Latest / The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast / 528 | Deuteronomy 29 - What God Has Revealed

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528 | Deuteronomy 29 - What God Has Revealed · The Woman at the Well Ministries Podcast

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  God is in control.
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  She's a happy girl. Hello, friends, and welcome back to another podcast of Woman
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  at the Well Ministries, where we believe that all of us have to come to Jesus
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  like the woman at the well in John chapter 4.
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  Our highest priority is making God real in your life.
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  Whether you are listening in our app, in your favorite podcasting app,
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  or on our website at watwm.org, We invite you to sit down with us as we look
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  to the scriptures to learn more about God and to strengthen your daily walk with Jesus Christ.
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  Have you ever wondered why God doesn't show us everything at once?
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  Deuteronomy chapter 29 reminds us that while some things remain hidden in the
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  heart of God, He has revealed more than enough for us to trust,
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  obey, and live faithfully.
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  This chapter in Deuteronomy is all about covenant, a covenant renewed,
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  remembered, and reaffirmed.
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  The Israelites were standing on the edge of the promised land,
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  and Moses called them to renew their promise to walk in obedience and to keep
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  God at the center of their hearts.
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  Every man, woman, and child was invited to recommit to the Lord,
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  to turn away from idols, and to live as a people set apart.
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  Deuteronomy 29.29 says, The secret things belong unto the Lord our God,
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  but those things which are revealed belong unto us and to our children forever,
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  that we may do all the words of this law.
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  This verse calls us to a simple but powerful truth. We don't have to understand
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  everything to obey completely.
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  God has revealed what we need to know in His Word, and the rest we can safely leave in His hands.
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  Join us in this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast,
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  as Erica Close teaches from Deuteronomy 29, 29 reminding us that true faith is built on trust,
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  that obedience flows from love, and that God's revealed truth is always enough.
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  Open up your Bibles with me as we jump into Deuteronomy chapter 29, starting in verse 1.
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  These are the words of the covenant, which the Lord commanded Moses to make
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  with the children of Israel in the land of Moab, beside the covenant which he made with them in Horeb.
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  And Moses called unto all Israel and said unto them, Ye have seen all that the
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  Lord did before your eyes in the land of Egypt unto Pharaoh,
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  and unto all his servants, and unto all his land.
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  The great temptations which thine eyes have seen, the signs and those great
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  miracles. Yet the day the Lord hath not given you, and heart to perceive,
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  and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.
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  And I have led you forty years in the wilderness. Your clothes are not waxen
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  old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old on thy foot.
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  Ye have not eaten bread, neither have you drunk wine or strong drink,
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  that ye might know that I am the Lord your God.
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  And when ye came unto this place, Sihon, the king of Heshbon,
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  and Og, the king of Bashan,
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  came out against us into battle, and we smote them, and we took their land,
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  and gave it for an inheritance unto the Reubenites, and to the Gadites,
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  and to the half-tribe of Manasseh.
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  Keep, therefore, the words of this covenant, and do them, that ye may prosper in all that ye do.
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  Ye stand this day, all of you, before the Lord your God, your captains of your
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  tribes, your elders, and your officers, with all the men of Israel,
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  your little ones, your wives, and thy stranger that is in thy camp,
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  from the hewer of thy wood unto the drawer of thy water, that thou shouldest
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  enter into covenant with the Lord thy God, and into his oath,
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  which the Lord thy God maketh with thee this day,
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  that he may establish thee today for a people unto himself, that he may be unto
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  thee a God, as he has said unto thee, and has sworn unto thy fathers,
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  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.
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  Neither with you only do I make this covenant and this oath,
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  but with him that standeth here with us this day before the Lord our God,
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  and also with him that is not here with us this day.
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  For ye know how we have dwelt in the land of Egypt, and how we came through
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  the nations which ye pass by.
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  And we have seen their abominations and their idols, wood and stone,
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  silver and gold, which were among them.
