Burunche’s Blog

Deuteronomy 4:32 – 40 “Indeed, ask now from one end of the heavens to the other about the days that long preceded you, from the day that God created man on earth: Has anything as great as this ever happened or been reported? Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived? Or has any god tried to take as his own a nation out of another nation—by trials, signs, wonders, and war, by a strong hand and an outstretched arm, and by great terrors—as the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, before your eyes?

You were shown these things so that you would know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides Him.

He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire. Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power, to drive out before you nations greater and mightier than you, and to bring you into their land and give it as your inheritance, as it is today.

Know therefore this day and take to heart that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth below; there is no other. Keep His statutes and commandments, which I am giving you today, so that you and your children after you may prosper, and that you may live long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

The Israelites made a bunch of mistakes, but the greatest mistake of all was taking God and His miracles for granted. Look at the record:

1. God spoke to the Israelites out of the fire.

2. God delivered the Israelites out of slavery, plucking them out of the most powerful nation on earth.

3. God worked miracles that effectively showed up every major god in the Egyptian religion. The final miracle was the Passover, with the death of every first – born in Egypt.

4. God sovereignly smashed and drowned the Egyptian army, trapping the chariots in the mud while the waters rushed in.

5. God allowed the Israelites to hear His voice and to see His fire and to hear Him speaking.

6. God remembered His covenant with Abraham, even though it took many generations for the fulfillment of that covenant.

7. God miraculously provided manna, quails, and water throughout their journey.

At the time Moses was speaking to his people, God was still accompanying them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night. Granted, those clouds and fire had been there for forty years, but how could the Israelites have been so callous as to ignore what God had already done for them? But despite everything that God had already done, despite untold miracles, eventually the Israelites still found excuses to wander away into idolatry.

APPLICATION: What miracles have you seen in your life recently? If you are reading this, you are already enjoying the miracles of vision. If you are handling a computer or a cell phone, you are experiencing the miracles of coordination and thought. If you are breathing easily, you are experiencing the miracles of healthy lungs. And if you have been able to eat something today, if you had a safe comfortable place to sleep last night, those things also were miracles.

We are surrounded by so many miracles each day that we fall into the same trap as the Israelites. We begin to take God for granted. But in many parts of the world, food, shelter, a safe place to rest, and clean air and clean water are impossibilities for thousands of people.

What do you do when you begin appreciating miracles? There is only one appropriate response: praise God, who has given us life and all these good things. None of us has done anything to deserve the blessings that we have received; yet, God continues to demonstrate His faithfulness.

“But what about those people who don’t have all these blessings?” you might ask. “Are they bad people? Does God really love them as much as He loves me?” Yes. God loves those people. But look what happened to the Israelites; they turned their backs on God and suffered the consequences. God wanted Israel to be a blessing to the nations, but the Israelites thought their blessings were only for themselves.

God has not blessed us so that we can hoard blessings. Blessings are given to be poured out to others. Begin today to ask God how He wants you to share all your blessings.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Thank You for the blessings You have given us. Help us to share those blessings wherever You lead us. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 4:15 – 31 “So since you saw no form of any kind on the day the LORD spoke to you out of the fire at Horeb, be careful that you do not act corruptly and make an idol for yourselves of any form or shape, whether in the likeness of a male or female, of any beast on the earth or bird that flies in the air, or of any creature that crawls on the ground or fish in the waters below.

When you look to the heavens and see the sun and moon and stars—all the host of heaven—do not be enticed to bow down and worship what the LORD your God has apportioned to all the nations under heaven. Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.

The LORD, however, was angry with me on account of you, and He swore that I would not cross the Jordan to enter the good land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance. For I will not be crossing the Jordan, because I must die in this land. But you shall cross over and take possession of that good land.

Be careful that you do not forget the covenant of the LORD your God that He made with you; do not make an idol for yourselves in the form of anything He has forbidden you. For the LORD your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

After you have children and grandchildren and you have been in the land a long time, if you then act corruptly and make an idol in the form of anything, doing evil in the sight of the LORD your God and provoking Him to anger, I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live long upon it, but will be utterly destroyed.

Then the LORD will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the LORD will drive you. And there you will serve man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

But if from there you will seek the LORD your God, you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the LORD your God and listen to His voice. For the LORD your God is a merciful God; He will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the covenant with your fathers, which He swore to them by oath.

