Thoughts from Deuteronomy

I know the title has you gripped. Your thoughts are also probably close to what I was thinking when I noticed that Deuteronomy was next up for me in my Bible Reading plan. More law, geesh.

Well, God has a way of kicking me in the butt when such thoughts come to mind. He has a way of opening my eyes so that new things come to light, old things re-revealed and His story coming through in my time. Deuteronomy literally means the second law and tells of Moses giving the same law to the Israelites a second time before he dies and turns the leadership mantle of Israel over to Joshua.

Moses starts by telling them their story and how God has given them this land that they are about to enter. He then goes on to tell them that as long as they keep God first they will prosper, but if they stray they will be scattered among the nations.

There is this thought that has been working on me since the first reading of the verse today. Here it is, God has given us a “land” wherever we are. There are a people that we have been called to in the place where He has us, we must pursue God and in so doing allow Him to use us to draw all men unto Himself.

For this to happen we must first do TWO things:

1.) Pursue God- This was the first and greatest commandment to the Israelites, to love the LORD your God with all your heart, soul and strength. It all starts with and flows from here. If we are failing to pursue God, we may as well just go home because it won’t do any good. Ask the Israelites who went up to take the land after they decided they were going to be crushed by the people in the land. They went up without God and got crushed. We must pursue God first and foremost.

2.) Humble ourselves- We must make sure that what we do is not about ourselves and how good we are. We must make ourselves a vessel or conduit for God to flow through. When what we do becomes an opportunity for pride and self-promotion we will fail. When we limit God to the things that WE can do, we will fail. When we first pursue God and then let Him use us, the sky is the limit with what He can do through us.

There is this gnawing in me that God wants something more. That there is something that I am limiting because of something in my life. My priority needs to be a relentless pursuit of Him through prayer and His word. From that starting point I pray that God will use me to draw men unto Himself as I continue to humble myself in His presence.

~ by mikefoster on June 24, 2009.