Today's reading: Deuteronomy 7; Revelation 7
I am at a middle school youth camp this weekend and writing this post from my phone on spotty internet, so just a heads up, this morning's post is going to be short...
The thing that strikes me in Deuteronomy 7 is just how much God wants to do for Israel if they will only be minimally faithful to Him. I've talked about this over the past couple days, but God sets a really low bar of expectations for Israel receiving His blessing. Largely, He wants them to worship Him and not start worshipping the gods of the nations they are taking the land from instead. And if they will maintain their believing loyalty in Him, rather than giving it to lesser gods, He will bless them, He will bless their land, He will bless their conquests, He will bless their endeavors, etc.
This is probably the singularly most often repeated instruction throughout Deuteronomy, and maybe throughout the Pentateuch as a whole, to stay faithful to Yahweh and not turn to other gods. And what is really worth considering with this is that this is Yahweh trying to keep them in His blessing. His desire is to bless Israel. There is a common perception of God in the Old Testament as spiteful and just looking to kill and destroy, but the picture we get of Him here is the opposite. He is reminding them to not turn to these lesser gods because His desire is to bless them. Israel does not have to earn God's blessing, they just need to not throw it away. And even God's reminders to them about this are not couched primarily as threats if they disobey, but instead as reminders of what He has already done for them and promises of the even greater things He still wants to do for them if they will only continue to follow Him.
We do not have a harsh and demanding God who is looking for an excuse to punish and/or disown us, we have a kind and loving God who desires to bless us. So as much as Satan and our flesh may want to convince us otherwise and lead us to turn from Him to lesser things for satisfaction, fulfillment, and purpose, we need to keep our eyes on the God who has moved powerfully and sacrificially in history in order that we might find our rest and blessing in Him.
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