God is sovereign, but God is also far bigger than anything on our planet earth. The urge to worship is part of human nature; unfortunately, humans are also very prone to want to worship things that they can see, touch, or even hear. When the Israelites left Egypt, they were leaving a culture with a huge number of gods of various shapes and sizes. According to https://www.worldhistory.org/article/885/egyptian-gods—the-complete-list/, there were more than 2,000 gods in the Egyptian pantheon! The Israelites had 400 years in which to become familiar with these deities. Several times, Moses ordered the Israelites to put away their gods, presumably small idols that they had brought with them from Egypt. It’s likely that much of the gold and silver jewelry the Israelites collected from the Egyptians might also have born the images of some of these gods. And there would certainly have been temptations. For example, pregnant women might have wanted to carry the image of Tawaret. The Ancient Egyptian goddess Tawaret, or Thoueris, was the protective goddess of mother and child during pregnancy, childbirth, and nursing.

Here, not only is Moses sternly warning his people against idolatry, but he is also calling on heaven and earth as witnesses. Any Israelite choosing to go into idolatry can expect destruction and slavery in a foreign land where they will be forced to worship worthless idols. But God is also promising that those who will turn away from idols and worship Him will be delivered. No matter how faithless humans might prove to be, God is forever faithful and forever keeps his covenants.

APPLICATION: Who or what is your god? What is the most important thing in your life? If money or your work is most important, or your family, or a pastime such as collecting antique or following your favorite sports team, those things are your gods. Jobs can disappear, and sports teams can fail. If the recent pandemic has taught us anything, it has taught us that sometimes no amount of money, no advanced treatments, may be sufficient when health fails completely.

“But,” you ask, “what is wrong with placing a high value on my family?” There’s nothing wrong with loving and valuing your family. But there are some parents who literally worship one or more of their children for their athletic prowess or their scholastic achievements or for their musical talent or their acting ability. Such worship of an individual is not only wrong but it also puts an undue burden on the person being worshiped. And what if the child star suddenly wants to stop and try something else or has compelling reasons to withdraw from an event?

God specifically refused to manifest Himself as a form that could be copied when He was speaking to the Israelites out of the fire. Years later, Jesus told the Samaritan woman that “God is a spirit, and those who worship Him must worship Him in spirit and in truth.” John 4:24 Only the eternal everlasting God is truly worthy of worship. Today we should search our hearts and ask ourselves whom we are worshiping.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and caring for us. Help us to give up our idols and to truly worship only You. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 4:1 – 14 “Hear now, O Israel, the statutes and ordinances I am teaching you to follow so that you may live, and may enter and take possession of the land that the LORD, the God of your fathers, is giving you. You must not add to or subtract from what I command you, so that you may keep the commandments of the LORD your God that I am giving you.

Your eyes have seen what the LORD did at Baal-peor, for the LORD your God destroyed from among you all who followed Baal of Peor. But you who held fast to the LORD your God are alive to this day, every one of you.

See, I have taught you statutes and ordinances just as the LORD my God has commanded me, so that you may follow them in the land you are about to enter and possess. Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

For what nation is so great as to have a god as near to them as the LORD our God is to us whenever we call on Him? And what nation is so great as to have righteous statutes and ordinances like this entire law I set before you today?

Only be on your guard and diligently watch yourselves, so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen, and so that they do not slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and grandchildren. The day you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, “Gather the people before Me to hear My words, so that they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and that they may teach them to their children.”

You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness. And the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone. At that time the LORD commanded me to teach you the statutes and ordinances you are to follow in the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”

News flash! The ancient Israelites were not the only people to have statutes and ordinances. The Code of Hammurabi was written in Babylonia in 1755 – 1750 B.C. Some of the tenets of that Code resemble some parts of the laws God gave to Moses, particularly, the idea of lex talionis – “an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” Was Moses a copy cat? Not necessarily. Why couldn’t God make His Will known to more than one set of people? But the difference between Mosaic law and the Code of Hammurabi was the setting in which the laws were given.

When God gave the law to Moses, the Israelites stood at the foot of a mountain “blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.” And the Lord spoke to them out of the fire. That same God continued to demonstrate his constant Presence to His people by accompanying them on their journey as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

Moses knows that he will soon die and that the Israelites will go on without him. But Moses also knows that these same people are as willful as a bunch of sheep, wandering after the next tender blade of grass. This is why Moses is practically begging his people to follow these laws and to teach them to their children so that all the surrounding nations will marvel. “Observe them carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding in the sight of the peoples, who shall hear of all these statutes and say, “Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.”

APPLICATION: A popular song from the 1970’s told us “Teach your children well!” These days many of us are distracted by our jobs, by current events, and by social media. Many parents are leaving their children to get all their values from TikTok, You Tube, and online gaming. While social media posts may inflame our emotions, they leave us without lasting values.

