Fear God; Obey His Laws

Deuteronomy is Moses’ farewell address to the Israelites.  One idea he says over and over is the need to obey the LORD in the land that He will be giving you.  God keeps his promises; it will be hard for the nation (and for us) to keep our promises and vows.

In Chapters 16-17, God describes the way you are to offer sacrifices, and the place you are to do it – the place that He will choose.  Fear the Lord. Don’t fall prey to the worship practices of the people you are replacing, because God hates their fertility rites and Asherah poles and burning their children in the fire.

In Chapters 17-18, God lays out basics for the governance system for the nation.  Take your hard cases to the priests and judges, who are the LORD’s representatives.  Obey the decisions; if you don’t, then you deserve further punishment.

It will be acceptable to have a king, but only one whom God appoints.  Be careful lest the king ignores the LORD; that will be bad for everyone.  The king needs to read the book of the law all the days of his life – this will be the source of his wisdom.  The king also needs to fear the LORD by following His laws.

Make sure the priests and Levites are taken care of.  They get a portion of the sacrifices instead of an allotment of land; they are His chosen ones to teach and conduct worthy worship. Don’t move the land boundaries; always have two witnesses when judging a crime; establish safe havens for those who accidentally kill another.  Make your judgments fit the crime – no more than a tooth for a tooth or an eye for an eye.

Some of the laws seem wacky and foreign to our twenty-first century “sensibilities.” But as Psalm 119 says over and over, these laws are a delight – they are a light unto our path.  At least one lawyer came to saving faith because he could see the justice and benefits for the people in these laws.  The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom.

Social Media Explained

Facebook:           I like drinking coffee

Twitter:                I’m drinking #coffee

YouTube:             Watch me drink coffee

Instragram:         Artsy coffee photos

Pinterest:            How to make coffee

Linkedin:              Skills: I can make coffee

Grow in God

In 2 Peter 1, the apostle is recommending growth in holiness.  A string of positive characteristics is presented in verses 5-8:

  • Supplement faith with virtue
  • Supplement virtue with knowledge
  • Supplement knowledge with self-control
  • Supplement self-control with steadfastness
  • Supplement steadfastness with godliness
  • Supplement godliness with brotherly affection
  • Supplement brotherly affection with love

Why? Because if these qualities are increasing, they keep you from being ineffective or unfruitful.

Blessed Is Everyone…

Psalm 127 ends with the phrase “Blessed is the man who…” Psalm 128 expands the list to say “Blessed is everyone who fears the LORD, who walks in his ways.”  It goes on to say the main ways they will be blessed, which suit the context of the Israelites who would sing this song: a good farm, a good wife, and plenty of children.

Sorry if the title of this post is misleading – notice that the promise of blessing is only to those who fear the LORD. Other people might have a good job, a nice family and enjoy prosperity, but unless they fear the Lord, they are not covered in THIS blessing.

The blessed people fear the LORD, which is explained as “walking in His ways.”  This means an acknowledgment of God as the creator of the universe and everything in it, the one who has revealed himself in the Bible, the one true Sovereign who knows all the hairs of our heads, the one whose goodness, mercy, and justice are unsurpassed yet are in perfect balance.

Obedience to the greatest commandment – to love the LORD with all your heart and soul and mind and strength – shows a walking in His ways.  So those who ignore Him, those who don’t repent of their sinful ways, and those who don’t believe Jesus’ purpose are missing out on an even better blessing than farm, wife, and kids – the eternal life offered as a free gift to those who fear him and walk in his ways.

Lake Activities

Molly was in the house on the day before Halloween.  It was still pleasant and warm-ish outside; there were a few leaves on the trees and a jacket sufficed for warmth.  The word cards took longer than usual because we were making sentences and then we had to group them (numbers, colors, people words, etc.) like all good data analysts would.

We decided to check out a park and picked the closest one – Crego Park just re-opened this past summer with a nice couple of docks jutting into the lake, plenty of parking and a spur off the River Trail. Last time we visited, we didn’t get to walk out on the big dock, so our goal was to get that done.  After checking it out, Molly starts off on the grass path that leads away from the parking lot.  “Let’s see where this goes.”

Turns out it goes all the way around the lake.  On the north end, we took a side trail to check out the railroad tracks.  When we got back to the main trail, Molly looks both ways, puts on her serious face and says, “Let’s go this way.  Follow me.”

We noticed that the leaves had stacked up in the lake on the north end because the wind was blowing that way. On the east side, we could see across the lake to where we had parked the car, and we could look through the fence at the private lake that was full of geese.  Wonder why they like that lake better?  Must be food.

The path went up and down; there were several places where trees had fallen to block the trail but short people could get through easily and wait for lumbering giant people.  Our friends down the block had tried to circumnavigate the lake this way, but were blocked by undergrowth; maybe it was easier this late in the fall.

On the south side, we could see the houses by the park, and we came out at an unexpected, secret-looking arched tree entrance that we marked in case we ever want to go the other way around some day.

Nice afternoon, with just enough mystery for  a grand adventure.

Time and Season

Our task force at church has been meeting and working for over a year, and we hope we are nearing the end of our labor. It seemed appropriate to use Ecclesiastes 3.1-8 for our devotions:

For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:

a time to be born, and a time to die;

a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;

a time to kill, and a time to heal;

a time to break down, and a time to build up;

a time to weep, and a time to laugh;

a time to mourn, and a time to dance;

a time to cast away stones, and a time to gather stones together;

a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;

a time to seek, and a time to lose;

a time to keep, and a time to cast away;

a time to tear, and a time to sew;

a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;

a time to love, and a time to hate;

a time for war, and a time for peace.

The simple question we started with was “what time or season are we in as a task force, as a Consistory, as a church?” The answers included building a good foundation (gather stones and build); winning approval by knowing when to speak or keep silence; good time to heal relationships.  The applications here will not be clear without the task force context, but it is good to note that multiple verses were applicable and helped us consider our desired outcomes before praying.