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537 | Deuteronomy 32 - Built on the Rock: Living in God’s Faithfulness · 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 needed a reminder of just how faithful God has been in your life?
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Deuteronomy chapter 32 is exactly that. It's a song of remembrance,
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a call to worship, and a warning wrapped into one powerful chapter.
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Known as the Song of Moses, this passage was given to the Israelites who would
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rehearse it, remember it, and carry it with them from generation to generation.
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In this chapter, Moses paints an incredible picture of who God is,
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a rock, perfect in his work, just in all his ways, and faithful even when we are not.
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He calls the people to look back and reflect on God's goodness,
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his deliverance, his provision, and his protection.
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But he also warns them about the dangers of forgetting God, of complacency,
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and of turning to other gods.
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Deuteronomy 32 teaches us that remembering God fuels our worship,
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strengthens our obedience, and anchors our hearts in Him.
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It reminds us that God alone gives life, heals, restores, and rescues.
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And it ends with a sober call that God's Word is not a small thing, it's our life.
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Join us in this episode of the Woman at the Well Ministries podcast as we look
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at Deuteronomy chapter 32 with a special focus on verse 4.
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He is the rock. His work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment.
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A God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he.
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Let's discover together what it means to serve a God who is unchanging,
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unwavering, and always worthy of our trust.
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Join with me as we read Deuteronomy chapter 22.
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Give ear, O ye heavens, and I will speak, and hear, O earth, the words of my mouth.
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My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distill as the dew,
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as the small rain upon the tender herb, and as the showers upon the grass.
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Because I will publish the name of the Lord, ascribe ye greatness unto our God.
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He is the rock, his work is perfect, for all his ways are judgment,
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a God of truth and without iniquity.
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Just and right is he. They have corrupted themselves.
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Their spot is not the spot of his children. They are a perverse and crooked generation.
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Do ye thus requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise? Is not he thy father that hath bought thee?
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Hath he not made thee and established thee?
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Remember the days of old.
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Consider the years of many generations. Ask thy father, and he will show thee,
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thy elders, and they will tell thee.
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When the Most High divided to the nations their inheritance,
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when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according
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to the number of the children of Israel.
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For the Lord's portion is his people.
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Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
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He found him in a desert land and in the waste howling wilderness.
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He led him about. He instructed him. He kept him as the apple of his eye.
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As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young,
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spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings,
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so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange God within him.
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He made him ride on the high places of the earth, that he might eat the increase
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of the fields, and he made him to suck honey out of the rock,
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and oil out of the flinty rock,
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butter of kine and milk of sheep with fat of lambs and rams of the breed of
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Bashan, and goats with the fat of kidneys of wheat, and thou didst drink the pure blood of the grape.
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But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked.
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Thou art waxen fat, for thou art grown thick. Thou art covered with fatness.
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Then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the rock of his salvation.
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They provoked him to jealousy with strange gods, with abominations provoked they him to anger.
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They sacrificed unto devils, not to God, to gods whom they knew not,
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to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not,
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Of the rock that begat thee, thou art unmindful,
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and hast forgotten God that formed thee.
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And when the Lord saw it, he abhorred them because of the provoking of his sons and of his daughters.
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And he said, I will hide my face from them.
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I will see what their end shall be, for they are a very forward generation.
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Children in whom there is no faith.
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They have moved me to jealousy with that which is not God.
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They have proved me to anger with their vanities, and I will move them to jealousy
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with those which are not a people.
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I will provoke them to anger with a foolish nation.
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For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell,
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and shall consume the earth with her increase, and set on fire the foundations of the mountains.
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I will heap mischiefs upon them. I will spend mine arrows upon them.
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They shall be burnt with hunger and devoured with burning heat and with bitter destruction.
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I will also send the teeth of beasts upon them with the poison of serpents of the dust.
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The sword without and terror within shall destroy both the young man and the
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virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
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I said I would scatter them into
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corners, I would make the remembrance of them to cease from among men.
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Were it not that I feared the wrath of the enemy, lest their adversaries should
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behave themselves strangely, unless they should say, Our hand is high,
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and the Lord hath not done all this.
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For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
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Oh, that they were wise, that they understood this, that they would consider their latter end.
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How should one chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight,
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except their rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?
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For their rock is not as our rock, even our enemies themselves being judges.
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For their vine is the vine of Sodom and the fields of Gomorrah.
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Their grapes are grapes of gall, and their clusters are bitter.
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Their wine is the poison of dragons and the cruel venom of asps.
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Is not this laid up in store with me and sealed up among my treasures?
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To me belong the vengeance and recompense. Their foot shall slide in due time,
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for the day of their calamity is at hand. and the things that shall come upon them make haste.
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For the Lord shall judge his people, and repent himself for his servants,
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when he seeth that their power is gone, and there is none shut up or left.
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And he shall say, Where are their gods, their rock in whom they trusted,
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which did eat the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings?
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Let them rise up and help you and be your protection. See now that I,
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even I, am He, and there is no God with me.
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I kill and I make alive, I wound and I heal.