The warnings Moses gave the Israelites still apply to us. If we want our children to know God, we are the ones who must teach them. If we truly love God, we must be willing to tell those around us about Him. The literal meaning of the term “gospel” is “good news.” With all the bad news assailing us, we need all the good news we can get. The good news of the Gospel is that God is just, loving, merciful, all – knowing, and all – powerful, and that He has given good counsel for His people. But if we are to know God, we must read His word and teach it to our children.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Give us a hunger to know You and to study Your Word, so that we will be able to share it with our children and our friends and neighbors. In the mighty and precious Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 3:23 – 29 “At that time I also pleaded with the LORD: “O Lord GOD, You have begun to show Your greatness and power to Your servant. For what god in heaven or on earth can perform such works and mighty acts as Yours? Please let me cross over and see the beautiful land beyond the Jordan—that wonderful hill country and Lebanon!”

But the LORD was angry with me on account of you, and He would not listen to me. “That is enough,” the LORD said to me. “Do not speak to Me again about this matter. Go to the top of Pisgah and look to the west and north and south and east. See the land with your own eyes, for you will not cross this Jordan. But commission Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, for he will cross over ahead of the people and enable them to inherit the land that you will see.”

So we stayed in the valley opposite Beth-peor.”

Poor Moses! After all the struggles, all the suffering, all the rebellion, death threats, not to mention disappointments and discouragements, after all these things, God still refused to allow Moses to enter the Promised Land. Why did God do this? Why was God so cruel to Moses?

For the answer to this question, we have to go back to Numbers 20. The Israelites had entered the Wilderness of Zin, and there was no water. Per usual, the whole bunch immediately began whining and complaining and insulting Moses and Aaron. When Moses and Aaron went before the Lord, He ordered them to speak to a large rocky outcropping and water would come forth. Unfortunately, Moses was furious and resentful at his followers. Instead of speaking to the rock, Moses stood before the Israelites and said, ““Listen now, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the congregation and their livestock were able to drink.

But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” (Numbers 20:10 – 12)

Forty years of ministry – forty years of attempting to be faithful – forty years of waiting to enter the Promised Land, the goal of all that suffering – Moses and Aaron both lost their chances to set foot on the soil of the Promised Land through a single act of arrogant disobedience. God wanted Moses and Aaron to speak to the rock and not to touch it so that God could do something truly magnificent and be glorified. But God had Moses strike a rock the first time He brought forth water,and Moses was not thinking clearly. Aaron, of course, was willing to go along with whatever Moses did because Aaron was a follower and not a leader. It’s likely that once Aaron and Moses left the Tabernacle, they actually intended to obey God. But on the way to the rock, the Israelites began jeering until all the two men could hear was the roar of the crowd. By the time Moses and Aaron reached the rock, all Moses could think of was all the abuse that Aaron and he had already taken from these people. Moses was furious, and in his fury, he called the Israelites rebels and then acted as though Aaron and he were the ones bringing forth water from the rock, striking the rock with his rod. It only took a few minutes for Moses to lose the chance of a lifetime through his anger. James 1:20 says, “Because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.”

God was merciful to Moses and allowed him to ascend Mount Pisgah and see the Promised Land from there. But once Moses glimpsed the Promised Land, he would die on the mountain. Moses did humble himself and beg God to allow him to enter the Promised Land, but it was too late. Now Moses’s main job was to commission Joshua, encourage him, and strengthen him, so that Joshua would be prepared to lead the people across the Jordan and into the Promised Land.

APPLICATION: Psalm 37:8 says, “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.” By the time Moses made this tragic mistake at the waters of Meribah, he had already taken a huge amount of undeserved abuse. Very few of us would be able to stand the strain as well as Moses did. But Moses’ problem was compounded by the fact that he did not get rid of his anger and that he remained offended. All it took was a crisis to trip the trigger on Moses’ anger.

Ephesians 4:26 tells us, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger…” When we fail to deal promptly with anger and a spirit of offense, we leave ourselves open to spiritual corrosion. The longer we hang onto our anger, the worse things become. Someone who is easily offended can also be easily manipulated; all you have to do is to push in the right direction and boom! that person is off on a tangent. If disappointment is one of Satan’s biggest tools, our own anger is another.

When we fail to face our anger and resentment and to confess them as sin, we leave ourselves open to satanic attack. We are literally handing Satan our heads on a platter. How can we deal effectively with this problem? First, we must recognize that we are angry and offended. We may well feel that we have a right to be angry, that we have been insulted and vilified. But if we truly want to behave as children of God, we must give up our right to be offended. Jesus Christ was insulted, beaten, and crucified; yet, as he was dying on that cross, he begged his heavenly Father to forgive the very men who were crucifying him.

Second, we must ask God to help us forgive those who have hurt us and who are continuing to hurt us. Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves, because those who are offending us generally remain untouched by our anger. Our resentment does nothing but cloud our judgment.

