While in slavery, the children of Israel had to depend physically upon the Nile river to irrigate their crops and sustain their households. While in Egypt, their goal was merely to survive. Canaan was going to be different! The Israelites had seen with their own eyes that it was a land flowing with milk and honey. Unlike Egypt, this land was sustained primarily by seasonal rainfall which the inhabitants depended upon twice a year to provide for their families. But it was obvious to the Israelites that the Canaanites were doing more than surviving, they were thriving! This land was blessed by God but the inhabitants’ failure to retain even the knowledge of God was proven by their pagan worship. As a result, God knew that life was about to change for His people once they inhabited this new Promised Land. Life would be easier for them and they would be tempted to become apathetic and stray from the Lord. So Moses was instructed to remind them of the 10 Commandments and place before them a simple choice.
Deut. 11:26-28 “Behold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; A blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the LORD your God, which I command you this day: And a curse, if ye will not obey the commandments of the LORD your God, but turn aside out of the way which I command you this day, to go after other gods, which ye have not known.”
V31-32 “For ye shall pass over Jordan to go in to possess the land which the LORD your God giveth you, and ye shall possess it, and dwell therein. And ye shall observe to do all the statutes and judgments which I set before you this day.
LESSON - For the Believer, every day begins with this same simple choice. Will I live today according to God‘s will or my own? The choices I make will determine if I am blessed by the hand of God or if I am chastened by that same strong hand. If we choose TODAY to live for the Lord, God’s promises to Israel can be ours as well.
V22, 25 “For if ye shall diligently keep all these commandments which I command you, to do them, to love the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, and to cleave unto him;
There shall no man be able to stand before you: for the LORD your God shall lay the fear of you and the dread of you upon all the land that ye shall tread upon, as he hath said unto you.”
The choice is yours!
~Mike
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