The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul. - Psalm 19:7

TODAY IN THE WORD
The book of Deuteronomy in the Old Testament is said to follow the form of an ancient Near Eastern treaty between nations--that is, between one superior nation and one subject nation. These treaties, or covenants, included a proclamation of the suzerain’s (king’s) power to make the treaty; a review of events leading to it; promises and obligations on both sides; and blessings for those who follow the covenant and curses for those who break it.

A SAFE carriage was that! In His love and in His pity God redeemed them, and bare them, and carried them all the days of old. When the little lad was tired and complained of his head, his father bade a servant carry him to his mother; but God does not hand over His children to His servants, He carries them Himself. When we realize that His everlasting arms are underneath, it is safer riding than any the ingenuity of man can devise; and here we need fear no ill.

"In all the way."--There are great varieties in the way--sometimes the sleepers are badly laid, and the carriage rocks and jolts; sometimes the gradient is steep, and the progress tedious; sometimes the pilgrim has to go afoot, climbing with difficulty from ridge to ridge; sometimes the route lies through a territory infested with enemies, and haunted by miasma; but we can each rejoice in the fact that the Lord "knoweth the way that I take," and that all the way, those gentle and unwearied arms bear us up and on.

These forty years the Lord your God has been with you, and you have not lacked anything. - Deuteronomy 2:7

TODAY IN THE WORD
James Armistead, an enslaved man, was a key spy during the Revolutionary War. The English had offered freedom to any slave who joined them, and on this basis Armistead pretended to feed information to British General Cornwallis. But he was actually a double agent, risking his life many times to bring valuable intelligence to French General Lafayette, fighting on the colonists’ side.

Do not be afraid of any man, for judgment belongs to God. - Deuteronomy 1:17

TODAY IN THE WORD
One writer says of the great Scottish reformer John Knox: 'Knox's bold preaching of the Word of God, without fear of what others might say, was his great strength. He firmly believed that everyone men and women, rulers and subjects alike is subject to the rules of Scripture and the God of Scripture.'

THIS chapter .is full of restrictions and prohibitions. There were territories which Israel was forbidden to enter at that time; though afterward, in the days of David, Solomon, and Hezekiah, they were all included in the possessions of the chosen people.

There are temporary limitations in all lives. Paul was forbidden to preach the Word in Asia, when first he came on its frontiers; though two or three years after he so filled it with his teaching that the trade of the silversmiths, who made shrines for Diana, was affected.

Limitations in our Usefulness.--Provinces of holy endeavor seem shut against you, as the Gentile world from the public ministry of Jesus. Nevertheless, do your best in what is open, as He did for the Jews, and the rest will be unbarred; but if not, in God's good time, the field will be cultivated by hands specially instructed and prepared.

Limitations in Knowledge.--There are mysteries which, in the earlier stages of their experience, are not made known to the saints; but which we come to know, as we follow on to know the Lord. And while there may be much in God's providence that is difficult to understand, yet our knowledge of Himself may increase as the years go by, until we glory in this, that we understand and know Him (Jer. 9:23).

When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance . . . he set up boundaries for the peoples. - Deuteronomy 32:8

TODAY IN THE WORD
Magazine articles filled with ideas on how to express love for special people are very popular these days. They usually show up under such titles as 'Fifty Ways to Say ÔI Love You'' or 'Twenty-Five Ways to Make Your Child Feel Special.' The idea, of course, is that true love is shown by actions as well as by words.
The sermons of Deuteronomy in which Moses recalled God's dealings with Israel are a stunning catalog of the ways God show His love and care for His people.

It's true that Israel's disobedience and lack of faith are a part of the story. But when we step back to look at the big picture, the nation's forty-year trek through the desert is a testimonial to God's patience and overruling love. Even Israel's failures become the backdrop for God's grace in sustaining the people He chooses as His own.

In fact, Moses testified to God's care for the nations that bordered the Promised Land. Today's reading includes an editorial note (vv. 20-23) which reveals the way God enabled the Ammonites, another group who descended from Lot, to conquer the same intimidating race of giant warriors the Moabites had defeated.

Together with the Edomites, the people of Esau, this made three sets of 'in-laws' whose borders the Israelites were commanded to respect. Why? Because God had set their boundaries, giving these people the strength to overcome their enemies and establish their nations in security.

The fact that those nations later turned against Israel in various ways and came under God's judgment does not negate His care for them in the days of Moses.

Why did Moses take the time to remind his listeners of these historical details? As we suggested earlier, the existence of Edom, Moab, and Ammon was an object lesson to Israel of God's power in bringing about His purpose for a nation.

The Ammonites, for example, did not have the promises of victory that Israel had. Yet the Lord enabled the Ammonites to conquer a fearsome foe. Since God showed His care for Ammon in this way, what greater thing would He do for His chosen people if they would only obey Him?

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The question of what God would do in response to obedience is not merely historical. It is a question we can ask of ourselves.

If God is for us, who can be against us? - Romans 8:31

TODAY IN THE WORD
After V-E Day brought an end to World War II in Europe, General George Patton gave a brief speech in which he referred to the utter defeat of the enemy, including, he said, 'towns whose names I can't pronounce, but whose palaces I have removed.'

Humanly speaking, Moses and the Israelites were in much the same position as they faced an unknown enemy. Chances are that Israel had never heard of Sihon or Og before they approached these kings' borders and tried to negotiate safe passage.

God's people were still on the side of the Jordan River opposite Canaan the eastern side of the river called the Transjordan. The forty years of discipline were now complete; the last members of the disbelieving generation having died in the desert (Deuteronomy 2:16). God was readying His people for the invasion and conquest of the Promised Land.

To those awaiting God's command to cross the Jordan, Moses told the story of how Israel had defeated an Amorite king who arrogantly defied God. Sihon's kingdom lay on Israel's path, but it was Sihon who put himself in Israel's way. There's a big difference between those two situations.

Moses' retelling of Sihon's defeat includes some details we didn't see in Numbers. Since Deuteronomy was written from more of a theological vantage point, God's activity in Israel's affairs is prominent. Moses reveals here that God had put the 'terror and fear' of Israel upon every nation His people would have to face (v. 25).

In today's passage Sihon's refusal is also seen against a new background. He had set himself against God, so God saw to it that the consequences of the king's stubbornness were played out completely. Israel won the battle because God delivered Sihon into their hands.

The complete destruction of the Amorites was part of God's judgment against the nations that had fallen into idolatry. Judgment such as this often seems harsh to us because, even as believers, we can get a little fuzzy on the absolute holiness and justice of God.

But if the greatest form of disobedience is to turn away from the true and living God to worship idols, then the greatest form of judgment must follow.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Being obedient to God doesn't mean that the enemy will simply disappear. On the contrary, the enemy makes sure to get in our way when we are determined to follow God.

The horse is made ready for the day of battle, but victory rests with the Lord. - Proverbs 21:31

TODAY IN THE WORD
The miracle of the 1940 Dunkirk evacuation was made possible by the heroic defenders of Calais. Early in World War II, the German army swept through France. What remained of the British Expeditionary Force (BEF) waited at Dunkirk, hoping for evacuation. Between them and the Germans lay only one city: Calais. Prime Minister Winston Churchill cabled the commander there: “Every hour you continue to exist is of the greatest help to the BEF. . . . Have greatest possible admiration for your splendid stand.” Outgunned and outmanned, the soldiers fought fiercely, holding out until they were exhausted and nearly out of ammunition. Their brave stand bought enough time for the evacuation to get organized and subsequently to succeed.

You have been my refuge, a strong tower against the foe. - Psalm 61:3

TODAY IN THE WORD
Generations of leaders have known that one of the best ways to motivate the troops on the eve of a big battle is to remind them of their past victories.

Anyone who enters God's rest also rests from his own work. - Hebrews 4:10

TODAY IN THE WORD
It's a truism in sports that a team's success is more important than the statistics of individual players. Even the jargon of sports reflects this thinking. Baseball has the sacrifice bunt. And a batter who deliberately makes an out to move a runner along is said to 'give himself up.' This collective effort is called teamworkÑ nd few teams win without it.

Teamwork was indispensable for the Israelites too. After the defeat of the Amorite kings who held large portions of the Transjordan, Israel was in the position to invade Canaan. The goal of the battle was victory so that every Israelite could enjoy rest in the land God had promised His people.

But before Israel crossed the Jordan, Moses had to deal with a request by the tribes of Reuben and Gad, along with half of Manasseh a tribe that was divided between those who worked the land and those who raised livestock. It was the latter group that joined the other two tribes in asking Moses for permission to settle east of the Jordan, land ideal for grazing their herds (Num. 32:1-5).

Moses was angry at first, since it appeared that these Israelites were content to settle in comfortably and let their brothers fight the Canaanites. So Moses insisted that the armed men of these tribes go with the rest of Israel into Canaan until the whole nation was at rest. The men involved readily agreed to these terms (Num. 32:18).

