Our Daily Bread Today Deuteronomy 4 ++

Scripture selections are taken from the Rock Church Daily Bread Reading schedule for each month. “Lena’s Journalin’” are Lena’s comments on the specific passages from her Daily Journal.

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Deuteronomy 4:1-49

Moses Urges Israel to Obey
1"And now, Israel, listen carefully to these laws and regulations that I am about to teach you. Obey them so that you may live, so you may enter and occupy the land the LORD, the God of your ancestors, is giving you. 2Do not add to or subtract from these commands I am giving you from the LORD your God. Just obey them. 3You saw what the LORD did to you at Baal-peor, where the LORD your God destroyed everyone who had worshiped the god Baal of Peor. 4But all of you who were faithful to the LORD your God are still alive today.
5"You must obey these laws and regulations when you arrive in the land you are about to enter and occupy. The LORD my God gave them to me and commanded me to pass them on to you. 6If you obey them carefully, you will display your wisdom and intelligence to the surrounding nations. When they hear about these laws, they will exclaim, 'What other nation is as wise and prudent as this!' 7For what great nation has a god as near to them as the LORD our God is near to us whenever we call on him? 8And what great nation has laws and regulations as fair as this body of laws that I am giving you today?
9"But watch out! Be very careful never to forget what you have seen the LORD do for you. Do not let these things escape from your mind as long as you live! And be sure to pass them on to your children and grandchildren. 10Tell them especially about the day when you stood before the LORD your God at Mount Sinai, F13 where he told me, 'Summon the people before me, and I will instruct them. That way, they will learn to fear me as long as they live, and they will be able to teach my laws to their children.' 11You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain was burning with fire. Flames shot into the sky, shrouded in black clouds and deep darkness. 12And the LORD spoke to you from the fire. You heard his words but didn't see his form; there was only a voice. 13He proclaimed his covenant, which he commanded you to keep—the Ten Commandments—and wrote them on two stone tablets. 14It was at that time that the LORD commanded me to issue the laws and regulations you must obey in the land you are about to enter and occupy.
A Warning against Idolatry
15"But be careful! You did not see the LORD's form on the day he spoke to you from the fire at Mount Sinai. 16So do not corrupt yourselves by making a physical image in any form—whether of a man or a woman, 17an animal or a bird, 18a creeping creature or a fish. 19And when you look up into the sky and see the sun, moon, and stars—all the forces of heaven—don't be seduced by them and worship them. The LORD your God designated these heavenly bodies for all the peoples of the earth. 20Remember that the LORD rescued you from the burning furnace of Egypt to become his own people and special possession; that is what you are today.
21"But the LORD was very angry with me because of you. He vowed that I would never cross the Jordan River into the good land the LORD your God is giving you as your special possession. 22Though you will cross the Jordan to occupy the land, I will die here on this side of the river. 23So be careful not to break the covenant the LORD your God has made with you. You will break it if you make idols of any shape or form, for the LORD your God has absolutely forbidden this. 24The LORD your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
25"In the future, when you have children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time, do not corrupt yourselves by making idols of any kind. This is evil in the sight of the LORD your God and will arouse his anger.
26"Today I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you. If you disobey me, you will quickly disappear from the land you are crossing the Jordan to occupy. You will live there only a short time; then you will be utterly destroyed. 27For the LORD will scatter you among the nations, where only a few of you will survive. 28There, in a foreign land, you will worship idols made from wood and stone, gods that neither see nor hear nor eat nor smell. 29From there you will search again for the LORD your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.
30"When those bitter days have come upon you far in the future, you will finally return to the LORD your God and listen to what he tells you. 31For the LORD your God is merciful—he will not abandon you or destroy you or forget the solemn covenant he made with your ancestors.
There Is Only One God
32"Search all of history, from the time God created people on the earth until now. Then search from one end of the heavens to the other. See if anything as great as this has ever happened before. 33Has any nation ever heard the voice of God F14 speaking from fire—as you did—and survived? 34Has any other god taken one nation for himself by rescuing it from another by means of trials, miraculous signs, wonders, war, awesome power, and terrifying acts? Yet that is what the LORD your God did for you in Egypt, right before your very eyes.
35"He showed you these things so you would realize that the LORD is God and that there is no other god. 36He let you hear his voice from heaven so he could instruct you. He let you see his great fire here on earth so he could speak to you from it. 37Because he loved your ancestors, he chose to bless their descendants and personally brought you out of Egypt with a great display of power. 38He drove out nations far greater than you, so he could bring you in and give you their land as a special possession, as it is today. 39So remember this and keep it firmly in mind: The LORD is God both in heaven and on earth, and there is no other god! 40If you obey all the laws and commands that I will give you today, all will be well with you and your children. Then you will enjoy a long life in the land the LORD your God is giving you for all time."
Eastern Cities of Refuge
41Then Moses set apart three cities of refuge east of the Jordan River, 42where anyone who had accidentally killed someone without having any previous hostility could flee for safety. 43These were the cities: Bezer on the wilderness plateau for the tribe of Reuben; Ramoth in Gilead for the tribe of Gad; Golan in Bashan for the tribe of Manasseh.
Introduction to the Law
44This is the law that Moses handed down to the Israelites. 45These are the stipulations, laws, and regulations that Moses gave to the people of Israel when they left Egypt, 46and as they camped in the valley near Beth-peor east of the Jordan River. (This land was formerly occupied by the Amorites under King Sihon of Heshbon. He and his people had been destroyed by Moses and the Israelites as they came up from Egypt. 47Israel conquered his land and that of King Og of Bashan—the two Amorite kings east of the Jordan. 48So Israel conquered all the area from Aroer at the edge of the Arnon Gorge to Mount Sirion, F15 also called Mount Hermon. 49And they took the eastern bank of the Jordan Valley as far south as the Dead Sea, F16 below the slopes of Pisgah.)
FOOTNOTES:F13: Hebrew Horeb, another name for Sinai; also in 4:15. F14: Or voice of a god. F15: As in Syriac version (see also 3:9); Hebrew reads Mount Sion. F16: Hebrew took the Arabah on the east side of the Jordan as far as the sea of the Arabah.