Third, we must keep short accounts; that is, we must train ourselves to forgive as quickly as possible. I have previously told the story of a church leader who sat on a platform while a guest speaker insulted him in front of his congregation. One of the other speakers overheard this leader saying, “I will not be offended. I will not be offended!” That man knew the secret of dealing with anger and offense and was not even waiting until the end of the program because he knew that he would not be able to minister effectively if he did not forgive quickly.

Don’t be like Moses! Moses forfeited his biggest dream because of one act of anger. Ask God to help you, for He will gladly do so.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Lord, help us to learn to forgive quickly and completely so that we are not carrying around toxic emotional waste. Thank You for Jesus, who went to the cross for our sins and who prayed for his tormenters even as he was dying. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 3:12 – 22 “So at that time we took possession of this land. To the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the land beyond Aroer along the Arnon Valley, and half the hill country of Gilead, along with its cities. To the half-tribe of Manasseh I gave the rest of Gilead and all of Bashan, the kingdom of Og. (The entire region of Argob, the whole territory of Bashan, used to be called the land of the Rephaim.) Jair, a descendant of Manasseh, took the whole region of Argob as far as the border of the Geshurites and Maacathites. He renamed Bashan after himself, Havvoth-jair, by which it is called to this day.

To Machir I gave Gilead, and to the Reubenites and Gadites I gave the territory from Gilead to the Arnon Valley (the middle of the valley was the border) and up to the Jabbok River, the border of the Ammonites. The Jordan River in the Arabah bordered it from Chinnereth (Sea of Galilee) to the Sea of the Arabah (the Salt Sea ) with the slopes of Pisgah to the east.

At that time I commanded you: “The LORD your God has given you this land to possess. All your men of valor are to cross over, armed for battle, ahead of your brothers, the Israelites. But your wives, your children, and your livestock—I know that you have much livestock—may remain in the cities I have given you, until the LORD gives rest to your brothers as He has to you, and they too have taken possession of the land that the LORD your God is giving them, across the Jordan. Then each of you may return to the possession I have given you.”

And at that time I commanded Joshua: “Your own eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter. Do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God Himself will fight for you.”

Moses is continuing to describe the conquest of the land east of the Jordan River that is modern – day Syria. At the time of Moses, the land had such rich grazing that the Reubenites, the Gadites, the tribe of Manasseh, asked for that land as a possession because they had large flocks and herds. In exchange, these tribes promised that even though their families would remain east of the Jordan, they would accompany the rest of the Israelites as they moved westward to conquer Canaan. Although the map shows the Jordan River between what is now known as the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea, the Jordan actually has its origins on the slopes of Mount Hermon in the far north. Several streams emanate from the slopes of Mount Hermon to come together to form the Jordan River, flowing southward into the Sea of Galilee and then on to the Dead Sea.

APPLICATION: The key verses in this entire passage are verses 21 – 22: “And at that time I commanded Joshua: “Your own eyes have seen all that the LORD your God has done to these two kings. The LORD will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter. Do not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God Himself will fight for you.”

By this point, Moses has led the Israelites for nearly forty years; he has faced anarchy, death threats, the descent of his followers into idolatry, and other problems too numerous to count. Moses realizes that it is Joshua who must lead the Israelites across the Jordan to conquer the rest of the land. Moses is passing on his hard – won knowledge to Joshua. What has kept Moses going all these years is the memories of what God has already done for the Israelites and his continued worship of the Lord.

Think about it! When the Israelites threatened to stone Moses and Aaron, Moses reminded himself of the night of the Exodus and how God totally annihilated the most powerful army in the world before Moses’s eyes. When the Israelites complained about their struggles in the wilderness, Moses remembered the miraculous manna and quails. And throughout all the wanderings of the Israelites, God continued to accompany them, manifesting Himself as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.

When you are bent on throwing a pity party, the last person you want around is somebody who is grateful! But self – pity really is of the devil. Self pity digs an ever – deeper hole. The only way out of such a hole is gratitude. And the surest means of operating gratefully is to remember what God has already done for you.

When we first came to Saboba in 1993, one friend taught us a song that sums up what we should be doing.

“When I think what the Lord has done,

He has done so much for me!

I will give my life to thee

As a living sacrifice.

I will give my life to thee

As a living sacrifice.”

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for all that You have done for us! We are alive, and we can read these devotionals. You have cared for us from our births even up to today. Lord, help us to remember all that You have done and that You are doing for us! Help us to be grateful and to praise you. For gratitude and praising You will lift us out of the deepest holes we can dig for ourselves. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 3:1 – 11 “Then we turned and went up the road to Bashan, and Og king of Bashan and his whole army came out to meet us in battle at Edrei. But the LORD said to me, “Do not fear him, for I have delivered him into your hands, along with all his people and his land. Do to him as you did to Sihon king of the Amorites, who lived in Heshbon.” So the LORD our God also delivered Og king of Bashan and his whole army into our hands. We struck them down until no survivor was left.

