Freedom For Today

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 6 before reading the devotional below.

We were on our way to North Carolina on vacation, and we came to a place where we had to make a choice about which way to go.  One choice led us to the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. The other led us a bit more quickly along a regular highway. “So, do you want to see a really long bridge interrupted by really long tunnels?” I asked my wife.  Apparently she did. We drove down the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, and we even stopped in the little gift shop in the middle of it. Several weeks ago when I was moving some books around, I actually found the $3 guidebook that I bought all those years ago.  I’m pretty sure I’ll read it eventually, but either way, I don’t regret my choice. The Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel was the first stop on one of my favorite vacations I’ve ever been on.

Moses continues his second speech in Deuteronomy by addressing the issue of choices.  The Israelites are about to enter a wonderful land that God is providing for them.  When they get situated, and life gets easy, will they still follow the leadership of God?  Or will they get distracted or over-confident? Moses main point is very practical. If the Israelites want to stay faithful to God, they need to build reminders into their lives.  They need to remind themselves of who God is and what he’s done for them. Moses tells them to make a habit of repeating God’s rules, and to inscribe them on their jewelry (“tie them to your hands”), and to hang them up as decorations (“write them on the doorposts of your house”).  Most importantly, God tells them to build it into their family culture. All parents tell stories because all kids love stories. Israelite parents were expected to tell stories that explain why God is the hero and the king.

Hang verses on your walls. Get a t-shirt with a quote from the Bible on it. Get a tattoo if you’re feeling especially bold. Most importantly, though, build it into your conversational habits.  Never stop telling the stories of who God is and what he’s done in your life. Tell them to your children. Tell them to your friends. Tell them to your neighbors and to strangers on the bus. Those stories are a vital way that you and those you love will remember the most important truths in the entire world.  

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 5 before reading the devotional below.

When I was a teenager, I worked for my grandfather installing hardwood floors.  During one really frustrating job, we had to rip up all the floors in a house, and then replace them.  We dragged all the old wood out the back door and threw it in the the back yard. Several hours later I needed to go into the backyard, so I climbed across the pile of wooden boards.  I was at the top of the pile when I tripped forward, and all my weight landed on a nail. I didn’t walk right for weeks. I also learned to never play with boards that have nails in them.  

The ten commandments can easily distract from the important point that Deuteronomy 5 is making.  It is not primarily a point about morality; it is a point about God. God revealed himself to the Israelites, allowing the entire nation to see and experience his power and might.  The experience was both breath-taking and terrifying, and the Israelites developed more than a healthy respect for God.  They developed a healthy fear of God.  Fear is not bad. As a teenager, I learned to fear nails.  I also learned to appreciate nails when i used them to install a brand-new floor. As a young nation, Israel learned to fear God. They experienced his goodness, power and holiness, and they knew that they had to humble themselves before him.

American culture sometimes seems to tell us that we should avoid experiences of darker emotions such as sadness, guilt or fear.  Total avoidance of these experiences is not healthy, however. Fear is a recognition of uncontrollable power. It is a recognition that we must surrender to or be harmed by the rules set by that power.  I cannot expect a nail to be soft. Instead, I need to learn to be careful around nails. That’s a healthy fear that has saved me from harm. I cannot expect God to change his nature either. Instead, I need to learn to follow his rules.  That, too, is a healthy fear that can certainly save me from harm.

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 4 before reading the devotional below.

When I was in middle school, we would play giant capture-the-flag games.  Around twenty of us would gather at sundown, and we’d play for hours. I remember one game when it was so dark that I was able to hide for several minutes from the enemy team simply by lying down in the middle of a field.  No one tripped over me, so no one found me. I remember another game when the other team one, and I got really mad. One of their players pretended to be on our team, and he led a group of us into an ambush. We should have remembered who was on our team, where each person’s loyalty truly lay.  

