May 8, 2019: Day 11 – Deuteronomy 11

The promises of the Lord are laid out before the people of Israel in a very obvious, almost self-incriminating fashion.  Moses reminds the people of Israel of all that God has done for them in liberating them from Egypt including, but not limited to, what God did on the Red Sea as he vanquished the armies of Pharaoh by closing the waters over them and destroying them.  This then allowed them to enter into the land which was flowing with milk and honey.  

Moses encourages, no he actually beseeches, them to obey all of the commandments which the Lord has laid before them.  Look at vs. 13 and you will find that he says if you would only obey the Lord then, and only then, he will bless you with rain, the kind of rain that allows crops to grow.  Yes, this is a conditional arrangement where God promises something if, and only if, we respond to that which He has provided by following His commandments.  Remember, we have said all along that God pursues us with an unconditional covenant.   God has already done the work whether we choose to receive it or not.  In Jesus Christ we have a new covenant which is very different from the covenant that we have laid before us here.

Also, a very well known portion of Scripture begins at vs.18 where you find the commandment to teach these laws to your children so that they will also be aware of them and they not be foreign to you nor to your children.  Another promise is not only that rain would come but that the enemies of the people of Israel would be scattered from them and they would be able to conquer all those regions that the Lord has put before them.  The assumption, however, is that if you don’t follow the commandments then the Lord will not give the people over to you.