At that time we captured all sixty of his cities. There was not a single city we failed to take—the entire region of Argob, the kingdom of Og in Bashan. All these cities were fortified with high walls and gates and bars, and there were many more unwalled villages. We devoted them to destruction, as we had done to Sihon king of Heshbon, utterly destroying the men, women, and children of every city. But all the livestock and plunder of the cities we carried off for ourselves.

At that time we took from the two kings of the Amorites the land across the Jordan, from the Arnon Valley as far as Mount Hermon— which the Sidonians call Sirion but the Amorites call Senir— all the cities of the plateau, all Gilead, and all Bashan as far as the cities of Salecah and Edrei in the kingdom of Og. (For only Og king of Bashan had remained of the remnant of the Rephaim. His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.) (Og’s bed was approximately 14 feet long and 6 feet wide (4.3 meters long and 1.8 meters wide).

Just how big was King Og of Bashan? Accounts claim that Og was probably at least 13 feet tall – that’s like putting two huge pro basketball players, one on top of the other. Were there really giants? Possibly. Although there have been tantalizing reports of the finding of giant skeletons, many of these “finds” have turned out to be fakes. But the phrase that argues for the truth of the story about King Og is this: “His bed of iron, nine cubits long and four cubits wide, is still in Rabbah of the Ammonites.” Quite evidently, Moses feared that later generations would refuse to believe just how BIG Og really was, so he included the information regarding Og’s bed as a reference.

No matter the size of King Og, he was certainly bigger than any of his subjects or any of the Israelites. The Amorites had a reputation as fierce fighters in addition. It is interesting that God had the Israelites tackle Sihon before they attacked Og. Presumably, Sihon was a normal – sized man and therefore less intimidating. Once the Israelites realized that God really WAS helping them, they could build on their defeat of Sihon to wipe out Og and his sixty villages with all their people.

Where was Bashan? The Encyclopedia Britannica tells us that “Bashan was located in what is now Syria. Bashan was the northernmost of the three ancient divisions of eastern Palestine, and in the Old Testament it was proverbial for its rich pastures and thick forests. In New Testament times, Bashan numbered as one of the great granaries of the Roman Empire.”

APPLICATION: Procrastination is one of the most seductive temptations that many of us must face. We can make up our minds to do anything….. if we only can wait until tomorrow. But the longer we put something off, the larger the problem looms. Wait long enough, and your small problems may truly look like giants.

King Og may have been one of the largest giants that the Israelites had or face. The important word here is “face.” Rather than sit in the tents and whine about how big Og was and how terrible he might be, the Israelites simply went out and attacked. And once the Israelites had killed Og, the rest of the Amorites were probably demoralized and much easier to defeat.

Giant problems confront all of us. As I am writing, several of my friends are coping with family members with daunting health problems. In one case, the family must move a beloved relative into hospice; in another a faithful husband is driving eighty miles round – way several times a week to encourage his wife and to make sure that her rehabilitation after a major illness goes smoothly. One wife is waiting to hear how much brain damage her husband’s MRI will reveal after he has had several seizures. But in all these cases, my friends are facing the giants. When we face giants, we at least have an accurate idea of their size. When we try to avoid giants, we automatically inflate their images in our minds.

May we look to God to help us as He did the Israelites! And may we continue to face our giants, rather than running away from them.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us! Help us to realize that You are always there to support us and that when we are doing Your will, we can rest assured that You will give us strength and courage that we do not have by ourselves. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 2:24 – 37 (God continues His instructions to the Israelites) “Arise, set out, and cross the Arnon Valley. See, I have delivered into your hand Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land. Begin to take possession of it and engage him in battle. This very day I will begin to put the dread and fear of you upon all the nations under heaven. They will hear the reports of you and tremble in anguish because of you.”

So from the Wilderness of Kedemoth I sent messengers with an offer of peace to Sihon king of Heshbon, saying, “Let us pass through your land; we will stay on the main road. We will not turn to the right or to the left. You can sell us food to eat and water to drink in exchange for silver. Only let us pass through on foot, just as the descendants of Esau who live in Seir and the Moabites who live in Ar did for us, until we cross the Jordan into the land that the LORD our God is giving us.”

But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might give him into your hands, as is the case this day.

Then the LORD said to me, “See, I have begun to deliver Sihon and his land over to you. Now begin to conquer and possess his land.”

So Sihon and his whole army came out for battle against us at Jahaz. And the LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we defeated him and his sons and his whole army.

