Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 11-13.

I am not sure if I will be able to find the words to properly express the idea I find in today’s passage, but I’m going to try.  As I read today’s passage I was struck that God wants us to take care of our environment, but not the ways which most people approach doing so are counterproductive.  These words from Deuteronomy 11:13-15 really struck me on that: “So if you faithfully obey the commands I am giving you today—to love the Lord your God and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul— then I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains, so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and olive oil. I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”  Our care for the environment follows from doing what God commands, not from devotion to nature.  Moses makes sure the Israelites understand this because he follows that up by saying that they need to be careful to not be enticed away to follow other gods.  The people of the land they were entering worshipped gods whose worship they claimed was vital to preserving the environment in which they lived, but, through Moses, God warns us that their tactics will fail.  If we begin worshiping the gods of this world, the land will stop producing crops and become a dried out desert.  If we look at some places in this country we can see examples of this.  There are places which had been productive and beautiful, but the people living in those areas gave power to those who worshiped the gods of nature.  Those people began enforcing laws to “protect nature” and the lands became dry and/or uninhabitable.  I thought of giving specific examples of this, but instead I want to focus on the lesson.  If we worship God and follow His commands, the lands we live in will provide us with abundant resources to live, prosper, and serve Him.  If we worship other gods, even the “gods of nature”, and attempt to serve them, the lands we live in will become places where nothing will prosper.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on Deuteronomy 8-10.

Today’s passage begins with Moses telling the Israelites to follow the commands he is giving them so that they might live and increase.  Then towards the end of the passage he asks them a rhetorical question about what God asks of them.  The answer to the question was that God asks only that they fear Him, love Him with all of their heart and all of their soul, and obey the commands which He gave them for their own good.  These things apply to us as well.  God has given us commands and instructions which are for our own good.  It reminds me of the difference between well-behaved children and children which are out of control.  I have noticed that well-behaved children are convinced that their parents enforce their rules because their parents believe those rules are in the best interest of the children.  While out of control children act as they do because they do not believe that about their parent’s rules.  Well behaved children believe that they will suffer negative consequences for breaking their parents’ rules whether or not they are caught.  Out of control children believe that there are no negative consequences for breaking the rules as long as they do not get caught.  If we believe that God is like a good parent, who establishes rules for His children for their own good, then we will understand that He does not punish us because He is offended that we disobeyed Him.  Rather, He punishes us to teach us not to do things which will have even worse consequences for us than the punishment He inflicts.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.