What would be the blessing for these tribes' obedience to God in this matter? First, the families and livestock they had left behind east of the Jordan would be safe while they were away.

Second, the land they claimed would also be held for them. Since God had given this land to them as their possession they didn't need to worry about losing their homes while they were serving in the Israelite army.

Someone has said that there is no safer place for anyone on earth than in the will of God. The tribes who settled in the Transjordan certainly discovered that truth. When the time came to sacrifice for their brothers, they left home as they had promised. Their families and herds were never safer than when these warriors were helping their fellow Israelites enter into God's rest.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The writer of Hebrews uses Israel's rest in Canaan as a picture of the greater rest we have in Christ the cessation of our attempts to please God and reach heaven on our own merits.

Do not be afraid of them; the Lord your God himself will fight for you. - Deuteronomy 3:22

TODAY IN THE WORD
There is a definite note of sadness in today's story. Moses reminded the
people of God's judgment on his disobedience at Meribah (Num. 20:12-13), which resulted in his being banned from Canaan. Bible commentator Dr. Jack Deere says that Moses' conversation with God 'reveals something of the intimacy of Moses' relationship with God. It also heightens the feeling of tragedy in the experience of a man who devoted his life to fulfilling God's promise for Israel but knew he would never see its completion.'

Yet despite his own deep disappointment and knowing that his life was drawing to a close, Moses did not lose sight of the larger objective before Israel. The nation had conquered Sihon and Og, two powerful Amorite kings, and was ready for greater conquests in Canaan. Joshua was at Moses' side as God's appointed commander to lead the people into the Promised Land.

Look at the way Moses encouraged his young successor. Verses 21-22 of Deuteronomy 3 provide a classic biblical formula for encouragement. Moses told Joshua, in effect: 'Look at all

that God has done for you in the past. There is nothing you will face in the future that He cannot handle, because He is the same God today.'

Then Moses turned from speaking with Joshua to speaking with the Lord. It's not hard to imagine the anguish in Moses' voice as he stood on the very doorstep of the land he had spent forty years trying to reach. He must have been hopeful that God would relent and allow him to enter Canaan.

The text indicates that Moses kept on asking God to change His mind. But God became angry with Moses quite angry, according to the original language. He did allow Moses to go to the top of a mountain called Pisgah from where he could view the Promised Land from a distance. But that was the end of the issue.

Even though Moses had to stay in the Transjordan, he still had an important work to do. Joshua would need all the strength and courage he could muster for the task ahead of him.

God was ready to supply Joshua's need, but He also wanted to make sure that Israel's new leader had Moses's blessing. So Moses commissioned Joshua, signaling that Joshua was God's choice.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
With God the future is never up for grabs, because 'Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever' (Heb. 13:8).

Keep my decrees and laws, for the man who obeys them will live by them. I am the Lord. - Leviticus 18:5

TODAY IN THE WORD
One blot marred Moses’ record of leadership during the Exodus: his sin at Meribah. Suffering from lack of water, Israel complained: “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place?” Moses and Aaron sought the Lord, and in reply He told them to speak to a rock. Out of it would come enough water for everyone.

WE are to pray without ceasing; always praying, never fainting; asking, seeking, knocking. But there are some subjects concerning which God says, "Speak no more unto Me of this." In some cases these topics have to do with others, but more often with ourselves, as in the case of the Apostle Paul (2 Cor. 12:9).

It is an awful thing when God says of certain individuals, Ephraim is joined to idols, let him alone; and when the conviction is wrought within us that the sin unto death is being committed, concerning which even the Apostle John said, "I do not say that he should pray for it." Such times come comparatively rarely; and so long as you feel able to pray for another, so long as no negative has been spoken, you may be sure that God waits to be entreated, and that your prayer will assuredly be answered.

Observe [God's laws] carefully, for this will show your wisdom and understanding to the nations. - Deuteronomy 4:6

TODAY IN THE WORD
In Worldwide Challenge magazine, Dan LaGue describes a dramatic moment in Chinese missions: 'On a warm, summer night in 1904, a small hunting party . . . showed up at the door of Methodist missionary Samuel Pollard. Pollard . . . recognized the hunters as Miaoa people from the nearby Yunnan mountains who worshiped gods of wood and stone. The Miao wanted to learn to read. They had a burning desire to know the God of the Christians, too, although [Pollard] didn't know it. But he soon understood, for the following Friday five more Miao appeared at his gate, and within a month, nearly 100 tribesmen had visited him.'

Watch yourselves closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart. - Deuteronomy 4:9

TODAY IN THE WORD
The 18th-century actor Charles Macklin once boasted to fellow actor Samuel Foote that he could repeat any speech after hearing it just once. So Foote challenged Macklin to repeat what he was about to say and then launched into a very hard-to-remember series of nonsense sentences. Macklin had to admit defeat.

It's hard to remember perfectly something we have heard only once. That's why God repeated His commands through each generation of His spokesmen and then recorded them so that we might obey Him and be blessed.

Moses knew how forgetful the Israelites were. He was well aware that they had trouble remembering even the amazing miracles of God's grace they had witnessed in the desert. If the generation standing before him was prone to forget, how in the world would their children ever learn and remember the lessons of obedience?

The answer was to instill the decrees of God in each generation of children as if they were the first people ever to receive them. Later on we'll review the great Shema, the confession of Israel's one God, that God commanded the people to teach to their children (Deut 6:4-9).

Moses anticipated that command by cautioning the people not to forget the giving of the Ten Commandments at Horeb, or Mount Sinai. It was such an awe-inspiring visitation of God that it seems impossible that anyone who saw it could forget what happened.

Deuteronomy 4:9 helps us to understand that Moses was not worried about a simple memory lapse on the people's part. He was concerned that God's holy commands would slip from their hearts that is, that they would grow lackadaisical in their obedience. And if the parents became careless in following God, where would their children end up?

The presence of God on Sinai was so terrifying that even Moses trembled with fear (Deuteronomy 9:19). This business of remembering and obeying God's law was serious stuff. Why? Because day-to-day blessing from God depends on obedience to Him even though we have the ultimate blessing of redemption in Christ.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The author of Hebrews cites Israel's experience at Sinai to illustrate the superior covenant we have in Christ (Heb. 12:18-24).

The Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God. - Deuteronomy 4:24

TODAY IN THE WORD
Have you ever looked at the stuff in your attic or basement and sighed at your collection? It's amazing how easily most of us seem to accumulate things we once intended to use, or at some point thought too valuable to discard. However good our original purpose, though, most of what we store in our attics, basements, and garages will not be looked at again until the next yard sale or moving day.

The tendency to let once-useful things accumulate seems to be born into most people. It's easier to let the stuff pile up when it's out of sight and therefore, out of mind. If we carry this attitude over into our spiritual lives, however, it can be very dangerous.

When this happens, we find a believer who once devoured God's Word now treats it like a discard from the attic. Or spiritual disciplines that were once part of this person's daily walk with the Lord are now laid aside and forgotten.

It may seem as if Moses was belaboring his warning to the Israelites. 'Watch yourselves very carefully,' he warned (v. 15). 'Be careful not to forget,' he cautioned (v. 23).

Why was Moses so concerned that the people not allow God's commands to be shoved back into the attics of their minds and hearts? Because he knew human nature. Moses had forty years' worth of scars on his soul from the complaints and threats of Israelites who couldn't seem to remember God's goodness from one watering hole to the next.

Now the people were entering a land of idolaters who worshiped creatures on earth and the lights in the sky. Again Moses referred to the fact that he would not be allowed to accompany Israel into Canaan. So these messages contained in Deuteronomy were his last chance to warn the people against spiritual failure.

One way God's people could keep from slipping was to remember the day God gave them His commandments. They saw no form representing God, so they were not to make anything to represent Him. Obedience to a 'consuming fire' kind of God is the only path of blessing for His people.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Is there anything in your spiritual attic that needs to be brought out, dusted off, and put to use or maybe discarded?

Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. - Deuteronomy 4:39

TODAY IN THE WORD
n many jobs, it’s difficult to imagine life without a photocopier. So it might be hard for you to believe that this vital piece of office equipment has been around less than fifty years. In 1959, Xerox introduced its 914 copier machine, the first to make copies on plain paper. The 914 was a quick success, and soon “Xerox” became a virtual synonym for “copy.”

THE Apostle' prays that we may know the riches of the glory of God's inheritance in His saints. God is our inheritance, and we are His. We are called to possess Him; He desires to possess us. His nature will yield crops of holy helpfulness to those who diligently seek Him; and He demands crops of holy love and devotion from ours.

What Sovereign Grace is here!--There was nothing in us to distinguish us from others. We were but part of the great moorland waste, when He fenced us in, and placed us under His tillage and husbandry. It is by the grace of God that we are what we are. "To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved: in whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace."

What responsibility!--Three times over in this chapter we are bidden to take heed to ourselves. It is no small thing to have been the subjects of God's special workmanship; because He is a jealous God, very quick to mark the least symptom of declension, and very searching in His dealing and discipline. As we learn here, our God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.

