Day 84

Deuteronomy 4:1-49; Luke 6:39–7:10; Psalm 68:1-18; Proverbs 11:28

MOSES CONCLUDED HIS first of three discourses that comprise the book of Deuteronomy in our reading today. In this discourse, he reminded the people of their covenant with God and the importance of remembering and obeying it.

“Now search all of history,” Moses pleaded, “from the time God created people on the earth until now, and search from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything as great as this ever been seen or heard before?” (Deuteronomy 4:32).

Moses then reiterated that there is only one God. Invitations to worship lesser things would certainly come, but if God’s people would remember who they were, how they got where they were, and who God truly is, they would prosper. Unfortunately, this would not always be the story for them —and we struggle in the same ways.

Jesus spoke of these same struggles in our reading from Luke today: “Why do you keep calling me ‘Lord, Lord!’ when you don’t do what I say?” He asked (Luke 6:46).

Jesus was offering a worldview that would lead people to peace and wholeness, as was Moses. If we want this wholeness, we also must never forget who we are, how we got here, and who the one true God is. This is the way life is supposed to work. The problem is that we want to fashion our own lives in ways that will not work. When we behave in ways that make us the sovereign, rather than the one true God, we have forgotten who we are, how we got here, and who God is. This has always been the human condition, since early in the Genesis account.

Moses pleaded with the children of Israel. Jesus did the same with the people of His time. And their words are calling to us from the Bible today. May we find hope for the life we were created to live from the words of Jesus:

I will show you what it’s like when someone comes to me, listens to my teaching, and then follows it. It is like a person building a house who digs deep and lays the foundation on solid rock. When the floodwaters rise and break against that house, it stands firm because it is well built.

WORSHIP:

Sing praises to God and to his name! Sing loud praises to him who rides the clouds. His name is the LORD —rejoice in his presence!