Copyright Statement: Holy Bible, The New Living TranslationCopyright © 1996 by Tyndale Charitable Trust. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

~Lena’s Journalin’ Today~
The only way to not turn any other way than the word, is to know the word. AND remember, Jesus IS the word, we are coming to know Him more and more through the word of God. If we do not know the word how can we follow it? Do not be deceived into thinking that maybe what someone told you from years ago when you were taken to church and dropped off , or you heard some scripture read on the radio or you watch a bit of Christian TV or have gone to a few Christian funeral services, that you have a basis of the word of God!
The way our world is now, we cannot afford days going by without knowing Jesus in the personage of the word of God! If we don’t have a daily fresh word from the pages of the Bible each day, we are weak and sick and dying spiritually.
Remember Jesus said, man does not live (any kind of quality life on earth) by natural bread alone, food that is eaten to keep the body alive, but man lives (as he was sent here to live, a spiritually alive life) by every word from God!
I’ve heard lately how legalistic the church body is, I’m very sad that people are thinking of God’s representatives on earth this way. Really what they are speaking of is rules, lines being drawn around lives. Have you ever heard the phrase, “the lines are my friends”? Did you know that comes from a scripture, that says, “The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places”? That does not mean my flesh nature will like the lines that have fallen around my life, because our unsaved flesh likes to have things just the way we like them and a rebellious nature does not like to ever be told what to do.
Do you realize that obedience to lines is THE test of our love for God? Why would this be? Because satan, God’s enemy, rose up in pride in the face of God Most High and said, that favorite flesh word- “NO!” What would one word be that would combat that word forever? Can you guess it? “YES”!
The king of disobedience and outright spiritual rebellion stood up and tried to rise above God, in dis-unity, he brought division (that means where there was one vision, he brought two). Why do you think we struggle with lines, with rules, with lordship, with obedience? I’ll give you some hints- Light vs. darkness, pride vs. humility, blindness vs vision, etc, etc.
It is God’s war of love. Love conquers, love wins, love obeys. Another place in Deuteronomy will say something like- choose you this day who you will serve….that is a daily choice. We have to choose life. We have to defy the evil sway of rebellion against God. If we ever (like minute by minute) feel a rebellion rising in us against anything, I mean anything God has said, we should recognize what side we are of, if we do not rise up in holy rebellion to the rebellion and love. Love gives, love does not divorce itself from the body of Christ and any of its “rules of legalism”, if love prevails. The Divine nature of love is submission to God’s Spirit in love. Love gives, it lays down its rights, it does not argue its way.
Read 1 Cor 13:4-8. Live these words today. They will only know we are Christians because we do these things, we love God and one another. Love obeys. Even what may seem at times like legalistic God-rules to be on His side.
Let me go through some of these legalistic “rules” that if we really think about them and live them in the giving to God kind of love, we’ll really be benefited in our spiritual growth and the winning of other’s hearts, because of our own changed lives, lives that now resemble Christ more and more.
“You should go to church, every time the door is open” – If we love God and we love His house and we want to learn to love His people and even those who are not yet His people, how would this “rule” help us do that?
“You shouldn’t listen to music or see movies that put before your eyes and ears deceptive and evil appetites” – If we love God and people and we’re trying to root worldliness out of our thought, replacing it with Godly thoughts, why would this be a terrible legalistic “rule”? Would it help to give more room for the thoughts of God to be developed in us? There’s only so much room in each day, there’s only so much our brains can take in and process etc. Junk in junk out, Nourishment in nourishment throughout, right?