At that time we captured all his cities and devoted to destruction the people of every city, including women and children. We left no survivors. We carried off for ourselves only the livestock and the plunder from the cities we captured.

From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them. But you did not go near the land of the Ammonites, or the land along the banks of the Jabbok River, or the cities of the hill country, or any place that the LORD our God had forbidden.”

If the name “Amorites” sounds familiar, it should. Remember the conversation between God and Abraham back in Genesis 15? God told Abraham that Abraham’s descendants would not return to the Promised Land for several generations because “the iniquity of the Amorites was not yet complete.” Actually, Abraham was friends with some of the Amorite chiefs and they behaved honorably. But evidently over the years, the Amorites became far more corrupt and now God was choosing to end their existence as a people. (In fact, the Amorites were never completely wiped out but the survivors were eventually incorporated into the culture of Israel.)

The two main chiefs of the Amorites were Sihon and Og. This passage describes the complete destruction of Sihon along with all his people, including women and children. At first we are horrified at this idea; however, God has given the Amorites hundreds of years to repent and behave righteously. Evidently, the Amorites have merely gone from bad to worse. It’s possible that even the children were dedicated to demons from the womb.

The Israelites blew their first opportunity to conquer the Promised Land and paid dearly for their cowardice and unbelief. But this time, the Israelites moved forward in faith; and when they did, God went before them and “put the dread and fear of them on all the nations under heaven.” And in fact, the nations did hear the reports of the Israelites and they did tremble in anguish because of them.

The most amazing thing was Moses’s description: “From Aroer on the rim of the Arnon Valley, along with the city in the valley, even as far as Gilead, not one city had walls too high for us. The LORD our God gave us all of them.”

We don’t know the height of all of these city walls; however, the walls of ancient Jericho were built on an earthen embankment that supported a stone retaining wall 12 – 15 feet high. On top of the stone retaining wall, stood another wall made of mud bricks 6 feet thick and 20 – 26 feet high. Together these two walls combined to form a fortification 32 – 41 feet high. (https://www.israel-a-history-of.com/walls-of-jericho.html) Assuming that some of these other city walls were equally massive, Moses’s assertion is even more impressive.

APPLICATION: So many times we frighten ourselves by anticipating problems. The ten spies who spread fear about the giants in the Promised Land made no allowance for the might of the God who had already delivered them and protected them. Once the Israelites began following God’s orders regarding the conquest of the Amorites, God began moving. Rumors about the ferocity of the Israelites spread throughout the region, demoralizing their enemies.

Perhaps you have been contemplating something you know that God wants you to do but that you are afraid to do. Don’t make the same mistakes the Israelites made: they defeated themselves before they faced the first enemy. Go forward and make a start, trusting that God will reward acts of faithfulness.

PRAYER: Father God, thank You that when we follow Your orders, You will help us to do exploits. Thank You for loving us, for caring for us, and for strengthening us to carry out Your will. In the mighty and precious Name of Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 2:16 – 23 “Now when all the fighting men among the people had died, the LORD said to me, “Today you are going to cross the border of Moab at Ar. But when you get close to the Ammonites, do not harass them or provoke them, for I will not give you any of the land of the Ammonites. I have given it as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”

(That too was regarded as the land of the Rephaim, who used to live there, though the Ammonites called them Zamzummites. They were a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place, just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor (a part of Egypt) and settled in their place.)

Remember the horror stories the ten spies brought back about the giants in the Promised Land? Those were the stories that cost the Israelites 38 more years of wandering until all the fighting men of that generation had died. Why did God insist on waiting until all of the fighting men had died? Any one of those men, had he been courageous, had the potential to rally the people and to confront the ten spies and call them out for their cowardice. But the fighting men stayed in their tents, refusing to take any risks. As long as one of those faithless men remained, he still had the potential to discourage the younger generations.

God had already told the Israelites that He has chosen them for a special purpose, to demonstrate His Glory and His Holiness to the nations. But look at the information in this passage. God is now warning the Israelites to leave the Ammonites alone because He has given that land to the Ammonites as a possession. We also find that originally the land of the Ammonites also contained giants, Rephaim, or Zamzummites. “But the LORD destroyed them from before the Ammonites, who drove them out and settled in their place, just as He had done for the descendants of Esau who lived in Seir, when He destroyed the Horites before them. They drove them out and have lived in their place to this day. And the Avvim, who lived in villages as far as Gaza, were destroyed by the Caphtorites, who came out of Caphtor and settled in their place.)”

Wait a minute! These verses mean that God was not only guiding and protecting the Israelites, who were presumably worshiping Him, but also helping the Ammonites, who were descendants of Lot as well as helping the descendants of Esau? That’s correct. While the Israelites were quaking in their tents in fear of giants in Canaan, God was already destroying similar giants and enabling the Ammonites and Esau’s descendants to drive them out and conquer the lands God had allotted to them.

