49.p. Wilderness – 13.v. “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully”

 

Deu 4:15  “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully. Since you saw no form on the day that the LORD spoke to you at Horeb out of the midst of the fire, beware lest you act corruptly.

Deu 4:19-20  And beware lest you raise your eyes to heaven, and when you see the sun and the moon and the stars, all the host of heaven, you be drawn away and bow down to them and serve them, things that the LORD your God has allotted to all the peoples under the whole heaven. But the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be a people of his own inheritance, as you are this day.

Exodus 19:5-6     Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession among all peoples, for all the earth is mine;  and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ 

 Psalms 28:9     Oh, save your people and bless your heritage! Be their shepherd and carry them forever.

 Psalms 33:12     Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people whom he has chosen as his heritage!

 Ephesians 1:18     having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints,

 Titus 2:14     who gave himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for himself a people for his own possession who are zealous for good works.

 1 Peter 2:9    But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

As the people had seen no form or figure when God spake to them, so they were to beware for their very lives (cf. ver. 9) of acting corruptly by making any kind of image, whether of man or of beast, for the purpose of worshipping God as represented by it; they were also to beware of being so attracted by the splendor of the heavenly bodies as to be forcibly seduced to worship them and offer them religious service. They were not in this respect to imitate the heathen; for God, who had delivered them out of the furnace of Egyptian bondage, had taken them for himself to be his special possession; and therefore they were to take heed not to forget the covenant of Jehovah their God, nor to offend him by making any image or representation of him as the object of worship. Among the heathen, and especially in Egypt, images were the very pillar and support of religion; but in Israel, as God had revealed himself to them without form, it was as a spirit he was to be worshipped, and not under any outward representation. (Unknnow)

God did not deliver us from the bondage of sin so that we could do our own “Thing”, but so we would do that which honors and glorifies Him. There is so much more to learn of the Holiness of God and the sinfulness of sin. Every single day our sinful nature must be recognized in the light of His Word. When recognized, it must be turned away from. Every day we have the opportunity to grow in our understanding of God’s Holiness and the sinfulness of sin. This knowledge and understanding do not come to us naturally but by and through His Word and with a heart, mind, and soul desiring to know and understand so that we might not sin against Him but rather honor and glorify Him. 

Every day we have the opportunity to grow in our understanding and knowledge of God and things of God if our heart’s desire for it does not become dimmed by worldly distractions. 

Author: Daryl Pint

Saved by Grace, living by faith