As Moses winds down the first of several speeches in the book of Deuteronomy, he speaks of two topics that are intimately linked: obedience and idolatry.  Modern people often think of “idolatry” as a private, religious issue. They think of it as relating to personal times of prayer, or times set aside for church or religious observance.  Religion, however, was never meant to be a private, personal issue. Religion fundamentally deals with the issue of a person’s deepest loyalty. It asks these questions: who will you trust? Who will inform your day-to-day decision making?  Whose leadership will you follow? As the Israelites prepared to receive the land they’d been promised, God wanted them to clarify their own loyalties. Most importantly he wanted them to choose ONE. At the deepest level, our loyalties can truly be divided.  One loyalty, one commitment, one trust will always outweigh the others. It is that one highest loyalty that will inform our actions.

Moses has spent much of Deuteronomy so far reminding the Israelites that obedience and loyalty to God have brought blessing to their lives.  He wants them to understand that obedience and loyalty to God will also be the path to maintaining that blessing. Deuteronomy asks us the same question: where is your highest loyalty?  The Israelites didn’t know what the future would hold. Neither do we. For all of us, that future hangs in the balance while we answer this question: where does our loyalty lie?

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 3 before reading the devotional below.

“Did you know he would be eligible to get a Super Bowl ring, if they won?”  Considering my total lack of interest in football, this is normally the moment when I check out of a conversation.  But this conversation caught my attention. Apparently a player was being traded, and he would only be on the team officially for a week or so.  Apparently, however, that’s enough. Even if he doesn’t play in the Super Bowl. Even if he isn’t even on the team anymore when they go to the Super Bowl.  None of that matters.  If the team wins the Super Bowl, he’s getting a Super Bowl ring.  The team’s win is his win.

That is a major part of the point that Moses is making in today’s chapter of Deuteronomy.  As Moses continues to rehearse Israel’s history from the previous generation, he is trying to cement important lessons into the minds of the current generation.  In this case, one story is about a win for everyone – the battle against Og. The next story is even more powerful, though. The promised land was divided by the Jordan river.  Some of the tribes were getting land on the East side of the Jordan where the Israelites were currently staying. The men of those tribes, however, were expected to go with the other tribes to conquer the rest of the land.  This is the opposite of “every man for himself.” It is reminiscent of the three musketeers: all for one, and one for all.

The spiritual life isn’t fought alone.  It isn’t won or lost alone. The local gathering of Jesus’ followers – the church – is like Israel. We are gathered together because we come under God’s leadership.  When the church wins, rejoice. When a fellow Jesus-follower wins, celebrate. Allow those wins to inspire and inform your hope for your own story. What God is doing among us, God can do for any of us.  More importantly, the greatest things God is planning will not be done through any one of us, but through all of us together.

Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 2 before reading the devotional below.

Several years ago, I had to travel to Delaware.  The car I rented was the first I’d ever driven that was fully equipped with Bluetooth.  The moment I turned the car on, it synced with my phone, and started playing my favorite songs.  The directions I’d programmed into my phone’s GPS were pulled onto the car’s giant touch-screen, and the voice of Siri gently instructed me using the best sound system that I’d ever heard on wheels.  The ride was a breeze… until we hit the tunnels of New York. For the first time, I heard words that now haunt drivers: “signal lost.” I had no idea where I was, no idea how to get where I was going. I was depending on Siri, and Siri had lost her way because I was stuck in a tunnel. Panic set in.

Chapter 2 of Deuteronomy begins to set a theme that will be important later on: the theme of obedience.  Throughout the years in the desert, the Israelites moved when God told them to. They learned to follow directions.  Sometimes, it probably felt like they had lost the divine signal, like they were wandering aimlessly. But God had a plan.  He wanted them to learn to trust Him. And when the time was right, He invited them to go to the land he’d promised them. There too, obedience was important.  At certain times, God said to leave certain people alone. The Israelites obeyed. At other times (like with King Sihon), God said to fight. Again, the Israelites obeyed.  Throughout this time, obedience brought blessing.

Sometimes, as with the Israelites, following may look like being on a mission or in a war. In this case, God was using the Israelites to bring His justice to a number of unspeakably evil nations.  Following doesn’t always look like leisure or prosperity or happiness or convenience. It often involves challenges and struggles. But throughout the struggles and the challenges, the people of God will encounter the faithfulness of God.  The best way to go is the way that God leads. You are most free when you receive what God provides. The Israelites didn’t yet know what that meant, but soon they were going to learn.