am Brian and it’s great to be here with you today as we move forward, kind of making our last push in these last few days of this third month of the year. I guess we’ll be moving into a new month before this week is out. But that is a few days in front of us. It is so nice to be here right now today around the Global Campfire together with you as we take the next step forward. And that next step leads us back into the book of Deuteronomy, the last book of the Torah, the last discourses of Moses to the children of Israel before he becomes a part of history, and we move forward with new leaders. And, so, let’s go back out with the children of Israel and a mighty throng as Moses says all the things that he needs to say. Today Deuteronomy chapters 9 and 10.
Commentary:
Okay. So, as we pass through the book of Deuteronomy in these final discourses of Moses there’s a bunch of review involved. And if we just stop and think about it we’ve been learning about the rules, like the establishment of this people, and the law and the rules and the statutes and the holidays, we’ve been learning about is stuff for a long time and there’s a lot to it. A lot to keep in mind. In fact, it’s forming a culture and so it becomes the way of the culture so that it’s just embedded into the tapestry of the culture. If we had to remember all this stuff it would take a good amount of effort to be sure and that can lead us to just wonder what are…so…what are the rules now, then? So, we have this Mosaic law, but we’re told that we don’t have to obey the Mosaic law. We’re told us this in the New Testament, that we’re at least free from the curse of the law. And then Jesus gives commandments in the New Testament and so what are we…like how does this work? How would you know? What are the rules? Like how can you know thank you moving in the right direction? Because there’s so much to remember. But in our reading from Deuteronomy today Moses consolidated it down into a way that we can all understand. And he said, “so now Israel, what is the Lord your God asking of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him and to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes that I’m commanding you today for your own good.” And it’s that “for your own good part” we need to pay attention to. We have read a lot of rules and rituals and customs and observances. We’ve read the whole law, and we’ve been told many many times to not forget. And, so, once again we have to step back and ask ourselves because it feels a lot of times when we get into a religious system that there are all kinds of rules and regulations and a lot of things to remember and a lot of situations and situational things to remember and it can seem like a lot, but if you start peeling it back, peeling back the layers watching how this story unfolded, what we realize is that God gave the law as a framework from which the people could live in safety and in blessing before God. These were the outer boundaries. This was God laying down an awareness for people that there are limits to what you can do before you start to destroy yourself. And if you step beyond these boundaries you are headed in that direction. God didn’t free his children from Egyptian slavery simply to re-enslave them because He’s a complete control freak. He didn’t do that because He’s not interested in creating this game or this set of rules to dominate over people and enslave people that He had just set free. What God is interested in is a relationship with us and He told the ancient ones that He wanted a relationship with them and He told them you must be holy because I am holy. This is how we relate to one another, which helps us when we’re considering the rules in the Old Testament or the commands in the New Testament. If we think about this through the lens of relationship, we realize that every relationship we have is governed by rules. Let’s just look at our marriages. We may not think of them as rules, but there are things that if we step outside the boundary of what we have agreed to, that that is going to destroy our marriage, destroy our family, and ultimately destroy us. We know that. And I guess we could live our lives in fear of that each and every day or we could realize I love my wife, I love my husband, it is that love that makes me aware of the boundaries that I will not step beyond. Spiritually, the way that Moses is laying this out is the same. If we love the Lord with all of our heart, and all our strength, and all of our mind then we become unwilling to betray that love. God has certainly demonstrated in vivid clarity that He is unwilling to betray His love for us and that He is unwilling to surrender us even when we are the betrayer. The rules aren’t to make our lives boring. The rules haven’t been given to put us in a cage. We have simply been given the parameters that will lead us into life and an awareness that outside those parameters is destruction and we have been given the opportunity to choose life.
Prayer:
Father, we thank You for that. And when we try to make it a list of things that we gotta tic off every day, things that we have to do, well then we have some kind of transactional thing going on, that if we do this then You have to do that. And love doesn’t work like that. You have loved us and have withheld nothing from us. It’s crazy for us to think that You’re trying to cage us or put us in a box or keep us from doing fun things when You have withheld nothing from us, including the breath of life, including Jesus Your Son. You have come for us and are inviting us to live inside of a relationship, and there are things that we should and things that we should not do in a relationship, and we are learning. And as we become more and more in love with You, Your desires and Your will become more and more apparent to us because we know You and You know us, otherwise known as a relationship. And, so, come Holy Spirit and lead us deeper into this relationship this very day and every day we pray in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
dailyaudiobible.com, that’s home base and that is where you can find out what is going on around here. So, indeed, check it out.
Check out the different sections like…like the Daily Audio Bible Shop. There are resources there in all kinds of categories, everything from coffee and tea, fresh roasted and sourced and sent right to your door to the Daily…you have things to write in, the Daily Audio Bible journal that has been fashioned over the years and perfected. All of the Black Wing pencils to journal with. A number of things there in the Daily Audio Bible Shop for the journey that we are on. So, check it out at dailyaudiobible.com or using the Daily Audio Bible app. You can access the Shop either place.
If you want to partner with the Daily Audio Bible, if this mission to bring the spoken word of God read fresh every day and offered freely to anyone who will listen anywhere on this planet any time of day or night and to build community around just showing up, the rhythm of showing up around the Global Campfire every day, if that’s is life-giving to you than thank you humbly for your partnership. There is a link on the homepage at dailyaudiobible.com. If you’re using the app, you can press the Give button in the upper right-hand corner, or the mailing address is PO Box 1996 Spring Hill Tennessee 37174.
And, as always, if you have a prayer request or encouragement, you can hit the Hotline button in the app. That’s the little red button up at the top or you can dial 877-942- 4253.
And that’s it for today. I’m Brian I love you and I’ll be waiting for you here tomorrow.
Community Prayer and Praise:
Coming soon…