Know who sustains us (9)

Post 9 of a series in Deuteronomy (Know who sustains us)

Deuteronomy 8:3 And He humbled you and allowed you to hunger, and then He fed you with manna, which you did not know, neither did your fathers know it, so that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone. But by every word that comes out of the mouth of the LORD man shall live.

God wants us to live for Him, to rely on Him and to live in Him. God deals with us to mould us and transform us into something that He is able to use. When I read this passage I find that it is not me who has to humble myself but God who humbles me. That is saying that in every situation we find ourselves the almighty God has allowed it for our good and His purpose.

It is interesting to note that when we are hungry, when we are at our lowest, God feeds us (I am talking here about our whole being, not just an isolated part of us). He provides manna from heaven to sustain us. He wouldn't do this if He had no purpose for us. God wants to bring us to the place where He provides for us and to the place where we know He provides for us. Are we prepared to abide in that place and pick up the manna, the food and sustenance that God has lovingly provided for us? or are we going to waste lots of our energy rushing about, in the wilderness, looking for something else to satisfy us that doesn't exist.

Lord help us to hear your voice and then apply the words from your mouth so that we may realise that "Man does not live by bread alone" Amen

Remember what God has done (8)

Post 8 of a series in Deuteronomy (Remember what God has done)

Deuteronomy 8:2 And you shall remember all the way which the LORD your God led you these forty years in the wilderness in order to humble you, to prove you, to know what is in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not.

Why does God have to "prove us and to know what is in our hearts"?

It is not as if the writer is saying this is what it is like being a Christian, God spying on my life, it is the writer saying REMEMBER every where you went God went with you.

God deals with us all in different ways and at different times in our lives. It is not that He is trying to prove anything but that He wants us to learn how to trust Him. Remember, reflect on how God led you through the difficult times. Did He neglect you? It may have seemed like He had, yet the whole purpose was to know what was in our hearts. Whether we really mean what we say. "I will follow you all my days", "I will serve you".

Whilst we can read the words of this text and say yes it is true "God has led me throughout my life", sometimes it is hard to appreciate in the moment that God is still with me. I can read all the passages in the Bible which say that God loves, cares and watches over me etc etc. yet I can still be all at sea.

What I am learning and what I am asking God for on a daily basis is to teach me to live a life that reflects His steadfastness and His faithfulness. I hope and pray that that would be your request as well.

God of grace and mercy please remind us of you faithfulness, your compassion, your grace and your mercy so that we might remember that you have kept us in all of our ways. Oh Lord help us to receive strength from this very act of remembrance so that we can draw strength to live through our present troubles and despair knowing that you will bring us through. Amen.

Don't Compromise (7)

Post 7 of a series in Deuteronomy (Don't Compromise/Don't Covet)

Deuteronomy 7:25 "You shall burn the graven images of their gods with fire. You shall not desire the silver or gold on them, nor take it for yourself, so that you may not be snared in it. For it is an abomination to the LORD your God".

Sometimes it is very hard to resist the temptations that the devil sets in our paths. More often than not it is to do with money, sex, or security. God wants to free us from such things. We have a part to play, if we do not stand up for what is right then many more suffer and fall into the trap of compromise.

There are many times that God warns the children of Israel not to compromise or covet. Telling them not to take what is not theirs. This begs the question what is ours as followers of Jesus? I suppose the answer lies somewhere in knowing where our security lies. If our lives are governed and our commitment is to God then we will be governed by the basics of right and wrong worked out by the power of the Holy Spirit that God has worked in us through His shed blood at Calvary. Even with the knowledge of, and outworking of salvation in our lives we sometimes are still tempted to just take what is on show, whether that be material things or physical. God says NO and we have to listen for our own good. We have to stand up for what is right and not be so bound up with sin that so easily ensnares us. Hebrews 12:1.


It is really difficult not to compromise in a world that says you can have what you want, when you want. In this passage we have two specific commands 

1. "burn the graven images of their gods", their idols.
2. "do not desire their silver or gold" . 

God wants us to burn our idols, the things in our lives and in those around us, that we worship, the things that we put before God himself. God also wants us not to covet, that is desire anything that belongs to someone else. We need to learn to be content with what we have. What I know is that God is able to deliver us from "this sin that ensnares us", sin being anything that hinders me from worshipping God as He would have us worship Him. Let us continue to trust almighty God and be content and complete in Him and His plan for us.


Help us Lord to recognise that you are our salvation and our fortress. You alone oh God are the only one who is able to sustain us and lift us out of despair and place our feet on a rock, on solid ground so that we through your Grace can live a life that glorifies you. Amen

Be Patient (6)

Post 6 of a series in Deuteronomy (Be patient)

Deuteronomy 7:22 And the LORD your God will put out those nations before you little by little. You may not destroy them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon you.

