Moses was delivering his last and
final speech to the Israelites and it is recorded here in
Deuteronomy. One of the things that stand out for me is that he
time and again urges the Israelites to continue to follow and obey
the Lord. He repeated it a number of times in his speech. For
example:
"So be careful not to break the
covenant the Lord your God has made with you." Deuteronomy
4:23
"Stay on the path that the Lord
your God has commanded you to follow. Then you will live long and
prosperous lives in the land you are about to enter and occupy."
Deuteronomy 5:33
"If you obey all His laws and
commands, you will enjoy a long life." Deuteronomy 6:2
Moses urged them to obey God and
not to wander off the road that He had planned for them. Moses knew
how serious it was if they disobeyed God and followed their own
path. He knew that God would then have to punish them and that His
perfect plan for them would not come to pass. He clearly states
that in Deuteronomy 4:26,27:
"If you disobey me, you will
quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to
occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be
certainly destroyed. For the Lord will scatter you among the
nations, where only a few of you will survive."
God had such wonderful good plans
for the Israelites, but due to their disobedience, they threw it
away and were exiled from the land of plenty.
And today we can learn this lesson
as well. God has good plans for us as well, He really does, but
sometimes we throw it away due to our disobedience. Mostly we
follow our own heads and the advice of those around us and we are
so busy living, that we tend to forget to ask God's guidance on
issues in our lives. And even if we do ask His guidance, we are
sometimes so open and vulnerable to others' ideas that we do not
follow His advice.
If we want to move and live in the
Lord's plans for our lives, we need to sit still and ask His
advice. We need to get confirmation of what we believe He said to
us and then of course we need to obey. That is the most important
thing. The Israelites knew without any doubt what was expected of
them, and yet they ignored God and His ways. And we shouldn't make
the same mistake. If you know what to do, do it. And if you are
uncertain what God's will in a specific situation is, then make
sure that you honour Him in your actions, that you make time for
Him and that you follow His principles of love. You cannot go wrong
if you make God your primary concern.
Seek His face in all you do. He
wants to be part of your life.
Father God, please help us to obey
and follow You in all aspects of our lives. We want to seek Your
face in all our endeavours, as we know that Your ways are always
good. You have a plan for each of us, and we want to live inside
Your Will. In Jesus Name. Amen