Deuteronomy 7:1-8:20, Luke 7:36-8:3, Psalms 69:1-18, Proverbs 12:1
Today is the 27th day of March. Welcome to the Daily Audio Bible. I’m Brian. It’s great to be here with you today as we move through the center of our week together and take the next step forward in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament in the book of Deuteronomy we’ve been listening to Moses give his second of three talks to the entire camp of the children of Israel before they move forward without him. So. We’re reading from the Good News Translation this week. Deuteronomy chapter 7 and 8 today.
Commentary:
Okay. So, Moses continues to speak to the entire congregation of Israel and I don’t like, want to be so redundant that we get boring, but this is kind of important because as we end the book of Deuteronomy we are ending an era, we are ending the Torah, or the Pentateuch and an entire culture was formed under the leadership of Moses. So, he has some things to say and gave a dire warning to the people that were about to cross into the promised land. Mixing, right? Mixture would destroy them. When they enter the land, they were to destroy all the worship of lesser gods. If they didn’t then they would be eventually seduced away from God, which would have devastating repercussions. And then he reminded them just how special that they were. So, quoting Moses here, “from all the peoples on earth He chose you to be His own special people. The Lord did not love you and choose you because you outnumbered other peoples. You were the smallest nation on earth, but the Lord loved you and wanted to keep the promise that He made to your ancestors. That is why He saved you by his great might and set you free from slavery to the king of Egypt.” Right? So, Moses is reminding the people of God’s on ending faithfulness and loyalty. He told them that there’s no ceiling on the blessings that awaited them if they would listen to and obey the Lord. And then Moses began to warn them that, effectively, once they cross into the promised land and they begin to establish themselves and begin to feel the prosperity that has been promised after a long season in the wilderness that they’re going to be tempted to forget how they got to the promised land and start to think that it was in their own strength that they got to the promised land and it was their own strength that they have what they have. It’s a warning that we’re going to be able to see in vivid color play out. However, it’s probably a warning that we have already experienced in our lives in vivid color, right? So, when the fires are burning around us and it feels like our lives are upside down and we have no way to get out, when we’re in the wilderness, in other words, it becomes pretty clear pretty quickly that our only hope is in God, but honestly for most of us the wilderness is just like a season we may pass through between times of plenty and it’s in the times of plenty that we tend to forget who we are, how we got here, and God’s hand in all of it. And this is what Moses is warning the children of Israel about. He told him that if they forgot the wilderness and God’s mighty hand of provision and began to believe that they had achieved all that they are seeing and experiencing in their own strength they would be doing nothing but dooming themselves. In fact, Moses, he gave context of their whole wilderness experience, “God had used the wilderness to mature his children. He used the starkness of the desert to show them that in everything, they were utterly dependent on him for life. And if you’ve ever been in a desert then you kinda know the drill but if you’ve never been in the wilderness that we’re describing here, the wilderness that we were in about a month ago, you do begin to realize there’s no way, not a million people, not a horde of people, there’s no way in their own strength they could survive out here like this. And, so, Moses is saying, you’ve got to remember ultimately whose you are and why you are here or quoting Moses here, “in the desert gave He gave you manna to eat, food that your ancestors had never eaten. He sent hardships on you to test you so that in the end he could bless you with good things. So, then you must never think that you have made yourselves wealthy by your own power and strength. Remember that it is the Lord your God who gives you the power to become rich. He does this because He is still faithful today to the covenant that he made with your ancestors.” So, yeah, thousands of years have passed since Moses story was lived out and the children of Israel were contemplating crossing the Jordan River into the promised land, but the truth here and the warning here is absolutely as relevant to our lives today as it ever was. Our only hope, whether we’re in the wilderness or whether we’re in a season of plenty, our only hope is in our utter dependence on God and the sooner that we realize that in our lives the fewer times we’ll need to go back into the wilderness to be reminded because if we are utterly dependent upon God and we actually get that into the core of our being then whether we’re in the wilderness or whether we’re in a season of plenty really makes no difference. Like, what the circumstances are make no difference because the God of the universe who owns everything is our Father and He’ll provide. If we can live into then we will stop experiencing those kinds of seasons and actually settle into a state of being that is constant. God is my Father, He will father me, He will not abandon me. The circumstances that I may be experiencing, I am the one giving them the place in my life. I am allowing the anxiety to rise. I’m choosing a reality other than the one that tells me that God is my Father and He will provide. Rather, I’m believing that He will not show up and I am on my own and have to figure this out. Thus, the anxiety.