Patience is something quite a few of us lack. In a society that has grown up where every thing is provided 'on tap' , where we can easily get what we want when we want has resulted in us developing a society that has very little patience. This culture has permeated our daily lives to such an extent that we no longer are able to make good decisions, invariably we make hasty decisions based on not thought out plans that then go onto affect our lives and ultimately our relationship with God Himself.

As we saw in the last post God is a faithful being therefore it follows that He will also grant us the ability to be patient and wait His timing.

In these posts from Deuteronomy we have a list of promises and the one we are looking at in this post is Patience. God specifically says to the children of Israel "I will put out those nations before you, little by little." Or in other words "I will claim the uninhabited places for you"

So often we want to run ahead of God's plan for our lives and all we end up doing is thwarting the very thing that God wants to accomplish in our lives, that of a complete life that honours Him.

This is a promise and at the same time a warning. We can read of instances when the children of Israel just forged ahead with out God's blessing and ended up in a worse position than when they set out.

God wants us to exercise patience so that we can prove Him faithful and true.

God's plan for our lives is a good one we have to find that place of rest in Almighty God, not to the point where we don't do anything, but where our lives demonstrate that God is on the throne of our lives and that all we do is for Him and by Him. We exercise patience, patience that is God given. God does the rest little by little.

Gods Promise He is Faithful (5)

Post 5 of a series in Deuteronomy (Gods Promise, He is Faithful)

Deuteronomy 7:8 and because He would keep the oath which He had sworn to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of slaves, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Deuteronomy 7:9 Therefore, know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God who keeps covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments, to a thousand generations.

Because God loves us He also sustains us. God is a being of faithfulness. A promise delivered to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob that this being would be "A God to you" is also true for this generation.

There are many times in our lives when we struggle to recognise that we have a faithful God but that does not alter the fact that He is faithful.

To prove Gods faithfulness we have to obey His command and leading. He can say in scripture that He is faithful and will keep covenant but until we make an effort and move into that promise we will never know that He is faithful.

I believe God to be faithful, looking back over my life I can see that God has kept me and sustained me, even in the times of straying. That statement may seem a contradiction from the one above that says He is faithful when we move yet in many ways Gods faithfulness is revealed both by His mercy and in our obedience.

We need to learn what it is to know God, to know that He has redeemed us, it is He who sustains us and it is He who is God. Deuteronomy 7:9 "Therefore, know that the LORD your God, He is God, the faithful God"

Lord help us to draw on your faithfulness, to know you are God in all your fullness what ever that may mean. Help us Lord to trust you implicitly and to know when to walk, know when to run and know when to stay. Time Lord is not important to you just obedience and trust in you the timeless being and creator of all things.

Know I am Loved (4)

Post 4 of a series in Deuteronomy (Know I am loved)

Deuteronomy 7:7 The LORD did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people, for you were the fewest of all people.
Deuteronomy 7:8 a But because the LORD loved you,

We can move into, and claim our inheritance because of this verse of assurance. The children of Israel must have been apprehensive about moving into a land that was not theirs. I want us to consider that the claiming of the land is not about the physical landscape of the land of Israel but about us finding that place where God is and finding a God who we can be still with. "Be still and know that I am God". Psalm 46:10

We have been given the opportunity to explore the deep heart of God, to come into His presence and enjoy the freedom of "living in the promised land". It is of great consolation that God has set His love on us not because we were anything special but just because He loved us. It is this love that compels us forward, or into the rest. Charles Wesley wrote "I believe a rest remains". God wants to bring us to discover this rest for ourselves. It is because God loves us that we are able to confidently approach the throne of Grace and find all the help we need.

This love of God is so immense, so unfathomable and unmeasurable that we can never fully appreciate it. This love is what makes us and transforms us into a person who is different. But God knows that we will fail and we will look at that later on in the chapter, but never the less it is the knowledge that we have a God who's love transcends far beyond our wildest dreams and reaches us at our lowest point and stretches to our most exhilarated heights. It is because of this great love and our knowledge of this great love that we can live in hope and expectancy of entering into our rest, into our promised land. Remember God has gone before, He is in front. Deuteronomy 6:10 and Deuteronomy 7:1 Let us begin to find that REST in Almighty God and live a life that trust's the community that is God and knows the fact that the Lord our God, the Lord is one. Deuteronomy 6:4 We are sustained by the completeness of God not by separate strands of His being. Know that we are loved and that God is committed to our well being and our safety. There is no better place to be than in the hands of the living God.