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  Lest there should be among you man or woman or family or tribe,
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  whose heart turneth away this day from the Lord our God, to go and to serve
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  the gods of these nations, lest there should be among you a root that beareth gall and wormwood.
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  And it came to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse,
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  that he blessed himself in his heart, saying, I have peace, though I walk in
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  the imagination of mine heart, to add drunkenness to thirst.
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  The Lord will not spare him. But then the anger of the Lord and his jealousy
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  shall smote against that man.
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  And all the curses that are written in this book shall lie upon him,
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  and the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven.
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  And the Lord shall separate him unto evil out of all of the tribes of Israel,
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  according to all the curses of the covenant that are written in this book of the law.
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  So that the generation to come of your children that shall rise up after you,
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  and the stranger that shall come from a far land, shall say,
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  When they see the plagues of that land, and the sicknesses which the Lord hath
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  laid upon it, and that the whole land thereof is brimstone and salt and burning,
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  that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein,
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  like the overthrow of Sodom and Gomorrah.
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  Amda and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and in his wrath.
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  Even all the nations shall say, Wherefore hath the Lord done thus unto this land?
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  What meaneth the heat of this great anger?
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  Then men shall say, Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord God
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  of their fathers, which he made with them when he brought them forth out of the land of Egypt.
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  For they went and served other gods, and worshipped them, gods whom they knew
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  not, whom they had not given unto them.
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  And the anger of the Lord was kindled against this land, to bring upon it all
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  the curses that are written in this book.
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  And the Lord rooted them out of the land in anger and in wrath and in great
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  indignation and cast them into another land as it is to this day.
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  The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed
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  belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
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  Deuteronomy chapter 29 marks a powerful shift in the journey of the Israelites.
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  Having just heard the blessings and curses in chapter 28, the people now stand
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  before Moses in the land of Moab for a solemn renewal of their covenant with God.
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  This moment is both a remembrance of God's faithfulness in the past and a recommitment
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  to obedience for the future.
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  Moses gathers all of Israel together in verse 1 to reaffirm their covenant with the Lord.
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  This covenant, sometimes called the covenant in Moab, does not replace the covenant
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  made at Mount Sinai, but rather renews and reinforces it.
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  Moses here, in verses 2 through 4, reminds the Israelites of everything they'd
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  witnessed, the miracles in Egypt, the deliverance from Pharaoh.
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  And the preservation of their lives during 40 years in the wilderness.
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  Yet despite all of this, their hearts had often been dulled to the meaning of God's works.
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  They did not have a heart to perceive the works of the Lord.
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  Moses goes on in verses 5 through 9. He highlights God's faithful provision.
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  He kept their clothes from wearing out, fed them, gave them victory over their
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  enemies, and brought them to the very edge of the promised land.
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  This covenant renewal was meant to remind them that obedience and remembrance
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  go hand in hand and that faithfulness would lead to prosperity.
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  Every person was included in this renewal of the covenant.
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  Leaders, elders, men, women, children, and even the foreigners in their community that were present.
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  This is the whole community. But the covenant relationship was not just collective
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  in the whole community. It was also very personal.
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  Each Israelite was responsible for his or own disobedience or obedience.
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  Verse 15 is especially powerful. The covenant extended, quoting here,
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  to him that is not here with us this day, meaning that it would reach beyond
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  that generation to all future generations.
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  God's covenant people were defined by faith and obedience, not by time or location.
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  Moses warns the Israelites not to turn to the idols of Egypt or the pagan gods of the Canaanites.
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  Like so many other passages in Deuteronomy, this must have needed to be said.
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  In verse 18, he warns of, quote-unquote, a root that beareth gall and wormwood,
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  meaning a bitter and poisonous root that, if allowed to grow,
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  would corrupt the entire nation.
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  Anyone who secretly turned away from the Lord while appearing faithful on the
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  outside would face judgment.
