The Lord God promised that he would drive out the nations
before them and give them to possess just as he delivered them from the hand of
King Pharaoh with the mighty wonders and signs. The Lord chose the nation of
Israel not because they were great in numbers or deserved but because they were
the least of all nations. The Amorites and Canaanites were greater and stronger
than the Israelites but the Lord commanded not to be afraid of them and to
remember well what the Lord did to Egypt. We shall not forget that in Christ
Jesus we have been liberated from the power of sin and death by the blood of
the Lord. Jesus Christ is stronger than the devil and thus is able to keep us
falling and stumbling.
"Be careful to follow every command I am giving you
today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the
Lord promised on oath to your ancestors. Remember how the Lord your God led you
all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in
order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his
commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with
manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man
does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the
Lord. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these
forty years. Know then in your heart that as a man disciplines his son, so the
Lord your God disciplines you." (Deuteronomy 8:1-5)
The people of God were allowed to live and increase and
enter and possess the land only if they obeyed every command the Lord was
giving them. Until they stood the east of Jordan to cross they were led and
guided to the wilderness forty years by the Lord God. Why did the Lord God lead
them into the wilderness? It wasn't intended for them to wonder around the vast
and dreadful wilderness at all. They refused to enter the land out of fear and
unbelief at Kadesh Barnea when the Lord commanded to enter the land. So, God
led them into the dry and barren and waterless land.
“’For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your
ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the earth, so
are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’” (Isaiah
55:8-9)
God’s way was to humble and test them to search out what was
in their heart, whether or not they would keep his commands. The purpose and
goal of the Lord God who led the disobedient people into the wilderness was to
bring them into humiliation and disgrace. It sounds a strange purpose! But
that’s what the Lord said to them. Why was the Lord God pleased to bring them
into humiliation and disgrace? It’s because when they reach the state of nothing,
less than nothing, God can work out for his name’s sake. It is very significant
to understand this truth which our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated during his
earthly ministry.
“Jesus gave them this answer: ‘Very truly I tell you, the
Son can do nothing by himself; he can do only what he sees his Father doing,
because whatever the Father does the Son also does. For the Father loves the
Son and shows him all he does. Yes, and he will show him even greater works
than these, so that you will be amazed.’” (John 5:19-20)
Jesus Christ set the example how to handle our lives in the
midst of daily struggles and difficulties. Although he was God the Son who
received all power from the Father he said he could do nothing by himself.
Jesus was always depending on the Father by fixing his eyes on him. He was in
the Father and he in him, which indicates the perfect communion between the
Father and the Son. The Father loved the Son and the Son obeyed the Father even
to the point of death. All the Father’s was the Son’s. All the miracles and
signs were done by the Father in heaven through the Son Jesus Christ.
This is how we’re supposed to operate and function in our
Lord Jesus Christ. We’re in Christ and he in us in the heavenly places. We have
nothing to depend upon other than the Lord Jesus Christ. It is true from the
beginning that we’re not supposed to run our lives on our own but in full
dependence on the Maker and Designer of humanity. God is forever love. He is
pouring out his love forever for those who humble and submit himself before him. That’s what our Lord Jesus Christ demonstrated on the earth some two thousand years before in time and space.
It was the reason God provided manna forty years faithfully
without fail. They picked up manna for their daily food except on the sixth
day. The Lord God was teaching them to depend on him daily. God marvelously
displayed the truth before them that they could not live on bread alone but on
every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Physical manna seemed to feed
them but it is not so. Behind manna there was the hand of God, faithfully
providing whatever amount they needed. So, it wasn’t the manna they sustained
life in the wilderness but the word of God which enabled to make manna fall
down from heaven. That’s why our Lord Jesus Christ said to his people that he
was the living bread of life and everyone who eats his body and drink his blood
shall live forever (John 6:51).
It was the loving and long-suffering discipline of God to implant the faith in the Lord only because there is nothing in the world which can keep them from falling other than God himself. It is the act of God's love which proves that he cares his people.
“Observe the commands of the Lord your God, walking in
obedience to him and revering him. For the Lord your God is bringing you into a
good land—a land with brooks, streams, and deep springs gushing out into the
valleys and hills; a land with wheat and barley, vines and fig trees,
pomegranates, olive oil and honey; a land where bread will not be scarce and
you will lack nothing; a land where the rocks are iron and you can dig copper
out of the hills.” (Deuteronomy 8:6-9)
The Lord God commanded his people of Israel to observe all
the laws and decrees given through Moses, walking in obedience to him and
revering him. It’s because the Lord their God was giving them into a good land.
