Calling for the Best, Preparing for the Worst
Today I was feeling some better. I had a rather busy day for the most part. I conducted two Bible studies at the Morning Star Assisted Living facility and then had my Rotary Club lunch. I made it home for a brief break before heading out for my workout appointment. My trainer did have me walk as far a I could without using my crutches. I was able to make it about half way across the width of the basketball court. It wasn’t “pretty” but I’m pushing it.
BIBLE VERSE FOR TODAY… [Moses to the people]“Be strong and courageous; don’t be terrified or afraid of them. For it is the Lord your God who goes with you; He will not leave you or forsake you…. [The Lord to Moses] When I bring them into the land I swore to give their fathers, a land flowing with milk and honey, they will eat their fill and prosper. They will turn to other gods and worship them, despising Me and breaking My covenant.” Deuteronomy 31:6,20 HCSB
Have you ever said, or heard the statement, “I’m doing the best with what I have to work with!” It may be a craftsman, who is lacking sufficient tools. It may be a coach who has team that is lacking talent. It may be an individual who lacks the skills and experiences for a task. I believe these words could have been spoken by God in His task of fulfilling His promise to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
Leadership guru, John Maxwell, once expressed it in this analogy. “Sometimes you feel like you, hit the ball and drag Charlie, hit the ball and drag Charlie. After a while, you just want to hit Charlie.” God certainly hit a few “home runs.” The deliverance from Egypt, the crossing of the Red Sea, the provision for two million people in the wilderness, victory over enemies. Yet it seems the people were reluctant followers, as if God was dragging them to the Promised Land.
In Deuteronomy we read how the Lord calls His people to the highest level of obedience and commitment. He promised them victory, peace and prosperity for loving Him and living according to His ways. Yet at the same time, the Lord realized the fragile condition of their hearts and the vulnerability to temptation. As the covenant was renewed the blessings for obedience and the curses for disobedience were made very clear.
The Lord includes in His instructions words that anticipated the failures of His people. It is seen in the instructions about a King, hundreds of years before the people demanded one. “When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, take possession of it, live in it, and say, ‘I will set a king over me like all the nations around me,’ you are to appoint over you the king the Lord your God chooses….” (Deu. 17:14,15 HCSB)
The Lord even speaks of the eventual captivity of God’s people. “When all these things happen to you….and you come to your senses while you are in all the nations where the Lord your God has driven you, and you and your children return to the Lord your God and obey Him with all your heart and all your soul by doing everything I am giving you today, then He will restore your fortunes, have compassion on you, and gather you again from all the peoples where the Lord your God has scattered you.” (Deu. 30:1-3 HCSB)
Moses spoke to the people about their vulnerability. “For I know that after my death you will become completely corrupt and turn from the path I have commanded you. Disaster will come to you in the future, because you will do what is evil in the Lord’s sight, infuriating Him with what your hands have made.” (Deu. 31:29 HCSB)
Deuteronomy 32 is a “song” the Lord gave Moses for the Children of Israel to memorize and remember, for the times when they would slip into idolatry and disobedience and the experience judgment from the Lord. The Lord warned the people that in their prosperity they would reject the Lord and turn to idols.
There are many more verses where the Lord warns and then promised restoration for those who have turned away from the Lord. Why is that? Because God is a covenant-keeping God and He is full of grace and mercy. He uses His judgment to get the attention of the wandering and to bring them to their senses. But a proper response is required.
The Lord established a “new covenant” with people through Christ’s death on the cross. He knows our weakness and how even when we desire to give Him our best, we often miss the mark. John reminds us, “…I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have an advocate with the Father–Jesus Christ, the Righteous One.” (1 John 2:1 NIV)
Just as God’s desire was for His people in the Old Testament to “choose life” and to be “strong and courageous” – He made provisions for them when they disobeyed and were weak and timid in the face of temptation. He has done the same for us! That does not give us permission or an excuse for our sin and failings. Choices have consequences. God knows our hearts and has provide a way for us to have victory even when He is “dragging Charlie.”