Deuteronomy 1:19-33 Click here for Bible Verses
Hi GAMErs!
Today’s passage is Deuteronomy 1:19-33.
Deuteronomy 1:19-33 (NIV)
19 Then, as the LORD our God commanded us, we set out from Horeb and went toward the hill country of the Amorites through all that vast and dreadful desert that you have seen, and so we reached Kadesh Barnea.
20 Then I said to you, “You have reached the hill country of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us.
21 See, the LORD your God has given you the land. Go up and take possession of it as the LORD, the God of your fathers, told you. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged.”
22 Then all of you came to me and said, “Let us send men ahead to spy out the land for us and bring back a report about the route we are to take and the towns we will come to.”
23 The idea seemed good to me; so I selected twelve of you, one man from each tribe.
24 They left and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and explored it.
25 Taking with them some of the fruit of the land, they brought it down to us and reported, “It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.”
26 But you were unwilling to go up; you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God.
27 You grumbled in your tents and said, “The LORD hates us; so he brought us out of Egypt to deliver us into the hands of the Amorites to destroy us.
28 Where can we go? Our brothers have made us lose heart. They say, ‘The people are stronger and taller than we are; the cities are large, with walls up to the sky. We even saw the Anakites there.'”
29 Then I said to you, “Do not be terrified; do not be afraid of them.
30 The LORD your God, who is going before you, will fight for you, as he did for you in Egypt, before your very eyes,
31 and in the desert. There you saw how the LORD your God carried you, as a father carries his son, all the way you went until you reached this place.”
32 In spite of this, you did not trust in the LORD your God,
33 who went ahead of you on your journey, in fire by night and in a cloud by day, to search out places for you to camp and to show you the way you should go.
On verses 19-33: Keep in mind what Moses is doing here. Moses is speaking to a new generation of Israelites, preparing them to take possession of the land God had promised them. So that this new generation of Israelites would not repeat the same mistakes that their parents and grandparents had made, Moses recalls in a fresh way specific events that happened along their journey so far, events which this new generation of Israelites may have been too young to remember. In recalling these events Moses is highlighting some lessons that he wants this new generation of Israelites to remember as they get ready to possess the promised land.
For example, in verses 6-8 the event was the decision to get moving from Mount Horeb toward the Promised Land. What is the lesson Moses wants the new generation of Israelites to learn from that event? When you start planning your takeover of the land God has for you, remember that there’s a time to pray and a time to get going. Treasure God’s voice and His guidance when deciding how to move forward. And when it’s time to go, go with faith and give it all you got.
In verses 9-18 the event was the decision to choose wise and respected men to serve as judges over the people. The lesson from that event: when you take possession of the land God has for you, be extremely well organized and choose your leaders wisely, for so much depends on good leadership and good organization. Also, have a sense of justice and fairness when you inevitably face conflicts with one another.
Now in verses 19-33, Moses recalls the time when Moses sent spies to go on ahead of the Israelite camp and check out the promised land, a story first told in Numbers 13. The spies come back reporting that even though the promised land is a good land, the people living there are too powerful for them to oust out. Based on this the Israelites complained that the Lord hated them and was not on their side. Moses recalls how he tried to remind that older generation of Israelites of how good God had consistently been to them, how He had delivered them from their biggest troubles, and provided for them with unprecedented miracles, always taking the best care of them. Yet “in spite of this” (v32) that older generation of Israelites, Moses recalled, still did not trust in the Lord.
What is the lesson Moses wants this new generation of Israelites to learn as Moses recalls this past event? Don’t magnify your challenges and minimize your God. When we complain that God doesn’t care or that He is not on our side, we take for granted all the ways that God has been good to us, how He has gone out of His way to care for us, and how He has miraculously provided for us. It’s like the spoiled child who speaks badly about his parents and focuses on all the ways he thinks his parents have mistreated him, all the while taking for granted how good his parents have actually been to him.
What can we learn from this? One of the quickest ways to forfeit the blessings that God has for us is to have a spoiled, complaining attitude toward God. When we minimize or ignore God’s blessings and focus only on the ways we feel God has mistreated us, we disrespect God, make Him out to be something much less than He is, and try to turn His glory into shame. If we persist in that kind of attitude, one day we will end up losing the blessings that we had so taken for granted.
There’s another lesson Moses wanted this new generation of Israelites to learn as they got ready to takeover the promised land: though the challenges in front of you are great, God is greater still, so do not be afraid. In fact the phrase “Do not be afraid” appears over and over in Deuteronomy, including verses 21 and 29 here. You don’t need to live in fear. Why? As big as the problem in front of you might seem, God is bigger still and He is with you.
Father, please forgive me for every time that I have acted like a spoiled brat and made You out to be some cruel, uncaring God, when the weight of the evidence shows that You care for me more than anyone else does and are so good to me. May I never take that fact for granted. Thank You also that I don’t need to be controlled by fear, because You are greater than every problem I face and You are with me. Because You are near, I won’t live in fear today. In Jesus’ name, AMEN!
