David's Bible Blog

Deuteronomy 8:16-18 (NLT)

He fed you with manna in the wilderness, a food unknown to your ancestors. He did this to humble you and test you for your own good. He did all this so you would never say to yourself, ‘I have achieved this wealth with my own strength and energy.’ Remember the Lord your God. He is the one who gives you power to be successful, in order to fulfill the covenant he confirmed to your ancestors with an oath.

God takes us through trials to test us and to make us trust him. It is for our own good.

Any success I have comes from God.

Deuteronomy 6:6-9 (NKJV)

And these words which I command you today shall be in your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

To be "In your heart" means to be at the center of your innermost being. Your primary job as a parent is to impart truth to your children. Why talk small talk when you can talk about the things of God. God's truth ought to permeate every part of your life. Before you go to sleep, God's word should be your last thoughts. When you wake up, you are reminded of your Creator. Everything you touch is part of God's creation. Everything you look at should be filtered through the lens of God's truth. When people come in to your house, it ought to be self-evident whom you serve. Your primary mission as you go out into the world ought to be as a witness to God's work in your life.

Luke 6:43-45 (NKJV)

For a good tree does not bear bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. For every tree is known by its own fruit. For men do not gather figs from thorns, nor do they gather grapes from a bramble bush. A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart brings forth evil. For out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaks.

I have heard my pastor say that if you want to find out what a person is made of, just jostle them up and see what spills out.

So true that is. The bible also says that there is no one good but God. So if I am to be good where will the good come from? Well it must come from God. He does that by coming to live in my heart. I pray now that when I am jostled, that Jesus will spill out.

Jeremiah 17:9 (NKJV)

"The heart is deceitful above all things, And desperately wicked; Who can know it?

Psalm 51:10a (NKJV)

Create in me a clean heart, O God

Deuteronomy 3:23-27 (NKJV)

“Then I pleaded with the Lord at that time, saying: ‘O Lord God, You have begun to show Your servant Your greatness and Your mighty hand, for what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do anything like Your works and Your mighty deeds? I pray, let me cross over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, those pleasant mountains, and Lebanon.’

“But the Lord was angry with me on your account, and would not listen to me. So the Lord said to me: ‘Enough of that! Speak no more to Me of this matter. Go up to the top of Pisgah, and lift your eyes toward the west, the north, the south, and the east; behold it with your eyes, for you shall not cross over this Jordan.

Just observing my own children and even myself at times, we get the idea that if we repent of a wrongdoing and then do the right thing, that somehow we will be able to reverse the consequences of the previous sin and everything will be as we originally wanted it to be. This passage is a striking illustration of how God is holy, just and gracious at the same time.

Moses had angered God by being disobedient and stealing a bit of God's glory during one episode with the unruly Israelites. He struck a rock to bring forth water rather than speaking to it as God had instructed. And he took a bit of credit to himself in front of the Israelites. This is not acceptable to God. Now certainly Moses was God's faithful servant and was perhaps the greatest leader of God's people. But God would not tolerate such sin and there would be consequences. Moses thought perhaps now that some time had passed that God might rethink his position on the matter. Although it might with us, the passage of time does not ameliorate sin. Oh, God had forgiven Moses of his sin and Moses would spend eternity in Heaven with God but the consequence of Moses sin would stand.

Yet, in His grace, God allowed Moses to see the Promised Land before he died.

Psalm 66:18 (NKJV)

If I regard iniquity in my heart, The Lord will not hear.

There are an astonishing number of promises in the Bible that God will answer prayer. What a tremendous motivation that is to pray. There are also a handful of verses that indicate that there are hindrances to prayer. One of them is sin. To regard iniquity in my heart means that I know that it is there but I am not willing to repent of it. How could God possibly answer my prayer when I am in such a rebellious state?

Psalm 139:23-24 (NKJV)

Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me, and know my anxieties; and see if there is any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

Numbers 35:25 (NKJV)

So the congregation shall deliver the manslayer from the hand of the avenger of blood, and the congregation shall return him to the city of refuge where he had fled, and he shall remain there until the death of the high priest who was anointed with the holy oil.

God instituted a strange law that the Israelites have six cities to which a person could flee to safety if he had committed an accidental murder. The kinsman of the person murdered would be the Avenger of Blood, but he could not carry out his vengeance while the person was in the City of Refuge. Only if the person left that city could the avenger take his vengeance. The strange thing is that when the high priest of that city died, the person who committed the manslaughter would be free to return to his home without consequence.

Why did God put this in the Bible? We can see elements of this in our own judicial system: protection by the courts, trials with defense and prosecuting attorneys, etc.

The Cities of Refuge have a deep theological meaning. We are all guilty of the death of Christ because of our sin. But we were born sinners and in that sense we could not avoid our guilt. But what is our refuge? Jesus is our City of Refuge and being in him, we are saved from the Avenger of Blood, the judgment of God. Jesus is the great high priest who died for us. His death represents the cancellation of sin for those who have fled to Him as their refuge.

One final thing: the six Cities of Refuge were to be conveniently located so that they would be easily accessible from anywhere in the land. So too, Jesus is easily accessible, so that anyone may come to him from anywhere at anytime.

Romans 8:1a (NKJV)

There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus

Luke 4:33-35 (NKJV)

Now in the synagogue there was a man who had a spirit of an unclean demon. And he cried out with a loud voice, saying, "Let us alone! What have we to do with You, Jesus of Nazareth? Did You come to destroy us? I know who You are--the Holy One of God!"

But Jesus rebuked him, saying, "Be quiet, and come out of him!" And when the demon had thrown him in their midst, it came out of him and did not hurt him.

I find it interesting that the demon spirits are not deceived. They know who Jesus is and they are subject to Him obeying instantly when Jesus commands them. I wish many people I know were as knowledgeable of truth and as subject to authority as the demons are.

Satan has authority over this world which he acquired when Adam gave up the authority God had originally given to him. But God still has authority over all of creation. God, being the righteous sovereign he is, allows Satan to run his course. However, God defeats Satan and defends his holy Name, not by wiping Satan out, but by being both righteous Judge and by taking upon himself the penalty of our sin. This makes it possible for both justice to be satisfied and for us (sinners declared righteous by God's own sacrifice) to live with Him in eternity.

Romans 3:23-26 (NKJV)

For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified freely by His grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God set forth as a propitiation by His blood, through faith, to demonstrate His righteousness, because in His forbearance God had passed over the sins that were previously committed, to demonstrate at the present time His righteousness, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.