You shall have no other gods before me. - Exodus 20:3

TODAY IN THE WORD
During his first term as president, Franklin Roosevelt teased a patriotic group about its obsession with the pedigree of its members. 'Remember, remember always,' Roosevelt said, 'that all of us, and you and I especially, are descended from immigrants and revolutionists.'

Moses made a similar plea to Israel. 'Remember where you came from, and to whom you belong,' was his message in Deuteronomy. For God's people of that day, the first step to disobedience seemed to be forgetfulness.

The passages we will study today and tomorrow are brief but remarkable. Here Moses speaks not only as lawgiver but as prophet, looking far into Israel's future to predict the nation's unfaithfulness and eventual expulsion from the land.

We can imagine the passion and pain in Moses' voice as he spoke of a future day when Israel might forget God and their obligation to worship Him alone. Forgetting God would make the people susceptible to the corruption of idolatry a sin Moses had just warned them against committing. Idolatry was the ultimate insult to God and an abomination in His sight.

Moses called heaven and earth as witnesses because they were fixed and permanent, in contrast to the fickle nature of the people's hearts. If, as Moses said, Israel insisted on flirting with idols, God would permit the nation to consummate the unholy union. He would, in fact, send His people into captivity in nations where they would have their fill of idolatry.

The danger Moses warned about in these verses changed the focus from the immediate to the more distant future. Up to this point, his concern had been that the Israelites not fail to obey God and possess Canaan.

But there was also the opposite danger that after the immediate challenge was met, the curse of complacency could set in and cause a massive case of spiritual amnesia.

Once again, Moses tied the issue to the need for each generation to learn about God for itself. If the current generation failed to pass along vibrant faith in God, their grandchildren would be left with only a musty memory of long-ago blessings and warnings from a God they didn't know very well.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Most people don't become excited about hand-me-downs, whether it's clothes, furniture, or faith.

You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. - Jeremiah 29:13

You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God. - Deuteronomy 4:35

TODAY IN THE WORD
Fanny Crosby was the great American hymn writer who lived in blindness throughout her long life. Dwight Moody once asked this amazing woman what she would ask for if God granted her one request. She replied that she would ask God to allow her to stay blind, so the first thing her eyes saw would be the face of Jesus.

Fanny Crosby was a unique person who 'saw' God in a way that no sighted person could duplicate. In the same way, Israel was a unique people group that had the opportunity to see God as no other nation could. Out of all the nations on earth, only Israel saw God do such amazing works with their own eyes.

The claims Moses made in today's reading were not the gloatings of a human ruler. And they were not limited to a few recent events or a few years of history. All the way from creation itself to the giving of the Law at Sinai, nothing this great had ever happened to anyone but Israel.

With these words Moses turned from Israel's future to her past. Each question Moses asked demanded the same answer: No, this had never happened before. No other nation had seen God's wonders and signs and mighty power the way Israel had seen them. No other people could point to a divine birth for their nation. Israel alone was the apple of God's eye.

Why did Moses want the Israelites to consider their miraculous origin? So that they might understand the greatness and uniqueness of their God that He alone is God among all the so-called gods of this world.

The knowledge Moses wanted to impart was not merely intellectual, though. This was much more than a history lesson or an attempt to fire up the people for conquest. Moses rehearsed God's greatness toward Israel so that the people would love and fear Him and desire to keep His commandments.

God loved Israel's forefathers and promised by a covenant to love their descendants after them. The Israelites were not the recipients of God's covenant love because they were better or stronger or smarter than anyone else. It was because they had a gracious God who chose to set His love upon them.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Fanny Crosby's fruitful life reflected her deep commitment to Christ.

Keep his decrees and commands . . . so that it may go well with you and your children after you. - Deuteronomy 4:40

TODAY IN THE WORD
Aspiring preachers have long been taught that even the best sermon falls short if the speaker fails to call for a response to the truth that has been presented.

Be careful to do what the Lord your God has commanded you; do not turn aside to the right or to the left. - Deuteronomy 5:32

TODAY IN THE WORD
Earlier this year, tens of thousands of people thronged the streets of Taipei, Taiwan, to get a glimpse of one of Buddhism’s most famous relics. The relic, which belongs to a temple in Xian, China, was kept in a jewelled casket under tight security. What was it? A finger, it is believed, of the Buddha himself, the religious leader who died more than two thousand years ago. During the festivities, this finger bone was taken to a stadium and placed on a platform strewn with orchids. Thousands of the faithful chanted, waved flags, and came to venerate the finger.

HERE is a sigh from the Divine heart. It recalls the tears of the Lord Jesus over Jerusalem. The people insisted on their willingness to do all that was required of them, but they were destined to learn and teach that the will may be present, without the power; just as a sick man may have the will to walk across his bedroom, and will fall to the floor because he has no strength.

God's Commandments are for our Welfare.--We find men shrinking from consecration to complete obedience because they fear that it will mean loss and pain. There may be loss and pain; but only in the excision of things which they would be the first to put away, if they understood their nature and outworking as God does. Those who obey God most literally find the most blessedness in life, whether now or hereafter.

We approve them with our Will--More than once the people insisted that they would do as God commanded. We are not so destitute of moral perception as not to see the beauty of a life wholly yielded to God; but let us not rest content with this, or we may have yet to cry with the Apostle, The law is holy, just, and good; but I am carnal, sold under sin.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5

TODAY IN THE WORD
You've heard the old saying that familiarity breeds contempt. It's debatable how much truth there is in this formula. But after spending time in the Book of Deuteronomy, we can safely assume that at the very least, familiarity can breed complacency.

This was one of the dangers Moses tried to nip in the bud before the Israelites headed off into Canaan. We have fast-forwarded in the book to chapter 6, because we want to end the month with one of the most important chapters in Scripture.

Some Bible teachers have argued that Deuteronomy 6:4 is the single most indispensable verse in the Bible. This confession of God's true nature is called the Shema, from the Hebrew word that means 'hear.' This verse alone is enough to set the one true God totally apart from any competitor or impostor.

We have learned by now that Moses was intent on establishing the uniqueness of Israel's God in the minds and hearts of His people. None but the true God could claim their complete allegiance and loveand that is exactly the response that God wants from His own.

Once again, the context of Moses' message was blessing for those who heard and obeyed. Verses 1 through 3 drip with promised blessing, the way the Promised Land dripped with milk and honey. Obeying God would bring possession of the land, long life, and great increase. There is also the implied blessing, elsewhere stated explicitly, that future generations of the obedient would also enjoy God's abundance.

Moses' concern that God's people enjoy long life is repeated nine times in Deuteronomy, underscoring the fact that God's intent is to bless His people.

Why does God command us to love Him with all that we have and all that we are? Because He deserves no less, and because He pours out His blessing on those who please Him.

God's commands are not too hard for His people to understand or to keep. Jesus said, 'My yoke is easy and my burden is light' (Matt. 11:30). For those who are 'careful to obey'

(Deuteronomy 6:3), and willing to obey from hearts of sincere love for God, the blessings of heaven are available.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. - Deuteronomy 6:5

TODAY IN THE WORD
Medieval church leader Bernard of Clairvaux asserted: “God is entitled to our love. Why? Because He gave Himself for us despite the fact that we are so undeserving. What better could He have given? If we ask why God is entitled to our love, we should answer, 'Because He first loved us.’ God is clearly deserving of our love especially if we consider who He is that loves us, who we are that He loves, and how much He loves us.”

Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. - Deuteronomy 6:4

TODAY IN THE WORD
Welcome to the last year of the millennium! It's safe to say that 1999 will produce much excitement, uncertainty, and speculation. The countdown to 2000 has begun in earnest, and many people will be looking for something solid to hold on to amid predictions of computer meltdowns and end-time upheavals.

All of this makes January 1999 a perfect time to anchor our souls in 'the word of the prophets made more certain' (2 Pet. 1:19). These are the great truths of Scripture that will never change or fail, because 'the words of the Lord are flawless' (Psalm 12:6).

In other words, theology matters! It's not just a branch of study for religious professionals. The word theology itself means the study of God, literally 'the word of God.' That alone tells us theology should matter for every Christian. What we believe has a profound affect on the way we live and the decisions we make.

Therefore, we need to know and affirm what the Bible teaches especially in these days when truth is defined as whatever feels right to any given person in any given situation.

At Today in the Word, we want to encourage you in every way possible this year. You may already have noticed one important addition to our ministry lineup for 1999, a column entitled 'Theology Matters,' written by Moody faculty member Dr. Harry Shields, who is chairman of the Pastoral Studies Department.

Each month, Dr. Shields will shed light on the great truths God's people have confessed and affirmed for centuries. Our studies this month are another effort to help you lay a solid foundation for your Christian life in this new year.