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  Obedience to the covenant required sincerity. A divided heart could not stand before a holy God.
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  The description of the divided heart is made so clear in verse 19.
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  And it comes to pass, when he heareth the words of this curse,
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  that he blessed himself in his heart, saying, I shall have peace,
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  though I walk in the imagination of my heart.
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  Moses keeps going in verse 22 and goes on to foretell that future generations
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  and foreign nations will one day look at Israel's desolation and ask why such ruin came upon them.
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  But Moses tells them it will be their idolatry.
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  Verses 23 through 25 foretell that the land will be destroyed with brimstone and salt.
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  It'll be a wasteland like Sodom and Gomorrah after they were destroyed.
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  This would be the consequence of neglecting the covenant of the Lord and worshiping other gods.
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  This disobedience would provoke God's wrath, and His people would be taken from
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  their land and scattered among the nations of the world.
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  This devastation would serve as a visible reminder that sin carries consequences,
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  and that forsaking the Lord always leads to loss.
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  This chapter closes with one of the most profound statements in all of Deuteronomy.
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  The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed
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  belong unto us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
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  This verse calls for humility, and it calls for trust.
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  There are mysteries that God alone understands, and it's not our job to seek them out.
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  What he has revealed through his word is enough for us to know, teach, and obey.
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  God's people are to walk faithfully in what he has made known,
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  trusting him with whatever it is that he has not made known.
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  What a chapter this is. If we're looking at how this chapter applies to our
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  lives on this side of the cross,
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  Just as Israel renewed their covenant at Moab, we're called to continually renew
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  our own commitment to God.
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  When we remember his faithfulness and the deliverance we have through Jesus
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  Christ, it stirs up our gratitude and strengthens our obedience.
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  Our gratitude wanes when we cease to notice what God has done in our lives.
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  We don't see that your clothes are wearing out, like the Israelites.
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  When we don't see the protection of battle and when we don't see God's daily provision.
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  But real renewal, real commitment comes with remembrance, reflection,
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  repentance, and recommitment.
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  God's people were not meant to walk alone.
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  We're called to community. I love that in this chapter, the whole community is pulled together.
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  This covenant was made with the whole nation across all generations.
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  Our obedience today affects those who come after us. When we live faithfully,
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  we pass down a spiritual blessing.
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  We literally leave a spiritual inheritance. and when we fall away,
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  we leave behind confusion and loss.
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  And just as Israel was tempted by idols, we're tempted by modern idols,
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  like possessions, our homes, our cars, our clothes, our vacations.
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  We're tempted by pride and pleasure, and we're tempted by power.
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  Anything that replaces God in our hearts becomes a root of bitterness and sin,
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  like the gall and the wormwood that's in verse 18.
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  True peace is never found in rebellion. It comes from obedience to God's word.
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  When we think we have found peace in our sin, that's deception.
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  We all know that sin leaves scars. When individuals or nations turn away from
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  God, the visible consequences serve as warnings to others.
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  God's judgment isn't meant to destroy, but to correct.
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  His purpose and discipline is always to draw his people back to repentance.
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  Moses prophesied what would happen, and I'm certain that as he did,
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  he was praying that he was wrong.
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  But he also knew God well, and he knew what would happen.
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  This chapter closes with a really hefty reminder.
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  We can't always understand what God is doing, but we can always trust him.
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  What is hidden belongs to God, and what is revealed is given to us.
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  What is revealed is enough.
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  Faith means walking in obedience, even when we don't have all of the answers.
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  Let's look at Deuteronomy 29, 29 again.
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  The secret things belong unto the Lord our God, but those things which are revealed
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  belong unto us and our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law.
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  Remember, you are loved. Jesus.
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  Thank you for joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for
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  quotes from today's podcast and scripture references.
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  Thank you to the Gospel Group Fudge Creek for letting us use their hit song, Happy Girl.
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  Remember that God loves you. You are loved.