Prayer:
Father, we invite Your Holy Spirit into that because that probably touches all of us on some level. It’s something that we can all understand. And, so, we invite Your Holy Spirit. Show us how. And You do. You actually answer that prayer and sometimes that answer includes going back into the wilderness to once again be reminded that You have always sustained and brought us through. How can we hold onto this Lord without having the back-and-forth seasons? How can we live into the fact that You have us and the only time that’s not true is when we disentangle, when we run away or walk away, when we step away from You? But if we could settle into the reality that You are our Father, You will provide, we can experience life, the adventure of life together in collaboration with You. The quicker these things will become core truths and realities that we are living out the quicker so many of the distractions that slow us down would be eliminated. So, we’re turning toward You and we’re reaching toward You. Come Holy Spirit, You are only provider, You are only hope. Father, You are the only one who could ever save us. And, so, we apologize for the times of arrogance when we thought, “ahhh…in my own strength I did all this” when the truth is that every day since the moment of our birth You’ve been chasing after us and providing for us. So, we acknowledge You in all things and humble ourselves before You. Lead us forward into all truth we ask in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Announcements:
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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:
If foundation isn’t solid then
the structure will not stand
the stresses and the tolerances that the storms of life demand
it’s hard to build on granite on any kind of rock
even with the proper tools and work around the clock
drilling boring shaping pouring
bracing propping up and shoring
and lots more stuff that I’m ignoring
but there is one rock that’s worth exploring
Jesus is that rock the rock on which I stand
forget about the storms of life and all that they demand
the winds may blow the waters rise on earth may die
you’ll still be safe in Jesus the rock that’s very high
blindtony1016@gmail.com. Like to give a shout out to Michelle from LA. Love you. And Tito from Maryland, it’s good to hear your voice again brother. And once again Brian thank you, oh yeah, and congratulations to Joe the Protector on being a grandpop. That’s great. And once again Brian I want to thank you and your family, the Hardin family for this wonderful podcast for God’s Holy Spirit to flow. Keep it flowin’ y’all. All right. Bye-bye.
Good morning Daily Audio Bible people, my name is Heidi Daniels and I am a new Daily Audio Bible member. I started this month, March. I have so much to be thankful for. I have all three of my kids living nearby. They are adults and I have two of my grandkids who have moved in. That is an answer to desperate prayer of mine and my husbands. We have…we are just beyond grateful. Today we are going to walk across the Goldengate bridge together, laugh, and chat and just…this is for my birthday. He said what you want for my birthday mom and I said I want everyone together as a family happy, whole, loving Jesus. Huge story, just beyond grateful. Just want to give a shout to Jesus and thank You so much for being a part of our lives. Oh my gosh, __ You are our lives. Thank you so much for my kids having a relationship with You.
Hello everyone, this is Doug from Alabama. I don’t believe I’ve called in for maybe, it’s been about a couple months, a month and half. I meant to call in…and I guess I want to call and I don’t quite…kinda now how to word like what I’m gonna say, but I was listening to March 23rds episode…to March 23rds episode and today’s the 24th, yesterday, I didn’t really feel well and so on I’m a couple days behind but…and I don’t think she ever…she said her name today, but the lady…you had moved…it was a relationship that you had moved away and you were feeling a lot of hurt and betrayal. I feel that. I had a relationship in the past several years ago where I dated somebody from California and they moved here, and they asked me to pick up everything and move out to California with them to San Diego and I did. So, I picked up everything I had, everything I’d ever owned because I lived here all my life and I went out there and a little under two years into the thing in California it failed. There were a few things I did that in my shortcomings that led to it, but I was extremely hurt. It ended with me essentially like kicked out of the apartment and I really had no place to barely stay and it was hurtful, but your call just spoke to me. So, I did want to let you know that I am praying for you and I understand that hurt you feel when there’s somebody you care about and you trust and then they hurt you. So, just know you’ll be in my thoughts and prayers. I also wanted to say Brian, thank you so much for doing what you do. When you do say at the end, “I love you”, like for me that’s the only time I do here it throughout the day. So, it means the world. Small praise report, this morning cause this is Sunday, March 23rd, I almost text cause I volunteer at my church…I almost texted the guy I work for in parking…I almost told him, you know, I’m tired but I didn’t. I went, and I see why Satan wanted to keep me out of church…
I’m calling…this is __ from Chicago. I’ve called in a few times before over the last year asking for prayer for my adult son who…I don’t know exactly what’s going on but he just really seems to be in a really negative and bad place and consistently just acts out in ways that are unhealthy or makes decisions that are not productive and today we had a huge blowout that ended in him yelling and screaming and using all kinds of profanity towards me and in front of his 10 month old baby. He left the house and I told him he couldn’t come back until he could get his act together because I didn’t want to be living in that kind of situation and he’s 23 years old and I certainly can’t control his day-to-day actions, but I don’t even know what I’m praying for. I guess I’m just praying for peace and protection over him and that whatever is going on with him like getting in the way of him being able to be happy and productive where he is freed from that and gets whatever support __ out there he needs so that he can get back to a better place in our relationship, but I don’t know when that’s gonna happen, but I also…just…I can’t continue to live with the tension and the verbal abuse and the stress of just worrying about every day about what’s going on with him. So, until we can get back to a better place, I guess my prayer is just for peace and faith and patience. I’m sure all the parents listening understand how heartbreaking it is to have to separate yourself from your child, but I also feel like that…
I stand in awe before my faithful Lord. Good morning everybody this is Christy from Kentucky and I am…it’s taken a few days to even make this call because every time I do I start to cry again because my heart is so blessed. Brother Sean, I believe that’s what you said your name was, you said at the end your name was John 316. So, I’m thinking that your name is Sean and if I’m not I’m sorry, but I just want you to know how much I appreciate your obedience. When the Holy Spirit spoke my name into your heart there was a reason brother. This past week was a hard week. But you know sometimes we try to mask our pain and then you know God just calls us out on it and that’s what He was doing. And I’m humbled and broken and blessed at all at the same time because I know that God is sending His word through you my friend. And Sean that was such a blessing for me that you just can’t even imagine how much it touch my heart. So, thank you. Friends, your calls matter and your prayers matter and when we feel impressed to call and pray for someone you need to do that because it could change their day and it did mine. Thank you, Sean. I appreciate it. I love you guys so very much, and I pray each of you are having a blessed and lovely day today.