Deuteronomy 6 is a logical place to start, since verse 4 affirms the basic truth that our God is unique in His oneness. Notice that Moses does not simply state the fact of God's character and then leave it. Theology always demands a response.

That is very clear in today's reading. Since the Lord is the only true God, we are called to love Him with every part of our being, and impress His truth on our children. Fulfilling these commands is a challenge worth our best efforts in 1999!

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
One of the best ways to let God's Word sink down into your heart and guide your actions is to memorize Scripture.

"LOVEST thou Me?"

"Who art Thou, Lord, that I should love Thee?"

"I am He that liveth, but I died; I loved thee, and gave Myself for thee; I have made thee mine forever in a bond that even death cannot break; I have loved thee with an everlasting love; I shall never be at rest till thou art with Me where I am."

"Indeed I would love Thee; but how?"

"Thou shalt love Me with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might."

"This were impossible unless Thou give me the love Thou requirest."

"This I will do for thee, since love is of God. Only obey these simple directions:

"1. Abstain from all wrath, anger, malice, evil speaking, and all else that would grieve my Holy Spirit.

"2. Yield thyself to the Spirit, that He may produce in thee His choice fruit--Love. 'The fruit of the Spirit is love.' 'He sheds love abroad in the heart.'

"3. Consider my love to thee, especially that I died for thee when thou wert yet in thy sins. Meditate much upon the sacrifice I made for thee, that thou mightest have thy sins blotted out, and enjoy the peace which passeth all understanding.

"4. Believing that thou hast received the love of the Spirit, begin to let it work through thy life to all around thee.

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. - Deuteronomy 6:6-7

TODAY IN THE WORD
A visitor to the hospital room of Dwight Eisenhower reported that at one point in their conversation, the former president who was near death raised up in his bed and declared, 'I still have something to say to the American people.' It was an expression of Eisenhower's desire to complete what he considered his legacy of leadership.

Every Christian has a legacy to complete too not only a personal and perhaps a family legacy, but a clearly defined body of truth to preserve and pass on to future generations. It's here that older believers in the final season of faith may make their most important contribution to the kingdom of God, and it's a good place to end this part of our study.

Don't let the familiarity of these classic verses in Deuteronomy 6 cause you to miss their solemn importance. There is no way to measure adequately the power of life-related teaching about God's truth by someone who is living it in front of his or her 'students.'

This kind of generational teaching begins in the home, and it is still the most effective kind of teaching when done consistently. Although older believers usually do not have their children or grandchildren living with them, they can form a tremendous 'second line' of teaching and example for the generations coming after them.

In verse 20 you'll see one reason a godly legacy is so effective. Moses assumes that some day the younger generation will ask, 'What does all of this mean?' That's when the older generation has a golden opportunity to explain God's goodness and faithfulness to them.

Notice that this includes a divine history lesson. Your story of God's leading and blessing ought to be a solid part of your family's story that every member knows and can recite.

But it goes beyond history. The older generation is instructed to tell the younger people about God commands, and to urge the younger to obey God and enjoy His blessing.

In other words, a spiritual legacy is not just a body of material about the past. It should help guide those coming behind us to walk in God's ways.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Have you ever considered preserving your personal and family spiritual 'story' so your children and grandchildren will have a solid foundation to build on?

These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. - Deuteronomy 6:6

TODAY IN THE WORD
When the late basketball star 'Pistol' Pete Maravich was a youngster, he practiced his dribbling and other  skills so relentlessly that he was able to dribble a basketball out the window of his father's car at thirty miles per hour! Maravich always had a basketball in his hands, and the training paid off in the ball-handling skills that made Pete a legend by the time he had graduated from college.

Transfer that kind of dedication to the spiritual realm, and you get some idea of what Moses had in mind for the training of children in the matters of God.

It's not that parents and children are to walk around all day with a Bible in their hands although some later Jewish groups took Moses very literally and wore small boxes of Scripture on their foreheads and wrists. God's purpose is always that His Word become a vital part of a family's daily routine.

We usually hear about the family setting when this passage is taught. But we can't afford to pass by verse 6 too quickly. The process begins with the adults, not the children. God's Word must be fully at home in our own hearts before we can transmit it effectively to our children and to others around us.

Only then are we really equipped to impress God's truth on those who are within our sphere of influence. The best setting for this is not necessarily formal instruction, although Deuteronomy 6 certainly does not prohibit that.

But Moses was after something more than intellectual instruction. God's law was given to guide the moral behavior of His people, not simply to enlighten their minds. If something is going to affect the way we live each day, it needs to be deeply ingrained within us.

Every cult leader knows this, which is why false groups practice such intense indoctrination. But a child or other young person who is well-grounded in the Word and can apply it to the issues of life has little to fear from a peddler of lies.

Moses knew that eventually the Israelites would settle in Canaan and build houses for themselves. He was eager to make sure those houses were well furnished with God's truth.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
In light of today's lesson, this weekend is a good time for us to make sure our homes are places where God's Word is prominent. We'll talk about this today and tomorrow.

Be careful that you do not forget the Lord. - Deuteronomy 6:12

TODAY IN THE WORD
Few things in life are as unattractive as ingratitude. Failing to be thankful for what we have received, and even forgetting the source of our blessings, is not just bad manners. It is a sin, since everything we have is a gift from God (1 Cor. 4:7). The Israelites were on the verge of inheriting an incredible windfall of blessing the well-developed and fruitful land of Canaan. The way Moses described what was ahead for the people of God must have made their heads spin.

After all, these were the children and grandchildren of people who had known nothing but slavery in Egypt. Forty years of traveling in circles in a harsh desert didn't do much to upgrade their lifestyle either. Now all of a sudden, they were facing a future of unprecedented prosperity.

All that stood between Israel and this wealth was the people's obedience. Yet once more, Moses set things in their proper context. This was no 'name it, claim it' deal. The land of Canaan was a gift of God's grace in fulfillment of His covenant promises to Israel's forefathers.

That means the people listening to Moses could not go back to their tents and say, 'God is blessing me because of all the wonderful things I've done and the great person I am.'

Don't misunderstand. God's blessing was most definitely an act of goodness to the people He loved. But He did not want the Israelites to go into Canaan with the idea, 'We deserve this for all we've suffered. We've earned a reward. It was our skill in battle and our power that won Canaan for us.'

People who start thinking like this commit a grievous sin, one of forgetting whose hand has provided all they have. If there's one lesson that is written large across the pages of Numbers and Deuteronomy, it is the danger of forgetting and thus the need to remember who God is and what He has done.

A very wise man named Agur once asked God to give him neither poverty nor wealth. The danger of gaining the latter was that too much material gain can lean one to disown God (Prov. 30:9). Does our abundance make us grateful, or forgetful?

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
These words from the Proverbs make up one of the lessons that need to be learned at home.

Do what is right and good in the Lord's sight, so that it may go well with you. - Deuteronomy 6:18

TODAY IN THE WORD
Many years ago, a young hotel clerk in Philadelphia explained to an older couple that no rooms were available for the night. But instead of turning the pair out into the pouring rain, the clerk insisted that they take his own room. The next morning the man thanked the clerk and told him he deserved to be the manager of the finest hotel in America. 'Maybe some day I'll build one for you.' The clerk simply smiled. Two years later, however, he found himself in New York as the first manager of the new Waldorf-Astoria Hotel! The couple he had befriended were Mr. and Mrs. William Waldorf Astor.

Talk about the rewards of service. The Lord lavishes His goodness upon those who serve Him faithfully and obediently. 'No good thing does He withhold from those whose walk is blameless,' the Bible says (Ps. 84:11).

Moses drew on all the passion of his heart to warn, teach, and exhort Israel to love and to serve the Lord God faithfully. He realized that if the people stopped following the God of Abraham, they would begin following the worthless idols of the nations around them. As one Bible commentator has pointed out, God created us with the need to worship.

The opposite of serving and obeying God is to put Him to the test to doubt His goodness, take for granted His provisions, and provoke Him to anger. The Israelites had just about cornered the market on that sin. Massah (Deuteronomy 6:16) was another name for Meribah, the occasion when the people's temporary thirst caused them to question the eternal God.

That was a painful memory for Moses. The only thing more painful would be for the nation to repeat that sin once they had entered Canaan and had experienced times of need. God's promise of provision did not mean the people would never be in temporary need.

But the key was to remember in those times that God had led His people to Canaan, and He would be their supply if only they would trust Him. He had promised Israel the land and had pushed out all of her enemies. In light of all He had done for them, God had a right to be jealous for the devotion of His people.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Because the week before Labor Day marks the traditional end of summer vacation, it is a perfect time for us to reflect on God's goodness through another season.

He is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commands. - Deuteronomy 7:9

TODAY IN THE WORD
After nearly two decades of work, University of Chicago professor Phil Eaton recently created what might be the world’s most powerful non-nuclear explosive. Named one of the most important discoveries of the year 2000 by the American Chemical Society, “octanitrocubane,” as it is called, appears to be about 20 percent more powerful than HMX, currently, one of the most powerful explosives. Pioneered by Eaton, the techniques used to synthesize octanitrocubane have also proved useful in medicine and agriculture. But its most obvious application is military, and it may lead to the production of lighter, more powerful weapons.