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Neither is there any that can deliver out of my hand. For I lift up my hand
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to heaven, and I say I live forever.
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If I wet my glittering sword and mine hand take hold on judgment,
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I will render vengeance to mine enemies and will reward them that hate me.
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I will make mine arrows drunk with blood, and my sword shall devour flesh,
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and that with the blood of the slain and of the captives from the beginning
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of revenges upon the enemy.
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Rejoice, O you nations, with his people!
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For he will avenge the blood of his servants, and he will render vengeance to.
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His adversaries and be merciful unto his land and to his people.
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And Moses came and spake all the words of the song in the ears of the people,
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he and Hosea the son of Nun.
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And Moses made an end of speaking all these words to all Israel.
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And he said to them, Set your hearts unto all the words which I testify among
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you this day, which ye shall command your children to observe to do,
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all the words of this law.
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For it is not a vain thing for you, because it is your life.
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And through this ye shall prolong your days in the land, whither ye go over Jordan to possess it.
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And the Lord spake unto Moses that selfsame day, saying,
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Get thee up into this mountain, Arabim, unto Mount Nebo, which is in the land
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of Moab, that is over against Jericho, and behold the land of Canaan,
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which I give unto the children of Israel for a possession,
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and die in the mount whither thou goest up, and be gathered unto thy people,
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as Aaron thy brother died in Mount Hor, and was gathered unto his people,
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because you trespassed against me among the children of Israel at the waters
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of Merib-Bah Kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin,
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because he sanctified me not in the midst of the children of Israel.
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Yet thou shalt see the land before thee, but thou shalt not go thither unto
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the land which I gave the children of Israel.
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As we move into chapter 32, we come to the most unique and powerful chapters in all of Deuteronomy.
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This chapter contains the Song of Moses, a song that God himself commanded Moses
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to write and to teach to the Israelites.
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It was meant to be remembered, repeated, sung, and passed down from generation to generation.
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This psalm was given as both a warning and a witness, reminding the Israelites
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of who God is, what He has done, and what would happen if they turned away from Him.
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The chapter opens with Moses calling upon heaven and earth to hear his words.
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This language shows the seriousness of the message.
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Moses is not simply offering a speech. He is declaring truth before all creation.
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In verse 2, Moses describes his teaching as rain, dew, and showers,
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all images of life, refreshment, and nourishment.
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As Moses begins the song, he focuses on who God is. In verses 3 and 4,
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Moses proclaims that God is the rock.
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He is steadfast, unchanging, and strong.
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His work is perfect, his ways are judgment, and he is a God of truth without iniquity.
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This song begins with praise, because everything that follows must be seen through
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God's perfect character.
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Moses contrasts God's perfection with Israel's failure. In verses 5 and 6,
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he describes Israel as corrupt and unwise.
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They had forgotten the God who made them, who redeemed them,
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and who claimed them as his own.
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This shows the spiritual danger of forgetfulness. When we forget who God is
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and what he has done, we drift away from obedience.
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Verses 7 through 14 call the Israelites to remember.
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Moses urges them to ask their fathers and elders to recount all that God has done for them.
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God found Israel in the wilderness and guarded them as the apple of his eye
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and led them as an eagle cares for its young.
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God alone guided them, fed them, blessed them, strengthened them,
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and gave them every good thing.
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This section of the song celebrates God's goodness, care, and unwavering faithfulness.
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In verse 15, the tone changes. Israel, referred to as Jeshurun,
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a poetic name meaning upright, grew fat and forsook God.
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Prosperity led to pride. Pride led to forgetfulness.
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Forgetfulness led to idolatry. Verses 16 and 17 show how the Israelites turned
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to strange gods and provoked the Lord to jealousy.
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They forgot the rock who had formed them. This section is a reminder that sometimes
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our greatest spiritual danger is not trouble, but comfort.
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Prosperity can lead us to take our eyes off the one who provided it.
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Because of Israel's rebellion, God declares that he will hide his face from them.
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This hiding is the essence of judgment, the withdrawal of God's protection and blessing.
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Verses 21-25 describe the consequences—famine, pestilence, disaster, and destruction.
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These verses show that disobedience brings sorrow. It is not that God abandons
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his people, but that their sin removes them from the safety found in obedience.
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In verses 26 and 27, God says that he could have completely scattered Israel,
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but he restrains his judgment so that the heathen nations would not misunderstand.
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God's dealings with Israel were always in line with his purposes and his glory.
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Verses 28-33 highlight the contrast between Israel's foolishness and God's wisdom,
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and between the power of the true God and the emptiness of false gods.
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No enemy could defeat Israel unless the Lord allowed it. Their rock was not
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like the rock of the nations around them.
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In verses 34 and 35, God reminds his people that judgment belongs to him.
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He keeps record of all things, and he will repay in his perfect time.
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Verse 36 promises that the Lord will judge his people and have compassion on his servants.
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Verses 37 and 38 expose the futility of Israel's idols, false gods that cannot
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save, rescue, or deliver.
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In verse 39, God declares his absolute sovereignty.
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He alone kills and makes alive. He alone wounds and heals.
