November 11, 2013
Central Truth
Following God's plan leads to life, both now and for eternity. Following our own plan will always lead to destruction and death.
"See now that I, I am He,
And there is no god besides Me;
It is I who put to death and give life.
I have wounded and it is I who heal,
And there is no one who can deliver from My hand."
(Deuteronomy 32:39).
1
“Give ear, O heavens, and I will speak,
and let the earth hear the words of my mouth.
2
May my teaching drop as the rain,
my speech distill as the dew,
like gentle rain upon the tender grass,
and like showers upon the herb.
3
For I will proclaim the name of the LORD;
ascribe greatness to our God!
4
The Rock, his work is perfect,
for all his ways are justice.
A God of faithfulness and without iniquity,
just and upright is he.
5
They have dealt corruptly with him;
they are no longer his children because they are blemished;
they are a crooked and twisted generation.
6
Do you thus repay the LORD,
you foolish and senseless people?
Is not he your father, who created you,
who made you and established you?
7
Remember the days of old;
consider the years of many generations;
ask your father, and he will show you,
your elders, and they will tell you.
8
When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance,
when he divided mankind,
he fixed the borders
1
32:8
Or territories
of the peoples
according to the number of the sons of God.
2
32:8
Compare Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text sons of Israel
9
But the LORD's portion is his people,
Jacob his allotted heritage.
10
He found him in a desert land,
and in the howling waste of the wilderness;
he encircled him, he cared for him,
he kept him as the apple of his eye.
11
Like an eagle that stirs up its nest,
that flutters over its young,
spreading out its wings, catching them,
bearing them on its pinions,
12
the LORD alone guided him,
no foreign god was with him.
13
He made him ride on the high places of the land,
and he ate the produce of the field,
and he suckled him with honey out of the rock,
and oil out of the flinty rock.
14
Curds from the herd, and milk from the flock,
with fat
3
32:14
That is, with the best
of lambs,
rams of Bashan and goats,
with the very finest
4
32:14
Hebrew with the kidney fat
of the wheat—
and you drank foaming wine made from the blood of the grape.
15
But Jeshurun grew fat, and kicked;
you grew fat, stout, and sleek;
then he forsook God who made him
and scoffed at the Rock of his salvation.
16
They stirred him to jealousy with strange gods;
with abominations they provoked him to anger.
17
They sacrificed to demons that were no gods,
to gods they had never known,
to new gods that had come recently,
whom your fathers had never dreaded.
18
You were unmindful of the Rock that bore
5
32:18
Or fathered
you,
and you forgot the God who gave you birth.
19
The LORD saw it and spurned them,
because of the provocation of his sons and his daughters.
20
And he said, ‘I will hide my face from them;
I will see what their end will be,
for they are a perverse generation,
children in whom is no faithfulness.
21
They have made me jealous with what is no god;
they have provoked me to anger with their idols.
So I will make them jealous with those who are no people;
I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
22
For a fire is kindled by my anger,
and it burns to the depths of Sheol,
devours the earth and its increase,
and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains.
23
‘And I will heap disasters upon them;
I will spend my arrows on them;
24
they shall be wasted with hunger,
and devoured by plague
and poisonous pestilence;
I will send the teeth of beasts against them,
with the venom of things that crawl in the dust.
25
Outdoors the sword shall bereave,
and indoors terror,
for young man and woman alike,
the nursing child with the man of gray hairs.
26
I would have said, “I will cut them to pieces;
I will wipe them from human memory,”
27
had I not feared provocation by the enemy,
lest their adversaries should misunderstand,
lest they should say, “Our hand is triumphant,
it was not the LORD who did all this.”’
28
For they are a nation void of counsel,
and there is no understanding in them.
29
If they were wise, they would understand this;
they would discern their latter end!
30
How could one have chased a thousand,
and two have put ten thousand to flight,
unless their Rock had sold them,
and the LORD had given them up?
31
For their rock is not as our Rock;
our enemies are by themselves.