THE question of marriage is repeatedly considered in these chapters, and never once is it supposed that the Israelites might bring a heathen partner to the faith of God's elect; but it is always insisted that the heathen husband or wife will subvert the faith of the child of Abraham. "Thou shalt not make marriages with them; for they will turn away thy son from following Me, that they may serve other gods For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God."

The same law holds still. You may suppose that by marrying the ungodly and irreligious you will be able to convert them to your way of thinking; but you must remember that regeneration is the work of the Holy Ghost, and He is not likely to lend His aid in regeneration whilst you are acting in defiance of His distinct prohibitions. The command of Christ is so clear and positive against His followers entering into an unequal yoke with unbelievers, that it simply leaves no option for the obedient. With the child of God, marriage must be "only in the Lord."

THERE was a Divine intention, then, in the hunger and thirst and weariness of the desert march. God suffered these hardships to come to the chosen people, in order to teach them dependence on Himself. The daily gift of manna was a perpetual evidence of His loving thought and care for the pilgrim host; they came to learn that sin and backsliding could not alienate His compassions; they found that the Word of God was life. But none of these lessons could have been acquired if the supplies of food had been as regular and plentiful as in Egypt. They were suffered to hunger that God might make them know.

You are suffered to hunger for human love, that you may know what the love of Jesus can be to His own. Open your heart to it, until it flood you as the sunshine does the south windows of a house.

You are suffered to hunger for recognition and gratitude, that you may know what the "Well done!" of Jesus is, and to lead you to look for that only. What do the words of men amount to unless He smile?

You are suffered to hunger for easier circumstances, for money, that you may know the tender provision which Jesus can make for those who are wholly dependent on Him. In the absence of all human help, you will learn the sweet taste of His manna.

They are your people, your inheritance that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm. - Deuteronomy 9:29

TODAY IN THE WORD
In Life Together, Dietrich Bonhoeffer writes of intercessory prayer: “Intercession means no more than to bring our brother into the presence of God, to see him under the Cross of Jesus as a poor human being and sinner in need of grace. Then everything in him that repels us falls away; we see him in all his destruction and need. His need and his sin become so heavy and oppressive that we feel them as our own, and we can do nothing else but pray: Lord, do Thou, Thou alone, deal with him according to Thy severity and Thy goodness. To make intercession means to grant our brother the same right that we have received, namely, to stand before Christ and share in His mercy.”

IT is well to be reminded that we have no claim on God. All He does for us and gives us is of His own free grace. By grace have we been saved, through faith, and that not of ourselves--it is the gift of God. There certainly was nothing in us to merit eternal life, before our conversion; and it is equally sure that there has been nothing since to merit the continuance of His favor. Indeed, as we remember and review the past, to us belong shame and confusion of face for our repeated acts of disobedience. Oh the depth of the riches of His grace!

If we were not saved for our goodness, we shall not be lost for the lack of it.--When we have been betrayed into sin, in the keenness of our remorse, the fear is suggested lest God should put us utterly away. And there would be ground for the fear if we had been chosen because of our righteousness.

But since our original acceptance with God did not depend on works of righteousness which we had done, but on His mercy in Jesus Christ, it will not be undone by our failures. This thought does not lead to carelessness and indifference, but to a holy fear of sinning.

Circumcise your hearts, therefore, and do not be stiff-necked any longer. - Deuteronomy 10:16

TODAY IN THE WORD
Martin Luther once commented: “As it is now, people go to hear a sermon and leave again unchanged. They act like a sermon is only worth the time that it takes to hear it. No one thinks about learning anything from it or remembering it. Some people listen to sermons for three or four years and still don’t learn enough to respond to a single question about faith. More than enough has been written in books, but not nearly enough has been driven into our hearts.”

IN the gate of the Eastern town, at early morn, the judge sits, and any suppliant has a right to appeal to him. The word Porte, or Gate, as applied to the Turkish Government, alludes to this. So to the thought of the inspired writers, behind the flimsy vail of sense, God sat within the shadow, "keeping watch upon His own," waiting to answer every plea, and to avenge the innocent and oppressed against high-handed wrong.

Individuals may appeal to that tribunal.--David, Jeremiah, and other sufferers, lodged their complaints there. Their cry was not for revenge, but for avengement. There is a great difference between the two. The one is vindictive and retaliatory; the other is magisterial and passionless.
Whenever an affront or wrong is inflicted on thee, avoid vindicating, or answering for thyself. Be still toward man, unless it be to induce thy brother to repent; but turn instantly to thy righteous Judge, asking Him to right the wrong and vindicate the right. He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday. When Christians go to law, and seek to maintain their cause against wrongdoing, they miss this. The weaker you are, the more certainly will the Lord judge for you.

WE wonder why the Lord does not drive out and subdue our besetting sins. We do not possess them, but they us. The explanation is to be found in our lack of consecration. We do not keep all His commandments, or walk in all His ways.

God cannot deliver us from besetting sin unless we yield ourselves to Him entirely.--It is only when He is Judge, Lawgiver, and King, that He can save us. The great surgeon will not undertake a case unless he have its entire management. The general cannot protect a town until it has passed over its government entirely into his hands. If you would give yourself utterly and unreservedly to God, you would find how strong He is for those whose heart is perfect toward Him.

Unless we obey all His commandments;--because they contain His precise direction as to what we should, or should not do. If you want your medical man to heal you, you must abstain from things he forbids, and do those he prescribes. You cannot expect God to save you unless you utterly and reverently obey all His commandments; that, for instance of not having fellowship with the world and its ways.

You and your families shall eat and shall rejoice . . . because the Lord your God has blessed you. - Deuteronomy 12:7

THE presence of God is an incentive to true joy. We rejoice before Him. There is some mistake in our religious life when it is not a joy to us to stand in the presence of God. He that feareth, and rejoiceth not, is not made perfect in love. Note the elements of true joy.

First. The putting away of all known evil.--"Ye shall surely destroy." The permission of evil habits, books, companionships, and unlawful methods of obtaining money, are destructive of peace and joy. The prodigal son went away for merriment; but he only found real joy when he had given up his evil ways and returned to his father, a true penitent, and resolving upon a better life.

Second. The sense of acceptance with God through Jesus Christ.--"Unto the place which the Lord shall choose shall ye come." This refers, of course, to the brazen altar and the altar of incense. We have a better heritage in the finished work of Jesus, whose blood is more precious than that of bulls and goats and lambs, and in whom we are accepted and beloved.

Third. Feeding an Christ.--"Ye shall eat and rejoice." A part of the meal-offerings and other sacrifices was reserved for the worshippers. We have an altar of which we, too, eat. His flesh is meat indeed; His blood drink indeed.

It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him. - Deuteronomy 13:4

TODAY IN THE WORD
When doctors find cancerous cells in their patients, they have only one goal: kill the cancer! By whatever means possible, cancer must be removed from the body. If this can be done, the patient might go on to live a long, normal life. So doctors attack the disease with all the resources they possess: surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation therapy. These are strong remedies, and in themselves can have serious consequences and cause great suffering. Then why use them? Because the disease would do worse. The cancer must be completely eradicated.

HOW much happens to us for this reason! God proves us--not that He may learn aught of us which He did not know before, but that He may reveal us to ourselves. We need to know ourselves, that we may be prompted to know and use His infinite resources, and that, in the great consciousness of our frailty and weakness, we may be led to avail ourselves of His grace.

God proves us by opportunities of Christian service.--We think we are fitted for some great sphere, and chafe because it is withheld: but the reason is not far to seek. We have been tested in some very little service, as a class in the Sunday-school, and have been found careless and unpunctual; is it likely that we shall be entrusted with the greater?

God proves us by the money with which He entrusts us.--Money resembles the counters with which children play. It greatly tests us. It is described as the unrighteous mammon, and as not being our true riches; but it is entrusted to us that we may be proved, before God entrusts us with the real treasures of His Kingdom. Be wary how you use money; on this may turn the responsibilities of the eternal world of which we now know nothing.

You must distinguish between the holy and the common, between the unclean and the clean. - Leviticus 10:10

Give generously to him and do so without a grudging heart; then . . . the Lord your God will bless you in all your work. - Deuteronomy 15:10

TODAY IN THE WORD
Last summer, the Barna Research Group reported that giving to churches, religious organizations, and nonprofit organizations has dropped significantly in recent times. Fewer Americans give, and those who do, give less money--between 1998 and 2000, average annual per capita giving fell by more than a third. While many churches teach tithing, and many people claim to do so, only about six percent of Americans actually tithe, including just 12 percent of born-again Christians.

