Skip to main content

Dire Straits

The “if” warning, as communicated through Moses, was quite straight forward: “If you
do not carefully follow all the words of this law, which are written in this book, and do
not revere this glorious and awesome name—the LORD your God…” (Deut 28:58)

The consequences, also communicated through Moses, were equally straight forward:
“Then the LORD will scatter you among all nations, from one end of the earth to the other.
There you will worship other gods—gods of wood and stone, which neither you nor your
ancestors have known.” (Deut 28:64)

The repercussions, again communicated through Moses, of how the consequences would
play out in their lives were not only straight forward but dire: “ Among those nations you
will have no rest, nor will there be a place of peaceful rest for the soles of your feet, for
there the LORD will give you an anxious heart, failing eyesight, and a spirit of despair.
Your life will hang in doubt before you; you will be terrified by night and day and will
have no certainty of surviving from one day to the next.” (Deut 28:65-66 from the New
English Translation)

That same passage from The New International Version has some slightly different
wording: “ Among those nations you will find no repose, no resting place for the sole of
your foot. There the LORD will give you an anxious mind, eyes weary with longing, and a
despairing heart. You will live in constant suspense, filled with dread both night and day,
never sure of your life.”

I included both translations in order to draw words from both in order to emphasize the
dire straits facing them if they disobeyed. Words like:

No rest;
Anxious hearts;
Anxious minds;
Failing eyesight;
Eyes weary with longing;
A spirit of despair;
Despairing hearts;
Constant suspense;
Life hanging in doubt;
Filled with dread;
Terrified by night and day;
Never sure of your life;
No certainty of surviving from one day to the next;

Applicable today? While perhaps not in the same way as in the time of Moses but I think
some, if not all, of those things are being experienced by people today!

And what is being experienced today reflects something that occurs at a very deep level
in our lives. It happened then and it happens now. It happens when we move from
having our needs met in God to having our needs met in other things, the “other gods”.

While we may not physically worship the other gods of wood and stone, we do tend to go
to other sources to have our needs met when those needs are actually designed to be met
in God.

At least, I can testify to that, having learned the hard way. Well, I should say, still learning the hard way!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Not Just Idle Words

I own a 25 year old car.  The body might be falling apart but the engine runs great and it idles smoothly.  Such idling is good. Idling can also have to do with spending too much time doing nothing or being without purpose or being engaged in that which is pointless.  Such idling is not good. What if I were to tell you that I know of something that is the about as far as being without purpose as you can get?  Would you want it? Here is that something:  “They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”  ( Deut 32:47) Other versions of the Bible use some different words for that first phrase in the verse and such can be helpful in assessing how important the words really are: “Not meaningless words…”   “These are not just useless words…”   “No empty word for you…”   “Not unimportant words…”   “Not useless words…”   ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Very Present

I love words that have multiple meanings but the same spelling.  Take the word “present” for example.  You may be thinking of “present”, as in a gift.  Gotta love those! But I’m thinking of “present”, as in existing now or occurring now. I’m also thinking of “present”, as in being at hand. Why those two latter ones, you might ask, why not just go with the gift! Well, I recently read Psalm 46, and here is the first verse:   “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” Some theologians suggest the word “present” in this Psalm has the meaning of “well proven”.  I certainly can appreciate that. But I’ve been wondering if “present” could include the meaning of “now existing or now occurring”.  That is, God is exists now and is occurring in our lives. Furthermore, I’ve been wondering if “present” could also include “being at hand”.  That is, God is here, right now, with us.   And with even further wondering, the wo...
Post a Comment
Read more

Be Amazed!

Be amazed… Jesus welcomed sinners …The Pharisees and legal experts were grumbling, saying, “This man welcomes sinners… (Luke 15:2) Jesus hung out with sinners …And when they saw it, they all grumbled, “He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner.” (Luke 19:7) Jesus ate with sinners …And when the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” (Matt 9:11) Jesus was a friend of sinners …The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ (Matt 11:19) With Jesus being so welcoming, what did people do? People came to see Him …They came to Philip, who was from Bethsaida in Galilee, with a request. “Sir,” they said, “we would like to see Jesus.” (John 12:21) People came to hear Him …Now the tax collectors and sinners were all drawing near to hear him. (Luke 15:1) People followed Him …While Jesus was having dinner at Levi’s house, many ta...
Post a Comment
Read more