God chose Israel because He wanted to demonstrate to the world what could happen if a people were completely dedicated to Him. But God did not hate the Ammonites or Esau’s descendants. God had promised Abraham in Genesis 15:4 that Abraham’s descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky, and that promise extended to Esau’s descendants. Even though Lot was only Abraham’s nephew and a greedy one at that, God was still blessing Lot’s descendants because of Abraham.

APPLICATION: Did the Israelites realize that God had already destroyed giants for other tribes? Who knows? They had been out in the desert, so perhaps they didn’t have that information. But there is no record of hesitation on the part of the Ammonites or the descendants of Esau. When these groups saw an opportunity to defeat the giants, they took it.

Sometimes we want to believe that God is particularly favoring one nation over others. But John 3:16 tells us that “God so loved the WORLD, that He gave His only begotten Son…” Truly, God was not only guiding the Israelites but also guiding other nations as well, even though those nations did not truly know Him.

If we honor God in our lives, God will help us. But there will still be giants. There will always be giants. And we must always realize that God’s love for the world is a global one. God will guide any nation as much as they will allow Him to do so. At the same time, nations that shun the One True Living God and insist on idolatry will eventually fall, consumed by their own wickedness. May we follow hard after God all the days of our lives and may we intercede for all the nations of the world. For it is God’s will that

”…the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea.” (Habakkuk 2:14)

PRAYER: Father God, thank You that You have good plans for the whole world! Lord, let the knowledge of Your Glory fill the world, so that people in every nation will praise Your Holy Name. In the matchless Name of King Jesus. Amen.

Deuteronomy 2:1 – 15 “Then we turned back and headed for the wilderness by way of the Red Sea, as the LORD had instructed me, and for many days we wandered around Mount Seir. At this time the LORD said to me, “You have been wandering around this hill country long enough; turn to the north and command the people: ‘You will pass through the territory of your brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. They will be afraid of you, so you must be very careful. Do not provoke them, for I will not give you any of their land, not even a footprint, because I have given Esau Mount Seir as his possession. You are to pay them in silver for the food you eat and the water you drink.’”

Indeed, the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He has watched over your journey through this vast wilderness. The LORD your God has been with you these forty years, and you have lacked nothing.

So we passed by our brothers, the descendants of Esau, who live in Seir. We turned away from the Arabah road, which comes up from Elath and Ezion-geber, and traveled along the road of the Wilderness of Moab. Then the LORD said to me, “Do not harass the Moabites or provoke them to war, for I will not give you any of their land, because I have given Ar as a possession to the descendants of Lot.”

(The Emites used to live there, a people great and many, as tall as the Anakites. Like the Anakites, they were also regarded as Rephaim, though the Moabites called them Emites. The Horites used to live in Seir, but the descendants of Esau drove them out. They destroyed the Horites from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land that the LORD gave them as their possession.)

“Now arise and cross over the Brook of Zered.” So we crossed over the Brook of Zered.

The time we spent traveling from Kadesh-barnea until we crossed over the Brook of Zered was thirty-eight years, until that entire generation of fighting men had perished from the camp, as the LORD had sworn to them. Indeed, the LORD’s hand was against them, to eliminate them from the camp, until they had all perished.”

Thirty – eight years! After the Israelites failed to enter the Promised Land according to God’s orders, they wandered in the wilderness for thirty – eight years until the entire generation of fighting men had died, leaving only Joshua and Caleb among the living.

If you look at the map, you will realize that the Israelites were following the King’s Highway north until they crossed the Brook of Zered, also known as the Zered River. As the Israelites traveled, God gave them very specific instructions about how to behave towards the tribes they were to encounter, including ordering payment of silver for food and water. After watching all the fighting men who had rebelled against the Lord die off, their children and grandchildren were ready to follow God’s orders VERY carefully!

APPLICATION: What must the younger Israelites have thought as they watched the older fighting men die off one by one? The fate of these men must have served as a graphic illustration that God really was not kidding when he gave instructions. These deaths might also have served as a lesson for the next generations so that they would faithfully follow God’s orders.

What must these fighting men have thought as they watched one another die? Were their hearts still hardened or did they repent in tears, begging the Lord to save their descendants from a similar fate?

Jesus once quoted a parable to his followers that “The fathers have eaten sour grapes and the children’s teeth have been set on edge.” We must always remember that we are not merely living for ourselves, but also for those who come after us.

