EXPAND TO READ: DEUTERONOMY 4 (HCSB)
PERSONAL JOURNAL:
SIN (verse 25): I have done many things in my life that would fall into what this verse speaks of. I have acted corruptly, I have made idols over You, and I have done things considered evil in Your sight. I believe all of these acts stem from my own weakness in giving into the world as well as my own disobedience towards You and immaturity in my faith. I know I am not perfect, but I am supposed to at least try to do my best to live in Your will for my life and in a way that is pleasing to You. I have failed at this in many ways and I am sorry for my past mistakes, Father. Please forgive me for my disobedience and immaturity in my faith. Forgive me for my weakness in giving into the world and my flesh. Help me to be better at living in my new, born-again identity in Christ, Father, so that as I continue to walk in Your light, I will no longer seek the darkness that the world and my flesh will try to pull me towards.
PROMISE (verses 29-31): I really love the kind of double promise You offer here, Father. The first is that if I seek You with all my heart and soul, then I will find You. The second is that You will not leave me, destroy me, nor forget about me, because You are a compassionate God. Thank You, Father, for always being there for me when others have chosen to abandon me. Thank You, Father, for not pushing further destruction on me, when I have chosen to destroy myself through my own bad decisions. Thank You, Father, for never forgetting about me even in those times that I neglected You in my life. Thank You for being so compassionate towards me, even though I have often looked away from You in my life. I am not worthy of the compassion You give to me, yet You are always willing to love on me and I am so grateful for You, Father.
ATTITUDE (verse 31): I know I cannot be exactly like You nor Jesus, because I am far from perfect. I can, however, relay the things You offer to me to others so that they can feel Your presence. This verse says that You are a compassionate God, yet how many times in my life have I failed to relay the compassion You consistently show me towards others? Help me to fully embrace Your compassion, Father, so that I may walk this life in a spirit and attitude of compassion towards those who enter my life, even if just for a moment. Help me to accept Your compassion towards me so much that I am filled with it and overflow it to others, Father. It is not me showing this to others, but You through me. Help me to be a better vessel for Your compassion, grace, joy, and love, Father.
COMMAND (verses 15-18): I really like this command in the form of a warning because of how practical it really is even today. You are telling them to be extremely careful not to act corruptly and make an idol for themselves in any shape/figure. You’re telling them this because they heard Your voice, yet only saw smoke and fire on the mountain. You know how us humans are as we like to have something tangible we can “worship” in a sense. You were commanding them through this warning not to do this for You, though, as it would dilute You and put their eyes on this false idol instead of our Father in Heaven. Help me to always follow this command, Father, so that I never put anything in Your place thinking that it is You. I do wear a cross, but it only serves as a reminder to me, not as an idol I worship on a daily basis, so I feel that I am abiding in this command as of right now.
EXAMPLE (verses 21-24): Moses recognized that God was angry with him and fully accepted this. He was the chosen leader of Your people and due to their decisions, You were angry with him. He took the full weight of that on his shoulders through his faith in You, because that’s what a great leader does. As a result, Moses would not enter the promised land of Jordan with Your people and instead would eventually die in the land he resided in at the time. You commanded him not to enter Jordan due to this anger and he fully abided in Your command. As a person who served in the military for 20+ years, I fully understand following orders, which is essentially what this was for Moses. He followed Your command, but I can only imagine the pain he likely felt in his heart with not being able to see his people’s final destination promise come to fruition. He knows that it will happen because it is what You promised. His faith was strong enough to be okay with that, but I am sure his human side of things was hurting because he came so far with them but was ordered to remain behind as they completed the mission. It’s a tough command to bear, but sometimes we must sit back and allow others to complete the mission we started. I must remember that I do not always have to be the one to lead others to their final destination. Sometimes, I’m just the one to get them started and it’s on them to get through the remainder of it, just like Moses was here. Help me to be okay with this in my spiritual journey, Father, but also to recognize when I am to step back/away as Moses did here.
*DAILY NOTE: There is so much to learn from Moses’ story as told in the Old Testament. I wish I had dug into this sooner in my quiet time journey, but I guess that’s my flesh speaking as Your timing on things is far better than my own. Maybe I wasn’t ready to read through Deuteronomy until this week. Thank You, Father, for always knowing what I need to hear and when I need to hear it. Thank You for Your timing on things in my life. Thank You for this relationship maturity in my faith with You which has grown to the point that I am finally listening to the Spirit speak to me on what to do and where to focus my quiet times. Your people were doing great things, albeit over a LONG period of time. I’m sure there were a lot of stresses, doubt, and worry throughout them, but Your promises to them always came to fruition, even if some of them were in a warning format. Thank You for all of today’s conversation, Father. I really appreciate all You are doing in me, in my life, and in my family (especially my wife). It’s because of You that my relationship with my wife is being restored and has become better than ever and I am so grateful for You because of that.
EXPAND TO READ: GENERAL NOTE FOR MY QUIET TIMES
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