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No one can deliver out of his hand. Verses 40 through 42 describe God's vengeance
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against his enemies and his power displayed in judgment.
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This section is meant to teach Israel reverence and trust.
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God alone is the source of life, strength, and deliverance.
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The tone shifts in verse 43 as the nations are called to rejoice.
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God will avenge his people, restore them, and cleanse them.
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Even in judgment, God's mercy is visible. He disciplines to restore.
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In verses 44 through 47, Moses and Joshua speak the words of the song to all the people.
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Moses tells them to set their hearts on the words he has spoken and to teach
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them diligently to their children.
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In verse 47, he reminds them that the word of God is your life.
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It's not optional, not additional, but essential.
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This chapter ends with a solemn moment. God instructs Moses to go up to Mount
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Nebo and view the promised land.
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Moses will see it with his eyes, but will not enter because of his disobedience
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at Meribah. This is not punishment as much as it is completion.
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Moses' work is done, and the Lord will bring his people under Joshua's leadership.
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Deuteronomy chapter 32 is both a warning and a worship song.
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It's poetic, it's prophetic, and it's deeply personal.
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It teaches us about who God is, who we are, and how desperately we need to remember
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the Lord in every season of life.
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This chapter invites us to reflect on God's faithfulness and to examine our
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own hearts to see whether our lives reflect gratitude, obedience, and trust.
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The song of Moses was written so that the Israelites would remember it.
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They were to hear it, memorize it, teach it, and pass it down.
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This is a powerful reminder for us that God's word must be rehearsed in our hearts.
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We cannot obey what we forget, and we cannot follow what we do not know.
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God wants his word to shape our thinking, our decisions, and our lives.
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At the beginning of the song, Moses declared that God is the rock,
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perfect in his work, just in all his ways, and faithful without iniquity.
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The contrast between God's perfection and Israel's corruption shows us that
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our failures do not change God's character.
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When we fall short, God remains steady.
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When we forget him, he does not forget us.
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His faithfulness is the anchor for our faith. Verses 7 through 14 call Israel
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to remember how God cared for them, protected them, and provided for them.
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We are often, just like the Israelites, quick to forget the blessings of God
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when life becomes comfortable.
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One of the most important spiritual disciplines is remembering.
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When we remember how God has led us, provided for us, forgiven us,
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and loved us, Our hearts stay grounded in gratitude and obedience.
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The section about Jeshurun growing fat and forsaking God is a sobering reminder
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that spiritual complacency often grows in seasons of abundance.
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Comfort can dull our devotion. Blessings can distract us from the one who blesses us.
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We need to recognize that the blessings God gives us are meant to draw us closer
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to him, not further away.
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When the Israelites turned away, God warned them that he would hide his face from them.
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This was discipline, not abandonment.
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God disciplines His people because He loves them and desires their return.
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On this side of the cross, we know that Hebrews 12 teaches us the same truth.
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God disciplines those He loves.
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Discipline is meant to restore us, not to destroy us.
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Verses 26-33 remind us that no enemy and no circumstance has power apart from the permission of God.
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Nothing happens to us that is outside his knowledge or his control.
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He restrains what would harm us, and he even uses different circumstances and
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difficult circumstances for his glory and for our good.
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There is comfort in knowing that our lives are never at the mercy of people,
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nations, or circumstances.
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We are always in the hands of God.
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In verse 39, God declares that he alone kills and makes alive wounds and heals,
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and that no one can deliver out of his hand.
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This is a powerful reminder that our trust must be fully placed in God and God alone.
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People change, circumstances shift, but God's authority and power are absolute.
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Our security is found in him.
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Though God may delay judgment, he never forgets.
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Verses 34 and 35 remind us that vengeance belongs to the Lord.
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He keeps record, he sees all things, and he acts at the right time.
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This frees us from the burden of seeking revenge and allows us to rest in the justice of God.
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Verse 43 shifts the tone from judgment to joy.
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God will restore his people, cleanse them, and redeem them. This is the heartbeat of the gospel.
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Even when we wander, God calls us back. When we fail, God restores.
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His mercy triumphs over judgment for all who return to him.
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Moses tells the Israelites that God's word is not a vain thing. It's their life.
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For us, the word of God is not optional. It is a source of strength,
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wisdom, protection, and encouragement.
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It teaches us who God is and what he calls us to be. Thank you.
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When we anchor our lives in the word, we anchor our lives in truth.
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This chapter closes with Moses being told that he will see the promised land,
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but will not enter it because of his disobedience at Meribah.
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This is not meant to discourage us, but to remind us of the seriousness of obeying God.
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Leaders especially must take care to honor God in every area of life.
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Moses' story teaches us that God's promises are sure, but his commands are not to be taken lightly.
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Deuteronomy 32 is a chapter that calls us to remember.
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To remember God's faithfulness, remember God's warnings, remember God's mercy,
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and remember God's word.
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When we remember who God is and what he has done, our hearts will be strengthened
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to obey him with love and devotion.
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Remember that you are loved. Jesus Loves You. Music.
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For joining us in today's podcast. You can visit the show notes for quotes from
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