Tag: sin against You

49.o. Wilderness – 13.u. “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things”

 

Deu 4:9  “Only take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children’s children— how on the day that you stood before the LORD your God at Horeb, the LORD said to me, ‘Gather the people to me, that I may let them hear my words, so that they may learn to fear me all the days that they live on the earth, and that they may teach their children so.’ And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom. Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice. And he declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, that is, the Ten Commandments, and he wrote them on two tablets of stone. And the LORD commanded me at that time to teach you statutes and rules, that you might do them in the land that you are going over to possess.

 Proverbs 3:1    My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments,

 Proverbs 3:3   Let not steadfast love and faithfulness forsake you; bind them around your neck; write them on the tablet of your heart.

 Proverbs 7:1   My son, keep my words and treasure up my commandments with you;

 Proverbs 4:20-23  My son, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings.  Let them not escape from your sight; keep them within your heart.  For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh.  Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life.

 Hebrews 2:3    how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,

 Psalms 119:11    I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Their only danger was, lest they should grow careless and unmindful of all the wonderful things that God had done for them and thereby not teach them to their children.  The possession of the oracles of God by Israel was a benefit to them only as these were kept in mind and reverently obeyed. Therefore they were to take heed and diligently beware of forgetting the circumstances under which the Law had been received at Horeb. God had then commanded the people to be gathered together, so that they stood before the Lord, were in his manifested presence, and were made to hear his voice speaking to them from amidst the fire and the clouds that covered the mount. They had thus actual evidence and guarantee that the Law they had received was Divine; and this they were to keep in mind as long as they lived, and to communicate to their children in all coming time, that so they might fear the Lord; for on this rested that covenant which God had made with Israel, and which they were to keep as the condition of their continuing to enjoy privilege and life. (Unkown)

When we are passive towards God’s Word and the things of God we will become complacent and neglectful. The quiet whispers of the Holy Spirit’s leading will be drowned out by the busyness of whatever we have turned to or allowed to consume our desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ. The Bible was inspired and authored by and through the Holy Spirit. His Word was given to us so that we might know God and His plans, purposes, and promises. How many days go by when we are just going through the motions of being a faithful servant? How many times do we leave our house and give no thought to how we might continually honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all of our thoughts, words, and actions? How many trials and problems do we seek to rely on self-reliance rather than reliance on God our heavenly Father? 

God is ever-present and worthy of all praise, honor, glory, and worship. Becoming careless and unmindful of God’s purpose for each of us is to believe, trust, follow, obey, and rely upon Him, and grow in our understanding of His great power, might, grace, mercy, and love, and be in a continual desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all of our thoughts, words, and actions, we drift away, think unholy things, speak worldly thoughts, and seek the pleasure of fleshly and worldly desires. 

How is it possible to know what honors and glorifies Jesus Christ if the Word of God is neglected?

How is it possible to grow in our understanding of God’s grace, mercy, and love if there is no desire to do so?

How is it possible to determine what is holy and what is worldly when all that fills your mind is what comes from that which is worldly?

How is it possible to be a light shining in the darkness when the light of God’s Word is dim in your life?

How is it possible to know God’s will when there is no desire to know it?

How many years have we been walking in the wilderness because we allow worldly values and culture to consume us and we walk on paths away from God?

When there is no heart, mind, and soul desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all of our thoughts, words, and actions – all of the time – then there will be no fueled desire to read His Word and know God.

See what David said; Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting 

4.i. “To keep oneself unstained from the world.”

Nehemiah 13:1   On that day they read from the Book of Moses in the hearing of the people. And in it was found written that no Ammonite or Moabite should ever enter the assembly of God, for they did not meet the people of Israel with bread and water, but hired Balaam against them to curse them—yet our God turned the curse into a blessing. As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.

Psalms 119:9    How can a young man keep his way pure? By guarding it according to your word.

Psalms 119:11    I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.

Proverbs 6:23    For the commandment is a lamp and the teaching a light, and the reproofs of discipline are the way of life,

James 1:27   Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, and to keep oneself unstained from the world.

“As soon as the people heard the law, they separated from Israel all those of foreign descent.”  Do you ever wonder what the state of mind is in those who hear and act on God’s word?  We know from earlier in Nehemiah the people were floundering in their walk with God.  A small number (40,000 – 50,000)  had been allowed to return to their homeland.  Jerusalem was in ruin and the people were spread out in other towns and villages of Judah.  They all did what seemed right to them at the time.  They were harassed by the surrounding people, they had to establish new fields for grain, pastures for flocks, homes to live in.  They had to repopulate.  In all of this activity, they seemed to have gotten caught up in, this led to them forgetting about serving, honoring, glorifying, following, and obeying God.  Then Ezra the scribe and priest was sent and what he saw and heard about, he called out the sin of the people.  He read the Book of the Law to them and had it explained so that the people had an understanding of what it meant to honor, follow, and obey.  Their heart, mind, and soul were open to hearing the word and they confessed their sin and committed to retiring to honoring, serving, following, and obeying God’s Law.  We must remember that there had been 70 years of captivity so many of these people returning were second and third generation from those who initially rejected God’s Law.  In captivity there would have been no temple worship, no reading from God’s word, and much exposure to foreign gods and practices.  It can be understood why they did what seemed right in their own eyes because they were void of God’s Word.

What is our excuse?  What possible reason do we have?  We have not been forced into captivity or had the Word of God removed from us.  We have not been forced to live apart from God’s temple or forced to stop worshiping God. And yet, we choose to live as we have been.  We neglect God’s Word, we are complacent at best in our service, and our heart, mind, and soul are deaf to the leading His Word would give us.  When our heart, mind, and soul, has chosen to be in captivity of the influence of the world we will only be able to do what seems right in our own eyes.  We will only be doing what seems right by the standards and expectations of the culture we live in.  To break the chains of captivity our heart, soul, and mind must change.  An intentional choice must be made in our hearts to seek and desire God’s word with the single purpose of honoring, serving, glorifying, following, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ.  We must want to hear God’s Word speak into our life for this single purpose above all of the things this world has to offer.  In this heart, mind, and soul-deep commitment we will find that when we hear God’s Word leading us we will immediately act on it accordingly.