Deuteronomy 1-2

We have an advantage that the fledgling nation of Israel didn’t have.
Read Deuteronomy 1-2
Our advantage is perspective.  We can relive the key events from 40 years of wandering in the desert in a few hours.   It’s easy for us to say “why are they lacking in faith”? Because we read of the Exodus, the crossing of the Red Sea, the failed scouting mission and the 40 years of wandering all at the same time.   We don’t need a refresher on what happened…in our context it all happened closely together.
 
But the people standing before Moses today have never been here before.  They were children at best when the Red Sea parted….many of them weren’t even born yet.  They have no recollection of how scared they were to enter the land “where there be giants”.   They have never felt the sting of the slave driver’s whip and cannot remember the delicacies of Egypt.  They have eaten manna for 40 years.  40 years!   and on the other side of this valley is a land flowing with milk and honey.
 
Moses has only to remind them that they need to remain obedient to God in order to be successful, and then turn them loose at the appropriate moment to unleash their fury upon the disobedient.  No one will be spared, nothing will be kept, all will be dedicated to the Lord as an offering of first fruits.   This is what “dedicated to destruction” means.   In the NLT it’s rephrased as “completely destroyed” 2:34.
 
We all need reminders of what God has done, and what God is doing among us.  That’s because God’s plans aren’t new with each generation, His plans cross from generation to generation, spanning thousands of years…actually, they go beyond time itself.   The reminder that we read today seems repetitive, since we just read about them a week ago.   And I’m sure that everyone standing in front of Moses today has heard all of this repeated before.  There isn’t any “new news” here.   So why bring it up again?
 
Probably because this was the one area in which Israel seems to get it wrong most often:  they don’t seem to be able to take past experiences with God and apply those lessons to today’s challenges.
 
God has done incredible things among us for a generation that is now passed.  And we are expected to have assimilated those lessons, so we can respond appropriately to today’s challenges.   Here’s what I am extracting today:  God expects me to make decisions based on how He has revealed Himself to me, and to others BEFORE me.  Some of the experiences that I need to make good decisions today are not my own experiences.   To say this another way,  I cannot stand before God and say “I didn’t do (whatever) because you didn’t reveal yourself to me in that way”.    If God has revealed Himself to my parents, or my grandparents…or to our ancestors back through time, we need to learn from that lesson and behave accordingly.
 
Suddenly I am confronted with the realization that I must face the giants.  I must go boldly into battle remembering that obedience is better than safety.  On the other side of my decision to follow Christ lies a land flowing with milk and honey, and I am finished eating manna.
 
Faithfully,
 
PR