GOD'S pitifulness is very manifest here. If the pious Jew found it impossible to transport all his tithes in kind, he might change them into money, and bind it in his hand. It was for from God's thought that His service should become irksome, or the soul faint in performing it. An alleviation was suggested, of which the worshipper might take advantage, if he would. This principle may be applied in several directions. We are not to make God's service a toil, but esteem it a delight. "Thou shalt rejoice, and thine household."

The Lord's Day should be the gladdest of the week; full of love and joy and holy song. We should carefully guard against anything approaching to slavish observance: and be very careful that our children and servants should look forward to it with delight.

Christian work should not be carried to the point of exhaustion. There is a mistake somewhere if it so breaks down the health and spirits that the worker is not able to carry it. At such a time, we need to avail ourselves of any assistance or alleviation that may be possible.

THIS is what we desire to be to Christ. We have forfeited our own natural inheritance, and have taken refuge in His house. For six years we have enjoyed all that Jesus could do to make us happy; has not the time come when we should say to Him, "We do not want to go out from Thee again, but to remain with Thee forever"? Paul delighted to call himself "a bond-servant of Jesus Christ" (Rom. 1:1; Gal. 1:10; Phil. 1:1, R. V.; etc.).

There are two stages, so to speak, in our dealings with Him. First, we come driven by fear; the produce of our own efforts has failed; we have no other resort. Like the bird fleeing from the hawk, we have made for His breast; like the sailor driven by the tempest, we have taken the first harbor that offered. But when we have tested the blessed Master, and found Him so sweet and strong, we elect to remain with Him, not for His gifts or even His salvation, but for Himself. We do not wish to go out free; we love Him so dearly that we would rather go anywhere with Him than remain without Him.

These are my appointed feasts, the appointed feasts of the Lord, which you are to proclaim as sacred assemblies. - Leviticus 23:2

THIS gave the touch of gentle tenderness to Israel's treatment of the stranger, the fatherless, and the widow. They knew what loneliness and desperate suffering were; and from their own experience could speak to the heart. Without tenderness and sympathy, what are our gifts to the poor worth? It is as important to give graciously and kindly as to give at all. None are so sensitive as sufferers, whether in mind, body, or circumstance; they are quick to notice the slightest roughness or harshness in our manner of bestowing relief; they would prefer a pittance given with tender sympathy to a larger gift flung at them grudgingly. But what can give this thoughtful sympathetic manner like the memory of our own sufferings, when we were bondmen in Egypt!

It may be that God is passing thee through some fiery ordeal, to teach thee and fit thee to be His almoner, touching and soothing as His outstretched hand of pity. Soon thy present sorrow shall be but a memory; but thou wilt be called to minister to the fatherless, the widow, the stranger. Always say in thine heart, God is passing me through this sorrow, and comforting me, and delivering me, that I may be able to comfort those who are in any trouble with the very accent, caress, and tender word which He hath spoken to me. "Blessed be the God of all comfort; who comforteth us in all our affliction, that we may be able to comfort them that are in any affliction through the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God."

Righteousness guards the man of integrity, but wickedness overthrows the sinner. - Proverbs 13:6

TODAY IN THE WORD
On the cutting edge in the computer world is a group called the Silicon Valley Fellowship, a network of Christian leaders in high-tech firms. According to Christianity Today: “Start-up churches, new Bible studies, and a growing network of prayer groups are having a subtle but significant influence on the high-tech industry by changing the hearts and minds of entrepreneurs, who in turn are changing the way they work.” Chen Wenchi, CEO of Via Technologies, the third largest computer chipmaker in the world, is one such executive. Important meetings are preceded by prayer, Bible studies and praise sessions are held weekly, and the company pays careful attention to community needs in its factory locations. Says Chen: “God is placing me in Silicon Valley so I can be His servant here.”

BEWARE of pride! By that sin fell the angels. If they fell by it, how much more may we! When a man is raised from some lowly sphere to a position of commanding influence, he is greatly tempted to arrogance and pride. The adulation which he receives on every hand makes it all the harder to live humbly and unassumingly. But when once pride enters, it seems to close the heart to God. The proud man multiplies to himself chariots and horses, with the intention of making his position more secure; but he shuts out the help of the Most High. How necessary, therefore, that our hearts should not be lifted up!

The corrective suggested here is meditation on the Word of God. The king was to write out a copy with his own hand, and meditate on it all the days of his life; this would keep him in the lowlands of humility. The Bible is so true in its analysis of the heart; like a mirror it reveals a man to himself. It gives such exalted views of the greatness and holiness of God, compared with which the greatest human state is like the royalties of an ant-heap. It assures us that we must receive everything as the gift of God's grace. "Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law--of works?" No, but by the grace of God which bringeth salvation, apart from merit.

They shall have no inheritance among their brothers; the Lord is their inheritance, as he promised them. - Deuteronomy 18:2

TODAY IN THE WORD
Imagine that you’re present at the reading of a will in ancient Israel. The lawyer clears his throat and begins: “I, so-and-so, being of sound mind, do hereby bequeath my entire estate to my children. May they live forever in its wealth.”

HERE is the inspiration of a noble purpose taking a man out from his quiet life in some distant village, far removed from the great sacred city, and plunging him suddenly into the very midst of its holy engagements and services. Other men were happy there. What more did they want than the quiet routine of buying and selling cattle, tending vines, and cultivating their fields? But for this man these could not suffice. There was a light that excelled beckoning him on; a voice, which only he could hear, calling to him. He was not asked to come; his name did not appear on the rota of the Temple servitors; the great Temple might seem perfectly able to dispense with him; yet because with all the desire of his soul he longed to be one of the Temple Levites, he might minister in the name of the Lord, as the others did; and be supported, as they, from the Temple funds.

The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet.... You must listen to him. - Deuteronomy 18:15

TODAY IN THE WORD
How would you like to try to fill the sandals of Moses? Talk about a tough act to follow. Moses was the first and greatest of the prophets, the liberator of Israel, the one person in his generation of whom God said, ""With him I speak face to face"" (Num. 12:8). Moses stood before the Lord and received His commandments when the rest of the people were so terrified by God's voice and presence that they begged Him to speak to them only through Moses (Deuteronomy 5:23-27).

When justice is done, it brings joy to the righteous but terror to evildoers. - Proverbs 21:15

TODAY IN THE WORD
Last year (2001), Chicago led all American cities with a total of 667 murders, ahead of New York City’s 642. Homicides went up in 15 out of 25 police districts, with most killings tied to gangs, drugs, and domestic violence. Total murders increased by 36 over the year before, the first such increase in eight years, despite the fact that general crime rates have been dropping.

THERE is a Nemesis in wrongdoing; evil comes home to roost; what we meditate against others returns on ourselves. They that take the sword shall perish with the sword. The publican who sells drink to debauch sons and fathers, lives to see the drink curse his own family. The man who is treacherous to women lives to see his own sons fall beneath their wiles. Haman erects a gallows for Mordecai, but is hanged upon it himself. Adoni-bezek cut off the toes and thumbs of captive princes, and confessed the rightness of the fate which overtook himself. England imposes opium on China, but presently discovers that it is eating out the heart of her own subjects in India and Burmah. "Whoso causeth the upright to go astray in an evil way, he shall fall. himself into his own pit."

The Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory. - Deuteronomy 20:4

TODAY IN THE WORD
When the Confederacy added iron plates to the captured U.S.S. Merrimac, the renamed C.S.S. Virginia steam frigate temporarily dominated naval encounters in the Civil War. But the Union side soon built a similar ironclad boat, the U.S.S. Monitor.

WHEN Abraham returned from the slaughter of the kings, the priest of the Most High appeared to welcome him, and to prepare him for the still more subtle encounter which awaited him with the king of Sodom. As Abraham drew nigh to that battle the priest approached.

Whenever a battle is imminent, look out for the

Priest.--Do not go to the war at your own charges, you cannot stand against the mighty power of your arch-adversary. Look around, and see the Priest stand. What Priest? The Apostle and High Priest of your confession. He will offer prayer for you, and anoint your shield with the precious oil, and put His hand upon your hand as you feebly draw the bow.

"What makes you so bold, my lad?" the captain asked of a stripling as he went into the fight. And the answer came quickly, "My mother put her hands on my head and blessed me ere I left our home."

Marriage should be honored by all, and the marriage bed kept pure, for God will judge the adulterer and all the sexually immoral. - Hebrews 13:4

TODAY IN THE WORD
What’s the state of marriage these days? A recent Gallup poll found that households comprising a married couple with children--a nuclear family, in other words--account for just 24 percent of all American households. Only 38 percent think that premarital sex is wrong, and more than half endorse “living together” as morally acceptable, with younger people holding much more permissive views than their elders. A majority prefer fewer children and view divorce as no problem.

THIS law on the Jewish statute-book hastened the awful tragedy of Calvary. No body must be left to rot on the cross on which it had been impaled. The corpse of the malefactor must be taken down at nightfall. But how little did the Pharisees and Scribes realize that the remainder of this verse had so pertinent a reference, and was having so remarkable a fulfillment. The Apostle quotes this verse as giving the inner rationale or meaning of the death of the blessed Lord (Gal. 3:13). "Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree." On Jesus fell the reduplicated curses, that were deserved by the race, and by each.

