“Little faith will save a man, but little faith cannot do great things for God.” – Charles Spurgeon
KJB Daily Devotion – Following Jesus Through Every Chapter
Date: Wednesday, March 13, 2019
Chapters: Deuteronomy 5-7
Message: Finding Your Zeal Through Your Sorrow
Hello My Friend,
As I am reading these chapters for today, a passage comes to mind, “For the LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.” – Deuteronomy 20:4. The closer we get to Jesus returning the harder it is going to be for a Christian, in fact, there are laws protecting those who discriminate against religion, but it seems those do not apply for the Christian. Let me tell you, America is not just some nation that Christopher Columbus stumbled upon, it was one that God led him to, this entire nation is a nation God founded, but just like Israel, it has fallen from His grace, it has forsaken Him, and if things do not turn around there is no stopping His judgment. The only reason this nation is not completely under control of some other nation right now is because there are still faithful Christians willing to fight, but the battle is not ours it is God’s, and He will fight for us if we stay faithful to Him. Now, as Moses continues to speak to Israel about their new journey, he stresses the importance of observing everything they learned, and follow God’s commands.
“And Moses called all Israel, and said unto them, Hear, O Israel, the statutes and judgments which I speak in your ears this day, that ye may learn them, and keep, and do them. The LORD our God made a covenant with us in Horeb. The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive this day. Ye shall observe to do therefore as the LORD your God hath commanded you: ye shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. Ye shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess.” – Deuteronomy 5:1-3,32-33.
“The LORD made not this covenant with our fathers, but with us,” I do not know much about my family, I never knew my mother’s parents, I watched my grandmother pass away when I was three, and that is the only image I have of her. I knew my father’s parents, I remember my grandfather and his taffy, tobacco, and pigeons. I have been told by many that I am a picture of my grandmother, what I remember about her was that she loved bingo, and found out she was the first woman in the United States to have open heart surgery. I think about them, and it brings tears because I do not know if I will see them in heaven as I do not know if they had anyone teach them the Gospel. You know, the covenant Jesus has made with us has nothing to do with our family before us. God deals with each and everyone of us individually, and that means He made a personal covenant with you alone, and expects you to follow His commands. Moses, reminds Israel of the first ten commands written by the finger of God Himself. There were over six hundred commands that God gave them to follow, but they were all summed up in the first ten, which by the way, we are to follow if we want God’s help in fighting our enemies.
“Thou shalt have none other gods before me. Thou shalt not make thee any graven image, or any likeness of any thing that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the waters beneath the earth: Thou shalt not bow down thyself unto them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me, Thou shalt not take the name of the LORD thy God in vain: for the LORD will not hold him guiltless that taketh his name in vain. Keep the sabbath day to sanctify it, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee. Honour thy father and thy mother, as the LORD thy God hath commanded thee; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well with thee, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. Thou shalt not kill. Neither shalt thou commit adultery. Neither shalt thou steal. Neither shalt thou bear false witness against thy neighbour. Neither shalt thou desire thy neighbour’s wife, neither shalt thou covet thy neighbour’s house, his field, or his manservant, or his maidservant, his ox, or his ass, or any thing that is thy neighbour’s.” – Deuteronomy 5:7-11,16-21.
“for I the LORD thy God am a jealous God,” God truly is a jealous God, and He will have none before Him. Okay, so, we are not under the same Law as Israel because we are now under the Law of Grace, but if you think for one moment that the same rule does not apply to us today than you do not know much about God. God does not change, and let me tell you, all the Law did was teach them how to be moral, and godly, it never saved them, salvation has always been about God’s grace because none of us are without sin. Jesus summed up all commands into two, “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” – Matthew 22:37-40.
“On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” Love God, love each other, simple, right? It ought to be. If we love God then we will love His Son, and if we love His Son, He will not deny us, He will, in fact, keep us, and protect us all the days of our lives here on earth. And let me tell you, He will give us the things we need without any merit, the only thing we need is some faith, trust, and let Him guide us. And this is what Moses reminds Israel.