Be Ruthless (3)

Post 3 of a series in Deuteronomy (Be Ruthless)

Deuteronomy 7:2 you shall crush them, completely destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them nor show mercy to them.
Deuteronomy 7:5 But you shall deal with them in this way: you shall destroy their altars and break down their images, and cut down their groves and burn their graven images with fire

When we move out and follow God the Holy, the Almighty, into the places prepared by Him for us then inevitably there will be situations that will require actions. Part of claiming our inheritance, the land prepared by God for us, the promised land of peace and fruitfulness outworked in our lives, is about bringing all things in line with God and His will.
So here in Deuteronomy 7:2 and Deuteronomy 7:5 the children of Israel are instructed to be completely ruthless with those people that inhabit the land at present. So, much like our own lives, the places that God does not inhabit are inhabited by something that is contrary to Gods will for our us and if left unchecked will cause us to stumble. God is a jealous God and will not share, yet by the same token He is a tolerant God who allows us free will to choose Him. Choosing God for our lives will undoubtedly cause us some tough decisions, as in this story where God instructs the children of Israel to crush and completely destroy. Don't make a pact with them or show any mercy He says. The only way to see God outwork His purpose for our lives is for us to be ruthless when it comes to sin. We need to acknowledge it, destroy it and show no mercy to it. We have the benefit of knowing that Christ died for our sin and became the go between for us, the atoning lamb given as a sacrifice on our behalf. The children of Israel only had sacrifices and scape goats and always had to offer something for their sin in order to be right with God. We, on the other hand need to come to the Father through the Son and acknowledge his forgiveness and then set our lives to overcome and inhabit the uninhabited places for our redeemer and king.

God in Front (2)

Post 2 of a series in Deuteronomy (God is in front)

Deuteronomy 7:1
When the LORD your God brings you into the land you are about to enter and occupy, he will clear away many nations ahead of you: the Hittites, Girgashites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These seven nations are greater and more numerous than you

God wants us to be bold in our approach to Him.We have seen that it is He who goes before us and prepares the way for us to begin to claim the uninhabited places in our lives for Him. Here in this chapter we have some interesting analogies as to what God would have us do in order for us to rightfully claim what is our inheritance, that is a life lived with God and for God. A life that is sustained by Him and for His good pleasure and enjoyment. God wants relationships on an individual level. The important thing in life, both here and now and in the one to come, is that I am fully in accordance with the will of God. Life is corporate yet individual, it is relational yet also requires an individual approach which enables us to interact with those around us. God wants us to grasp the fact that our lives are all about who we are as individuals in God. It is when we begin to appreciate who we are in God and begin to live out our relationship with God in community that we then begin to understand what unclaimed riches there are in Christ. It is "this living out"  that expose the uninhabited places of our lives that rightfully belong to God. It is His plan and design for us to claim these places (spaces) for Him so that His glory can shine and enlighten those around us. The great thing is that God is already in these spaces, the question is are we prepared to move into the unknown and as individuals prepared to heed the call and go out and claim them and put God in His rightful place in our lives? It is only when we do will we see the hand of God at work. We all need to find the place or places where God is and make that our inheritance. Life eternal is about finding God throughout our lives and keeping Him and His purpose in focus. We all need a glimpse of the holy in order for us to appreciate who we are dedicating our lives too.

Bought Out (Post 1)

Post one of a series in Deuteronomy.

God says to Moses who in turn speaks to the escaped slaves of Egypt in Deuteronomy 6:23
"I have bought you out so I can bring you in" Before we can look at this statement we need to go back and read  Deuteronomy 4:37-38 "And because He loved you.....He brought you out......with His Presence". We see here that God's people are not alone, they are brought out by God's Presence. We see that the overriding fact is that God guides us by His Presence and cares for us by His Providence so everything that I talk about later on is contained within those two great words, Presence and Providence.

What have we been bought out of and what have we been bought into?

God wants to bring us out of a place of  bondage, a place where our worth is measured by how many bricks we can make to a place where we are valued for who we are, with no expectations except that of pleasing our redeemer and king. To God we are measured for who we are and not by what we do for Him. 


The call of God on our lives is not about being put into a position that compels us to repay God for His gracious acts but one that brings us into a new found freedom with Him, that then enables us to claim and move into the freedom that God intended for us at the outset of creation.


If we look at Deuteronomy chapters 6 - 9 we will find some insight into being set free from sin and how God promises to equip us so that we can establish ourselves with Him through life's circumstances.

Moses speaks to the people in Deuteronomy 7:1 and reminds them of God's greatness and how it was He who went before them and who continues to go before them. God calls the people of Israel to go into the promised land, the land promised to their forefathers, and claim it as their own inheritance. Our position in God is that we need to claim what is rightfully ours, we need to stand on the promise of eternal life and work out our salvation step by step and day by day. We have to posses by faith the uninhabited places in our lives for God.

God says "I will go before you and drive out". Notice that when God called the people out of Egypt He was in front and notice He says He will go before and drive out. So claiming the uninhabited places in our lives is not about what we can do in our own strength it is all about what God does on our behalf.

Paul puts it this way  Colossians 1:27 "Christ in you the hope of Glory"

We need to learn about the greatness of God and what He does not about what we think we are capable of, that is to demean God.  We need to begin to see God as Isaiah did in Isaiah 6:1 high and lifted up with His train filling the temple"

Lord help us to see how great you are and not to focus on our own limitations. Lord lead us into your promised land and help us to overcome and overthrow those places in our lives that are not of you.