The curse of the broken law.--" Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things written in the Book of the Law." None had kept, all had broken that law. None was righteous, no, not one. Man's lot was cast under Mount Ebal. The race was guilty and silent before the bar of infinite justice. But Jesus, by virtue of His relationship with the entire human family, was able to stand before God charged with that sin, bearing that curse, and put them away forever. There is no barrier, therefore, now to the outflow of God's free grace.

THE householder was not to be content with what would be safe for himself; he must see to it that the undefended roof of his house should not be a source of danger to little children, the weak, or the careless. He might be able to walk on the roof of his house with so sure a foot as not to need the parapet or trellis-work, warning him from the edge; but what he could do might be impossible for feet less sure than his. Hence the need of the battlement! Each new house must have its battlement around the margin of its roof.

This should be the law for each new home.--Wherever a household is constituted, battlements should be built to protect, as far as possible, the weak and tempted. The pace of the household should be that of the feeblest of its members. You are careful to have the balustrade and the little swing gate, not that the grown-up require them, but for the protection and safety of young and feeble life. Similarly build the battlement of total abstinence, of the discountenance of worldly amusement, of the habit of family worship. Guard against exposure to needless temptation, and occasions for falling.

Blessed are they who keep his statutes and seek him with all their heart. - Psalm 119:2

TODAY IN THE WORD
In a commencement address, writer and theologian J. I. Packer said the following about the Puritans: “The Puritan ideal was that all of life, the individual, the family, the church, the worlds of politics and economics, philosophy and science, social structures and education, personal relationships and the arts, should at every point be, to use the biblical phrase, 'holiness to the Lord,’ and that everyone should be pursuing with all their might the reality of practical, experiential, conscientious, determined, hopeful, vigorous, hardworking, humble, visionary, prayerful, enterprising godliness in the fellowship and service and power of God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit.”

AT all times Israel needed to keep from evil, but especially when her embattled hosts went forth to war; for in the conception of her prophets and saints her battles were not to be fought or won by herself. The Lord God of hosts was there. It was a joint campaign. This was specially revealed to Joshua, when he beheld the captain of the Lord's host, with a drawn sword, beside him. So, Christian soul, remember, in thy war against the evil of the world, and the solicitations of thine own wicked heart, that the battle is not yours, but God's. He is in the midst of thee; thou nee&st not be moved! He has sworn to deliver thee by His own right hand, and by His holy arm, and to give up thine enemies before thee.

There was one condition, however, on which the presence of God amongst His people was possible--the camp must be holy. No unclean thing might be seen in any of its borders. The vail of mother-earth must cover all impurity. Thus, as God went up and down the long avenues of the tents, He would see nothing to offend His gaze and make Him turn away. How deep a lesson! God is ever patrolling the avenues of our life. The most secret processes o.f our daily existence, our innermost relationships, the thoughts and intents of our heart, are all manifest to Him. There must be nothing to make Him turn away in holy abhorrence, else we cannot count on Him to deliver us, to give up our enemies before us.

WHAT courtesy and respect for the feelings of another prompted this injunction! The poor man needs a loan, and for this purpose goes to his rich neighbor. It would be possible for the latter, in the pride of his purse and position, to go ruthlessly across the threshold of the poor man's house, look contemptuously around its penury, and lay his hand with indelicate haste on the treasures of the poor man's family life. This, which had been dear to his father! That, associated with happier, better days! Such conduct might not be, said the divine precept. If the poor man asked a loan, he must choose, his own pledge, and fetch it from his house with his own hand; it must be his act.

God respects the nature with which He has endowed us.--He will not force an entrance on any man. Though He made us, He waits for us to give Him right of entrance. He stands at the door and knocks. He asks for our consecration, that we should give Him our whole being in pledge, and in return for the loan of infinite grace; but He will not take till we give, or count on aught belonging to us as His property, until we have surrendered spirit, soul, and body, at His invitation.

Give me understanding, and I will keep your law and obey it with all my heart. - Psalm 119:34

TODAY IN THE WORD
In the mid-eighteenth century, Sir William Blackstone became the first man to explain English common law in a way understandable to a layperson. His lectures, first given at Oxford University, were expanded to four volumes and published as Commentaries on the Laws of England. These books sold very well, and the concepts they expounded later served as a cornerstone of the American Constitution. Due to this groundbreaking work, Blackstone achieved lasting fame.

"GOD taketh care of oxen," is Paul's comment on this text; and so God did. These pages are filled with tokens of His thought--for the ass that might not be overtaxed by being set to plough with an ox; for the ass or ox which were to be helped up if they had sunk on the road overpowered with their burdens; or for the bird sitting on her nest. Here the ox, as it went around the monotonous tread of the mill, was to be allowed to take a chance mouthful of corn.

The care for dumb creatures is part of our religious duty. It is one of the elements of religion to think for the dumb creatures, who are not able to speak for themselves, but suffer so patiently the accumulated wrongs heaped on them by man. "A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Oh, when will the travail of creation cease! Man's sin has indeed worked woe for the lower orders of creation.

The Apostle used this injunction to remind his converts of the necessity of caring for their spiritual teachers. Some are called to plough, others to thresh; but "he that plougheth should plough in hope; and he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope" (1 Cor. 9:10). They that serve the altar should live by the altar; and those who proclaim the Gospel should live of the Gospel.

Do not be afraid of joy! There are some who only sip of the sweet draughts which God puts to their lips, afraid of drinking long and deeply. When good things come into their lives, they are always thinking of some bitter make-weight, possibly some impending trouble. This is a mistake. We must be prepared to learn the lessons of dark hours when God sends them; but we need not hesitate to learn those of bright and happy ones, when they, too, are meted out to us. As we give ourselves up to sorrow, we should give ourselves up to joy! As the soul descends into the grave, it should have great joy in its resurrection and ascension! If the soul-planet must travel to a wintry distance, let us hail those halcyon hours when it returns to stand in the summer spheres of joy! In the life of consecration our joy is considerably enhanced by sharing it with our Lord. Just as our burden of care is lightened by rolling it upon Him, in the same proportion our joy will be increased when He is permitted to partake of it.

We cannot always be on the strain. It is not possible to live on one side of our nature without impairing the health of all. David must bring his harp, and play in the presence of the soul, when its fits of depression return. There is necessity that we should cultivate tracks of our soul that lie toward a southern aspect, filling them with flowers, and fruits, and beehives, and things that children love.

Follow my decrees and be careful to obey my laws, and you will live safely in the land. - Leviticus 25:18

TODAY IN THE WORD
The world’s largest collection of hearing aids and “ear trumpets” is housed at Kent State University in Ohio. An “ear trumpet” was a device used to amplify sound for the hearing-impaired, but it was only somewhat successful. When the electrical hearing aid was patented in 1880 and made available to the general public by about 1900, it was a major improvement. Electrical hearing aids offered not only amplified sounds, but they also increased the range of sounds. Nowadays, modern hearing aids can even be fine-tuned to meet the needs of particular individuals.

THE obvious intention of this precept was to prevent idolatry, lest the people should think more of the altar than of Jehovah who was worshipped there. Beware of anything that would divert men's thoughts from God.

Build your Addresses of unhewn stones.--When speaking to men, Paul determined to erect structures of unhewn stones, eschewing worldly wisdom, that the power of God might burn more conspicuously on the altar of his words. He knew that his speech and his preaching could never be in persuasive words of human wisdom, and it was his fixed determination to know nothing among men but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. If you spend too much time in cutting the stones of your address, your hearers will probably be more occupied with their artistic grace than with the Divine fire that should burn upon them.

Build your Prayers of unhewn stones.--The expressions of some men in prayer are so exquisitely chiselled that you keep wondering what they will say next, and how. Their prayers stand as beautiful altars on which there is no fire. Oh for the strong cryings and tears of a Spirit-taught man, expressing the real need of his nature, rather than the exquisite beauty of an oration to God!

All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God. - Deuteronomy 28:2

TODAY IN THE WORD
Medical research suggests that natural substances found in tea help stop blood clotting, balance the damaging effects of oxygen (such as fatty deposits in the arteries), and boost the production of disease-fighting enzymes.

All these curses . . . will pursue you and overtake you until you are destroyed, because you did not obey the Lord. - Deuteronomy 28:45

TODAY IN THE WORD
One of the worst natural disasters in history demolished the ancient Greek coastal city of Helike in 373 B.C. An earthquake followed by a giant tidal wave pulverized the city and swept it into the sea. For centuries, the ruins could be seen just offshore, but eventually the city’s location was extinguished.

WE must serve. It is our nature. Our Lord never suggested a third course as an alternative to the service of God or mammon, as though it were possible to escape all service whatsoever. We either yield ourselves servants of righteousness unto holiness, or of iniquity unto iniquity; and to whom we yield ourselves servants to obey, his we are.