“Now these are the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments, which the LORD your God commanded to teach you, that ye might do them in the land whither ye go to possess it: That thou mightest fear the LORD thy God, to keep all his statutes and his commandments, which I command thee, thou, and thy son, and thy son’s son, all the days of thy life; and that thy days may be prolonged. Hear therefore, O Israel, and observe to do it; that it may be well with thee, and that ye may increase mightily, as the LORD God of thy fathers hath promised thee, in the land that floweth with milk and honey. Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD: And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And it shall be, when the LORD thy God shall have brought thee into the land which he sware unto thy fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not, And houses full of all good things, which thou filledst not, and wells digged, which thou diggedst not, vineyards and olive trees, which thou plantedst not; when thou shalt have eaten and be full;” – Deuteronomy 6:1-5,10-11.
“to give thee great and goodly cities, which thou buildedst not,” We do not have to earn our salvation, it is given to us freely, by grace through our faith in Christ alone. Our faithfulness is what blesses us beyond our salvation, we are not some ordinary people, whether, Jew or Christian, we are God’s chosen, and when we are faithful to Him He is faithful to us. Moses reminds Israel that they are a holy people chosen for God Himself.
“For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth. The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people: But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations; And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.” – Deuteronomy 7:6-10.
“which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him” Do you see the key word here? Mercy. God gives mercy to those who love Him. True love endures, it is not easy, but true love, along with the joy that comes, stands by all the pain, the sorrow, the sadness, the anger, and the frustration that comes with it. True love is what keeps God faithful to us, even when we are not faithful to Him, and that is what mercy does. Israel was about to take the land God had given them, and He was going before them to help them fight for it, they were not to be afraid of them, only trust God, and as long as they did that He would help them.
“Thou shalt not be afraid of them: but shalt well remember what the LORD thy God did unto Pharaoh, and unto all Egypt; The great temptations which thine eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the stretched out arm, whereby the LORD thy God brought thee out: so shall the LORD thy God do unto all the people of whom thou art afraid. Moreover the LORD thy God will send the hornet among them, until they that are left, and hide themselves from thee, be destroyed. Thou shalt not be affrighted at them: for the LORD thy God is among you, a mighty God and terrible. And the LORD thy God will put out those nations before thee by little and little: thou mayest not consume them at once, lest the beasts of the field increase upon thee. But the LORD thy God shall deliver them unto thee, and shall destroy them with a mighty destruction, until they be destroyed.” – Deuteronomy 7:18-23.
“thou mayest not consume them at once,” Let me tell you, while God is faithful, He does not give us everything or remove all our enemies at once, He does it little by little. Why? To keep us faithful to Him. If we have everything handed to us we are less likely to seek God for them, this is not on purpose, this is life, and we do tend to let it consume us, which is often why He allows the devil to afflict us. Just yesterday, I was praying and kept asking God over and over again what He needed me to do, and just now He gave me the answer. “I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent.” – Revelation 3:18-19.
“be zealous therefore,” You see, when I first dedicated my life to Christ I had great zeal for God, I did not let anything or anyone come in between me and God, and somehow, I lost that zeal. It is not that I have not been faithful or living is sin, it is that I allowed desires of my flesh to come between us, and since He is my jealous God He afflicted me until I repented, which I have done even before I realized this. I can count countless times that God has been with me even when my zeal is not so great, He is always faithful when we are faithful to Him, His blessings though come through our fear of Him, and if we fear Him nothing will come between us. “For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death. For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.” – II Corinthians 7:10-11.
Jesus Christ Magnified: “(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying, I am the LORD thy God, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, from the house of bondage.” – Deuteronomy 5:5-6.
Today’s Prayer: God, How amazing it is that You remain faithful to us when we believe in and accept Your Son as our Saviour. It is Your desire that we not only be faithful to You, we are to be zealous as well. I know I am faithful, I cannot live my life without You, and I would not want to because the world is no place for me. Life does take toll on my faith, and with all the desires of the flesh tugging at my heart, like love, wealth, and prosperity, I do see how they can come between You and I when they become more of a desire than You. Lord, Forgive me, let me be the godly testimony that You want me to be for all to see Your Son, and resurface the zeal I know is in me so that nothing can come between us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.
God Bless You, I am praying for you,
Christina
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