Steve Green has a song entitled “May All Who Come Behind Us Find Us Faithful. The words can serve as our prayer for today:

We’re pilgrims on the journey Of the narrow road,
And those who’ve gone before us Line the way.
Cheering on the faithful, Encouraging the weary,
Their lives a stirring testament To god’s sustaining grace.
O may all who come behind us Find us faithful,
May the fire of our devotion Light their way.
May the footprints that we leave, Lead them to believe,
And the lives we live Inspire them to obey.
O may all who come behind us find us faithful.

… Surrounded by so great A cloud of witnesses,
Let us run the race Not only for the prize,
But as those who’ve gone before us. Let us leave to those behind us,
The heritage of faithfulness Passed on thru godly lives.
After all our hopes and dreams Have come and gone,
And our children sift thru all We’ve left behind,
May the clues that they discover, And the mem’ries they uncover,
Become the light that leads them, To the road we each must find.

O may all who come behind us Find us faithful.

Deuteronomy 1:34 – 46 “When the LORD heard your words, He grew angry and swore an oath, saying, “Not one of the men of this evil generation shall see the good land I swore to give your fathers, except Caleb the son of Jephunneh. He will see it, and I will give him and his descendants the land on which he has set foot, because he followed the LORD wholeheartedly.”

The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land. Joshua son of Nun, who stands before you, will enter it. Encourage him, for he will enable Israel to inherit the land. And the little ones you said would become captives—your children who on that day did not know good from evil—will enter the land that I will give them, and they will possess it. But you are to turn back and head for the wilderness along the route to the Red Sea. ”

 Defeat at Hormah (First told in Numbers 14:40-45)

“We have sinned against the LORD,” you replied. “We will go up and fight, as the LORD our God has commanded us.” Then each of you put on his weapons of war, thinking it easy to go up into the hill country. But the LORD said to me, “Tell them not to go up and fight, for I am not with you to keep you from defeat by your enemies.” So I spoke to you, but you would not listen. You rebelled against the command of the LORD and presumptuously went up into the hill country. Then the Amorites who lived in the hills came out against you and chased you like a swarm of bees. They routed you from Seir all the way to Hormah. And you returned and wept before the LORD, but He would not listen to your voice or give ear to you. For this reason you stayed in Kadesh for a long time—a very long time.”

The Israelites have gotten themselves into a really deep hole with only one way out: repentance. Unfortunately, repentance does not appear to be in their vocabulary. God has already told the Israelites that nobody in this present generation of adults, including Moses, will enter the Promised Land and that they need to go back to the wilderness along the same route they have taken from the Red Sea. Suddenly, these same people who totally refused to obey God now want to do their will in God’s Name, despite the fact that He is warning them that it will be a disaster.

The Israelites try to take on the Amorites without God’s protection and suffer a resounding defeat. Once defeated, the Israelites return and weep before the Lord, but He is not listening. Why not?

APPLICATION: There’s a country Gospel song that says, “Too much thunder, and no enough rain. Too many programs and not enough praying.” The story of the first generation of Israelites to escape from Egypt is really a sad one. After a miraculous deliverance and continued miracles along the way, these people are poised to enter the Promised Land… until they listen to a bunch of frightening reports. Suddenly, they forget everything God has done and the way God has protected them. Then when it’s too late to salvage the situation, they sit down and weep buckets of tears. At no point is there any indication that these Israelites are actually repenting, only that they are hoping that if they cry long enough, they will get their own way. Why doesn’t God listen to all these lamentations?

1. If the Israelites are seriously repenting, there should be a record of their leaders going to Moses and begging him to intercede with God on their behalf. No such intercession has been made.

2. God has already laid down regulations regarding offerings for sin and for repentance. The Tabernacle and the Levitical priesthood are already in place; however, there is no record of any such offerings being made, despite the fact that the Israelites have grieved God their Protector.

3. There is no record of the Israelites fasting or giving up any of the small idols that they may still have been hauling around as spiritual insurance. The Israelites seem to feel that they are clean enough, not realizing that disobedience and rebellion are two of the biggest sins of all.

We read these accounts and feel a bit smug. After all, we have never behaved like this. But have we? Have there been times in our lives when we have truly blown it and failed to follow God’s will for our lives? At that point, have we truly repented or have we merely felt sorry for ourselves as we have been stuck with the results of our own disobedience?

Whether or not we choose to accept it, God’s ways are still righteous and just. Truth is not relative and God’s Will is the only safe guide for our lives. God has promised in Psalm 32:8, “I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.”

The first rule of holes is: If you find yourself in a hole, stop digging! If you will stop and look up, God will be there to help you. But as long as you try to do it yourself, the hole will only get deeper!

PRAYER: Father God, thank You for loving us and for caring for us. Help us to constantly look to You for guidance, being assured that You will graciously give it. In the mighty Name of King Jesus. Amen.