Dear brothers and sisters,
These past two years have been a period of high and lows for me. On the one hand, God has deepened my faith by redirecting my attention to the cross and looking at Christ, how He suffered, bled and died. It has in many ways lifted up my heart and also redirected many of my ideas, thinking and likes and dislikes. On the other hand I have noticed that this does not mean struggles with sin are obsolete. In a strange way it almost seems that where faith in Christ is growing, sin and the devil are more than keen to step in.
In the past few days I have been thinking over these past two years and what has happened. In my thinking the Holy Spirit directed my attention to Deuteronomy chapter 8. You can read it yourself, I will take out a few verses and share what the Spirit shared with me and which I would like to share with you today.
Two things that I noticed was:
(1) Israel had to remember their former slavehood in Egypt, and how the Lord had saved them from this slavery. How He took them on a journey to the promised land and cared for them all this time (verses 2-6)
(2) Israel had to look forward to the promised land and for the promises that the Lord had in store for them (verses 7-9)
God shared both their past and their future with His people Israel for a particular reason. Because they will forget the Lord their God (verse 11), their heart will become proud (verse 14) and they will rely on themselves (verse 17).
What is this, what God is speaking about?
Have you ever experienced this what God warned His people of? I have. There were periods where my thoughts, heart and mind were clouded and I lost sight of what Christ did for me. I became proud and thought I had it all and there was nothing to worry about and then .. All of the sudden I was brought low and looked at my life that was wrecked because of my proud heart.
But also times where the devil used what God has given to us and made it so big, so important that it becomes all consuming. Have you ever given any thought that most of our habitual sins are about things that in essence are not sin? Physical intimacy, food, entertainment, they are not bad in themselves, they become sin because we take one or more of them and make them idols. That is what the devil is at his best. He takes what God created, and holds it before us and makes it more beautiful than the Creator Himself.
God warns us for this coldheartedness, for idolizing what He created and this is a very serious warning. If we will follow other gods, worship them and bow down before them, He will surely destroy us (verse 19). We need to obey Him.
But what is the antidote?
Brothers and sisters even in this part of the Old Testament we see glimmers of the Cross. You see it right at verse 1: Be careful to follow every command I am giving you today, so that you may live and increase and may enter and possess the land the Lord promised on oath to your ancestors..
God wants us to live, that we will increase and enter into the promised land. He does not give just a command: obey and live, no.. obey so that you may live. God wants us to enter into the covenant that He made with Abraham so that we may live, so that we may prosper, so that we will be safe..
He goes at lengths to underline what He already had done by freeing them from slavery, by keeping them safe during the journey and by showing them what lies before them!
Now let us take this chapter and read it with ‘Christ-centered eyes’.
Verses 1-5 It was Christ who obeyed everything that God had asked from us. His blood flowed freely as a perfect and once-for-all sacrifice for every trespassing and sin that we have done, both in our past, present and future. By doing so both you and I have been freed from our slave house whatever that was and we received life!
It is Christ who sustains us during our journey on the earth. He cares for us, He uses even those periods that are full of trials for our good, to draw us closer to Him as we experience that we can not walk an inch without His care, without His love. He was humbled, so that you and I were exalted, He was hungry so that you and I would never run out of the eternal and life giving water and food, His clothes were taken from Him so that we could be clothed in robes of righteousness, His hands and feet were pierced so that we were able to walk in freedom without anything holding us back from entering to the throne of grace.
Verses 6-9 As Christ died at the cross His side was pierced and from His side not only blood but also water came pouring down the cross. This water signifies that He gave His life to His people and from this life we all have now abundant life, a land with brooks, streams, deep springs where there is all kinds of fruits, vegetables that we can eat from and life. We will lack nothing because Christ has become our spring that gushes out this Eternal and life-giving water for us!
Verses 10-18 Looking that Christ, as we enjoy the blessings of the Lord, makes us ponder of our past and what Christ did, it makes us enjoy that was given to us, an eternal house, an abundance of blessings and keeps our heart from running cold but if we do:
Please preach what is said in this chapter in verse 1: I am Christ, Who freed you from your sin, Who took care of you and Who is promising you life eternal and abundant. I want you to live, I do not want to see you die and be destroyed. I took that place for you, so please come and enjoy the good land I have given you and life, prosper and be satisfied in Me
You are loved brothers and sisters,