It is a solemn thought: if we are not serving God with joyfulness and gladness of heart, we are serving things which are our worst enemies. A man has no worse foe than himself when he lives to serve his own whims and desires. These habits, and appetites, and fashions, are luxurious and pleasant just now; but their silken cords will become iron bands.

On the other hand, if we would be secure from the service which hurts us, let us give ourselves to the Lord to serve Him with joyfulness and gladness. Do you ask the source of these? Remember, He will put gladness into thy heart; joy is the fruit of His Spirit. When thou art in a healthy state, joyfulness and gladness rise spontaneously in the soul, as music from song-birds. When the sacrifice begins, then will the song of the Lord begin.

Carefully follow the terms of this covenant, so that you may prosper in everything you do. - Deuteronomy 29:9

SO man's foolish heart reasons. He hears the curse pronounced against sin; he knows that the man who turns from God is threatened with gall and wormwood, and yet he persists in his evil ways, secretly blessing himself, and laying the flattering unction to his heart that he at least will come off scot free. Such an one is an abomination to the Lord, and shall not escape: "The Lord will not pardon him, but His anger shall smoke against him." It is still true of the wicked, "that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart is only evil continually."

The only way to peace is by abjuring the stubbornness which sets up its own will and way against God's. Is not this the secret of the unrest of your soul--that you have never perfectly yielded to God? You know that if others did as you do, and cherished the dispositions that you permit, you would instantly condemn them, and assure them of the incompatibility of soul-rest and such things as these; but you bless yourself, and say, "I shall have peace, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart."

Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. - Deuteronomy 30:19

TODAY IN THE WORD
Following the terrorist attacks last September 11, Americans were looking for some security, some peace of mind. Many bought survival self-help books, ordered gas masks, and stockpiled first aid equipment and medicine.

CIRCUMCISION is the sign of separation. It was enjoined on Abraham and his children that they might be God's peculiar people, chosen from all the nations of the earth. Similarly, the circumcision of Christ, which is made without hands, of which the Apostle speaks, is a putting off, a separation from the sins of the flesh, a participation in the grave and burial of Christ (Col. 2:12).

We must be separated from the spirit and temper of the world. Between us and its sins, ambitions, methods, there must be not only an outward, but a heart severance. We were separated in the purpose of God when Jesus was cast without the camp to die. But we must be separate in our personal behavior. Wouldst thou have this? Then claim that this promise should be fulfilled, and ask that God would circumcise thine heart--the seat of thine affections, the hearth of thy soul-life.

Then thou wilt love the Lord with all thine, heart. This is why we love God so little. The force of our love is spread over too wide a sur-face-it is like the river Orinoco, which is lost in swamps as it approaches the sea. If only we were really separated from all that is alien to God, and. given up to Him wholly, we should find all the capacity of our hearts becoming filled with His love. We should love all things and people with a tenderness and glow which were steeped in colors obtained from His.

The Lord himself goes before you and will be with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you. - Deuteronomy 31:8

TODAY IN THE WORD
At many churches, job descriptions for volunteer positions often include a line something like this one: “In consultation with church leaders, find, mentor, and train an appropriate replacement for this ministry.” In other words, part of answering a call and accepting the responsibilities of a ministry, whether large or small, is to make sure the work continues after you’ve moved on.

JOSHUA is ever the type of our blessed Jesus. Joshua not only won Canaan for his people by his faith in the gift of God, coupled with his strenuous efforts, but he caused them to inherit it. Jesus not only won the wealth of the heavenlies for His Church by His death and resurrection, but He waits to cause us to inherit it through the Holy Spirit which He gives.

How great is our heritage! Heirs of God and joint-heirs with Christ! All things that pertain to life and godliness await our appropriation! All spiritual blessings in Christ Jesus! There is no conceivable grace or virtue, no fabric of the Divine looms for the soul's dress, no ornament of heavenly jewellery for the soul's adorning, no weapon of celestial temper for the soul's equipment, no salve or balm of Divine comfort for the soul's healing, which is not ours in Jesus. The Father has given Him to have life in Himself that He might give us life more abundantly. He is full of grace and truth, that out of His fullness we all may receive. He received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, that He might pour Him forth in Pentecostal fullness. But we do not possess our possessions. We are like people who have sent all their valuables to the strong-room of a bank, and never by any chance make use of them.

He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. - Deuteronomy 32:4

TODAY IN THE WORD
Many Asian cultures value and nurture filial piety, which, in part, means honoring and obeying one’s parents and grandparents and putting family duty above personal desires. Many Asian proverbs capture the idea that children can never repay their parents, especially their mothers, for giving them life. Even today, a Chinese college student on her birthday might telephone her parents to thank them. In such cultures, a child’s ingratitude is especially heinous. Few worse forms of selfishness and wickedness can be imagined.

THREE references are made to the eagle in this passage.

She stirs up her nest.--When her fledglings are old enough to fly, but linger around the few bits of stick, dignified as a nest, the mother-bird breaks it up, and scatters them. How much better this, than that they should miss the luxury of flight on outspread pinions in the blue vault, and of basking in the eye of the sun. So when the Father sees His children clinging to earth's bare rocks, captured and held by the poor sticks they have gathered, and missing the ascension-glory, He breaks up the nest. The fortune is dispersed, the home broken up, the aspect of the life changed. We are then able to enjoy the bliss of life in the heavenlies with Christ Jesus.

She flutters aver her young.--They stand scared and wretched on the edge of the rock, but she careers gently above them, now edging around, now mounting, then dropping far below to rise again. So would she allure them to follow her example. Here again we have an emblem of God's efforts to make us imitators of Himself, to teach us the possibilities that await us in Jesus.

Blessed are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the Lord? - Deuteronomy 33:29

WHAT a contrast between the blessings of Jacob and of Moses! In Jacob's farewell charge, we find the ominous words, "Cursed be Levi"; and he foretells that this tribe should be divided and scattered in Israel. But here the curse is turned into a blessing; and the scattering is transformed into a holy ministry for the whole of Israel, "They shall teach Jacob thy judgments and Israel thy law." See to what a place of privilege they are exalted! "They shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt-offering upon thine altar."

If ever there was an illustration of the power we have to turn a curse into a blessing, it is here. Step by step the results of that awful sin, for which Jacob cursed his sons, are changed into benedictions. Where sin abounded, grace has much more abounded; indeed, it has reigned, it has broken out into radiant and royal glory. Do not sit down hopeless, because of the consequences of an early sin that threaten to follow thee to thy grave. Thou mayest yet get honey out of the lion's carcass.

Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. - Deuteronomy 32:2

TODAY IN THE WORD
What legacy do you hope to leave behind? In Starting Well: Building a Strong Foundation for a Lifetime of Ministry, author Richard Clinton gives this answer:

“I want to be a Christian leader who has a personal, vibrant relationship with God. A leader who continues to learn throughout my whole life. A leader who has Christlike character and lives according to biblical convictions and promises from God. A leader who accomplishes God’s destiny and purposes for my life, which will involve leaving behind a lasting legacy that testifies to the goodness of God. I want to be a leader who finishes well!”

Amen! On that well-struck note, we arrive today at the death of Moses and the conclusion of our month’s study of Deuteronomy.

Why couldn’t Moses enter the Promised Land? Because his sin of disobedience at Meribah dishonored the Lord (cf. Ps. 106:32–33). As a result, when Israel was about to enter the land promised to their forefathers, Moses wasn’t allowed to go with them. Instead, at God’s direction, he climbed Mt. Nebo, and from there God graciously showed him the land.

Moses died in Moab in good health at the age of 120. His last moments were spent privately with God, surveying the Promised Land and no doubt meditating on the greatness and faithfulness of the Lord. God Himself buried His friend and servant, and to this day the location of the grave remains unknown. Back in the Israelite camp, Joshua picked up the torch of leadership, “filled with the spirit of wisdom” from God (v. 9).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Imagine that you have somehow been given the honor of designing a tombstone for Moses. What would it look like? What would the epitaph read? How would you summarize the life of this great man of God?

THIS was true of Moses as a man. He had seen plenty of sorrow and toil; but such was the simple power of his faith, in casting his burden on the Lord, that they had not worn him out in premature decay. There had been no undue strain on his energy. All that he wrought on earth was the outcome of the secret abiding of his soul in God. God was his home, his help, his stay. He was nothing: God was all. Therefore his youth was renewed.

But there is a deeper thought than this. Moses stood for the law. It came by him, and was incarnated in his stern, grave aspect. He brought the people to the frontier of the land, but would not bring them over it: and so the Law of God, even when honored and obeyed, cannot bring us into the Land of Promise. We stand on the Pisgah-height of effort, and view it afar in all its fair expanse; but if we have never got further than "Thou shalt do this and live," we can never pass into the blessed life of rest and victory symbolized by Canaan.