32
For their vine comes from the vine of Sodom
and from the fields of Gomorrah;
their grapes are grapes of poison;
their clusters are bitter;
33
their wine is the poison of serpents
and the cruel venom of asps.
34
‘Is not this laid up in store with me,
sealed up in my treasuries?
35
Vengeance is mine, and recompense,
6
32:35
Septuagint and I will repay
for the time when their foot shall slip;
for the day of their calamity is at hand,
and their doom comes swiftly.’
36
For the LORD will vindicate
7
32:36
Septuagint judge
his people
and have compassion on his servants,
when he sees that their power is gone
and there is none remaining, bond or free.
37
Then he will say, ‘Where are their gods,
the rock in which they took refuge,
38
who ate the fat of their sacrifices
and drank the wine of their drink offering?
Let them rise up and help you;
let them be your protection!
39
‘See now that I, even I, am he,
and there is no god beside me;
I kill and I make alive;
I wound and I heal;
and there is none that can deliver out of my hand.
40
For I lift up my hand to heaven
and swear, As I live forever,
41
if I sharpen my flashing sword
8
32:41
Hebrew the lightning of my sword
and my hand takes hold on judgment,
I will take vengeance on my adversaries
and will repay those who hate me.
42
I will make my arrows drunk with blood,
and my sword shall devour flesh—
with the blood of the slain and the captives,
from the long-haired heads of the enemy.’
43
Rejoice with him, O heavens;
9
32:43
Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text Rejoice his people, O nations
bow down to him, all gods,
10
32:43
Masoretic Text lacks bow down to him, all gods
for he avenges the blood of his children
11
32:43
Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text servants
and takes vengeance on his adversaries.
He repays those who hate him
12
32:43
Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint; Masoretic Text lacks He repays those who hate him
and cleanses
13
32:43
Or atones for
his people's land.”
14
32:43
Septuagint, Vulgate; Hebrew his land his people
Songs are very powerful. They define decades, help us remember important moments, and bring us together. Songs often speak to our hearts in ways that words alone cannot. So it is fitting that God used a song to speak to His people.
God had Moses deliver a song for Israel. The song served as a witness of God's faithfulness to Israel and Israel's rejection of God's Law (Exodus 19-24). The Mosaic Law was a conditional covenant between God and the Israelites that worked like our laws today. Laws protect people. When we break laws, there are consequences for ourselves and others.
When I read the Song of Moses, my heart sank. The Israelites made a covenant to do everything God said (Exodus 24:3). Now they were singing about their betrayal. Yikes! That is incredibly tough to sing.
I am just like the Israelites, often thinking my way is best because of how I feel in a moment. Recently going through a conflict with someone I love revealed that my decisions were causing pain for both of us. My pride swelled when asked to change how I do things. I wanted to give up and go my way because it was comfortable. Israel became comfortable in their ways, rejected God, and lost everything. The Song of Moses reminds me that my way only leads to destruction and death, now and for eternity.
So is there hope for me and all the "Lawbreakers?" Check out Deuteronomy 32:43. God ends His song by reminding Israel that only following Him brings true life. The last line, moreover, promises atonement for His people that would come through Jesus Christ, who sacrificed His life to satisfy the wrath of God meant for us.
Accepting the gift of reconciliation with God through Christ's death and resurrection guarantees my eternal fate in heaven with God. Christ's sacrifice brought about grace, and I am not bound to the Law to save me. Only Christ can save my soul, but I strive to follow the law of Christ on earth because there are consequences for me and others from my actions (Galatians 6:2). Now that is a song worth singing!
1. If someone wrote a song to describe your life up to this point, what would the lyrics be? Would your song lead to destruction or to life?
2. How do you follow the songs of the world instead of the song of the Lord?
3. We listen to our favorite songs again and again until we memorize them. How much time are you spending memorizing God's Word that leads us to life?
4. What's your favorite song that reminds you of God's truth and His plan that gives life? Why is it your favorite?