“You shouldn’t drink or smoke or curse”- Should you? If you’ve given your life, not just a part, but the whole thing, not withholding yourself from the use of God at His will, beck and call, why would you want to keep all of that? If we choose Him, then why would we choose also what he does not give us, he gives us gifts from the Spirit to pacify us and satisfy us. If it was a trade off, which it is, we just don’t see it that way, which do we choose? Life?
One more here, “You should give tithes and offerings”- Man, you ARE getting a bit controlling there! Don’t touch MY money! Wow, it is Your money? Do you want God involved in YOUR money? A little or a lot? The Bible says, towards the same measure you give it will also be given you, it also states a principle so you don’t really HAVE to give it all, but in giving at least 10%, it is as though you gave it all. Cool, huh? Depends on who our god is. The LOVE of money is the root of ALL evil. We cannot serve God and money, or do we deceptively think we can when God’s words says we cannot. Would we stand before God with and excuse that the church told us to and we needed to rebel against the church because they were too legalistic and this is the way we rebel, by withholding our money from God and the work he has chosen for us to support, His local churches?
Who are we?
Ever hear of Jews prospering? I wonder why, maybe it is their legalistic view of God. Maybe.
Do we receive instruction from God, and from God’s people sent by God into our lives to show and tell us a few things we may not have known or needed explained to us? Can we be corrected? “Hey Mack, the car is on the right, not the left side!” If Mack were rebellious, unteachable, uncorrectable, he’d not listen to George and he’d say something like, don’t tell me what to do! Meanwhile he’d not find the car right away, he’d go round and round the block, counting cars, till maybe by process of elimination or guesses and trial and error, he’d find the car! By then whatever opportunity may have been lost and he is now probably late, due to his independent rebellious, don’t tell me what to do nature.
Those of you who feel the church you’ve gone to is legalistic, or hypocritical, tell me which one of these verses you live on a daily unwavering basis. What have all of us said and not done, both in and out of the world? Are we all people of our words? Always? I know only one person like that- His name is YHWH. Forgiveness and grace cover the rest and all of the accusations that come with it. Don’t be deceived into thinking you can’t be around imperfect people who are hypocritical. If you are perfected and are not a hypocrite yourself, you can help them and love them and show them the way of truth, stick around and show us the way.
Just start with the first 10 Commandments. No one alive, except Jesus has not broken even a minute part of one of these commandments.
Have you ever, I mean ever lied about anything ever? Even a fib? Ever?
What about loving God all the way, not loving anything else above Him , above going to His house and being with His people in daily fellowship (Acts 2:42). There’s nothing else ever you’d rather do, right? He’s your everything, every thought etc? Is that hypocrisy, that you got saved, said you loved God, and then you don’t really?
These are examples of why we need Jesus’ blood, His grace, His power the fellowship of others etc. We cannot obey Him ourselves on our own strength. We can’t even do all has God asked of us, it is impossible. We have to daily rely on His strength an live by His word.
Lots to chew on and be brutally and personally honest about today.

Proverbs 27:17-19
17 You use steel to sharpen steel, and one friend sharpens another. 18 If you care for your orchard, you'll enjoy its fruit; if you honor your boss, you'll be honored.
19 Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.
Psalm 122:1
1 When they said, "Let's go to the house of God," my heart leaped for joy.