Have you “Crossed the Jordan?”
Deuteronomy 12:8-10 (MSG)
Don't continue doing things the way we're doing them at present, each of us doing as we wish. 9 Until now you haven't arrived at the goal, the resting place, the inheritance that GOD, your God, is giving you. 10 But the minute you cross the Jordan River and settle into the land GOD, your God, is enabling you to inherit, he'll give you rest from all your surrounding enemies. You'll be able to settle down and live in safety. Deuteronomy 12:8-10 (MSG)
Pastor’s Blog
What do you think your future holds if you continue doing things as you are doing them now?
The Hebrew people are told they can’t just keep on doing what they’ve always done if they want to live well in the promised land, if they want the crossing of the Jordan to be an event that lives up to its billing as the land of milk and honey, the land of blessings and joy, the land that would be the envy of nations.
In other words the people would have to change.
Chapters 12 - 26 contain the new rules for living under the rule of God. The new rules are detailed, counterintuitive to their previous lives, and I’m sure many people thought some of the new rules were ridiculous.
So, what else is new? What teenager doesn’t think his parents rules make no sense. Who likes rules anyway?
Yet the old storyline holds true. God knows more than we. He knows how we must live in order to flourish. He knows how broken the world in which we live is. And he provides the grace of showing us how to live well in the midst of it. As Moses states over and over again throughout Deuteronomy (something he rarely mentioned in Exodus, if ever) “these commandments and decrees are for your own good”
So, have you crossed the Jordan? Have you entered the land of promise and abundance which the Lord has promised to believers including you? Is it possible that you have, but, like so many of the Israelites, have simply never chosen to live in it in the only way that abundance is experienced . . . . through obedience?
(to post your thoughts, anonymously if you wish, simply click on “comments” below)
This teaching on Deuteronomy is the best! "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. In him was life; and the life was the light of men. And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not." Our Savior didn't just show up in the gospels. In showing us His majesty and might you allow us to join Isaiah and John, on our faces in awe and reverence of Who He is. There is safety and joy in obedience. I'm thankful for this wonderful teaching.
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