What does the land signify? First of all, the land was full of brooks, streams,
and deep springs gushing out into the valleys and hills. In the Scripture,
these are the symbols of the word of God as Jesus said to a Samaritan woman that
the water he gave them would become a spring of water welling up to eternal
life (John 4:14). The land the people were entering to possess was full of
truths and life. Second, the land would produce the fruits of all kinds for
food abundantly, lacking nothing.
“By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been
doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work. Then God blessed the
seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of
creating that he had done.” (Genesis 2:2-3)
So, the land signifies the redeemed humanity who bears all
kinds of fruits of the Spirit of the Lord. It shows that there is only one way
to produce the fruits of life. It is through entering the land God has given to
them. Entering the land means taking God’s rest through obedience. On the
seventh day of the creation of the world God rested from all his work because
he has finished everything. It’s called the Sabbath Day. So, we must enter God’s
rest to bear the fruits of the Spirit. Practically, it means we stop working on
our own and depend on the Lord God on every matter of lives in our Lord Jesus
Christ in completeness and entirety.
“When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the Lord your
God for the good land he has given you. Be careful that you do not forget the
Lord your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I
am giving you this day.” (Deuteronomy 8:10-11)
We shall never forget the Lord God all the days of life in
our Lord Jesus Christ when we’ve been eaten and are satisfied in the land God
has brought us. God called us to bear the fruits of love, joy, and peace and
blessed abundantly to live in Christ, producing the Spirit’s fruits abundantly.
What does it mean to forget the Lord God? It means disobedience and unbelief to the commands of the Lord. What happens if they forget the Lord God?
“Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build
fine houses and settle down, and when your herds and flocks grow large and your
silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, then your heart will
become proud and you will forget the Lord your God, who brought you out of
Egypt, out of the land of slavery. He led you through the vast and dreadful
wilderness, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and
scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in
the wilderness, something your ancestors had never known, to humble and test
you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, ‘My
power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’” (Deuteronomy
8:12-17)
The enemy of Israel without was the Amorites and Canaanites. But there was also enemy within, the invisible one, which is their inner pride and boast, saying that their power and the strength of their hands produced
this abundant wealth for them. This would inevitably happen to them when they
forgot the Lord God and did not obey all the laws and decrees. So does it to us
too. That’s why it is so important to keep on obeying the laws and decrees of
the Lord God. This is the way to remember from where they were delivered and protected
by the hand of the Lord. They were exposed to the vast and dreadful wilderness,
thirsty and waterless land with its venomous snakes and scorpions. The circumstance
and situation was desperately difficult and impossible to survive by
themselves.
It indicates the world where wolves are around and roaring
lions are lurking behind to devour. Jesus said to his disciples, “I am sending
you out like sheep among wolves.” (Matthew 10:16) Jesus understands exactly
where he was sending his disciples. In this world, there are so many falsities
and fallacies, practically influencing and blinding the people under darkness
and confusion. There are venomous snakes and scorpions around, constantly planting
and feeding lies and deceits into the hearts of the people on earth. That’s
exactly where we’re living now. However, we’ve been protected and sealed in
Christ by the power of God. So, we’ve been made secure and safe in Christ Jesus
by his grace and mercy. The Lord God is protecting us from venomous snakes and
scorpions now and forevermore.
“But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you
the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to
your ancestors, as it is today. If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow
other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that
you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you,
so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.” (Deuteronomy
8:18-20)
We shall never forget that the Lord God is giving the
ability to produce the fruits of the Holy Spirit. This is the covenant God has
made with us on oath in Christ, which he swore to the ancestors of faith. Anyone
shall be destroyed if they forget the Lord God and follow other gods like he
destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah in ancient days. Practically, it means we cannot
escape the wrath of God when we do not remember the Lord God, carefully
following all the laws and decrees completely. It happens every moment of our
lives whenever we misstep from the Law of the Lord God. So, we shall always
obey him and can do only in our Lord Jesus Christ for his blood can cleanse and
wash away our transgressions and missteps when we confess and repent in a broken
and contrite heart.
Prayer: Father in heaven, once again thank you for telling
us the truth how to live true and eternal life now and forevermore. It is only
through following carefully all the laws and decrees and remembering the Lord
our God who brought us out of the bondage of death and sin through the blood of
the Son Jesus Christ and
made us to be able to bear the fruits of the Spirit in abundance. In Christ’s name. Amen.
June
12, 2016
© 2015-2016 David
Lee Ministries – All Rights Reserved.
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