Heaven – Praying Pint

51.o. Wilderness – 15.u. “The LORD is on my side; I will not fear.”

Deu 20:1-4  “When you go out to war against your enemies, and see horses and chariots and an army larger than your own, you shall not be afraid of them, for the LORD your God is with you, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt. And when you draw near to the battle, the priest shall come forward and speak to the people and shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel, today you are drawing near for battle against your enemies: let not your heart faint. Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory.’

Deu 20:8  And the officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘Is there any man who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go back to his house, lest he make the heart of his fellows melt like his own.’

Deuteronomy 3:22   You shall not fear them, for it is the LORD your God who fights for you.’

Genesis 26:3     Sojourn in this land, and I will be with you and will bless you, for to you and to your offspring I will give all these lands, and I will establish the oath that I swore to Abraham your father.

Joshua 1:5     No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you.

2 Chronicles 32:7-8    “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or dismayed before the king of Assyria and all the horde that is with him, for there are more with us than with him.  With him is an arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God, to help us and to fight our battles.” And the people took confidence from the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Psalms 118:6     The LORD is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me?

Romans 8:31    What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

1 Corinthians 15:33    Do not be deceived: “Bad company ruins good morals.”

Deuteronomy 1:28    Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’

Israel, a small nation surrounded by great empires, was rarely in a strategically superior position. Despite the clear danger, they also had a clear command from God to not fear. Israel was commanded to not fear what any logical military man would fear: superior numbers, superior technology, and superior equipment. Yet, Israel was given a reason to not fear. God did not deny that the enemies of Israel would usually have more horses, chariots, and people than Israel. But God asked them to recognize a greater fact: That the LORD your God is with you. It was the job of the priest to encourage the soldiers to trust in God. Though the priests were not normally to go into battle. When Israel was obedient, and trusting in God, they could never lose. But when they were disobedient, or not trusting, they could never win – even if they had superior forces.

To God, the size of the army wasn’t important; the heart of the army was far more important. He didn’t want people who might be distracted from the real battle by worrying about the cares of everyday life (their home, their vineyard, their fiancée’); nor did He want people who were not really trusting Him. God could do more through a smaller army that was really committed to Him than through a bigger army that was full of compromise. (Guzik)

There is a fear that most experience – It is a “sudden fear” of when something happens. A car accident that is about to happen, waking up to smoke in your home, loud unexpected noise, or being startled by someone or something you didn’t know was there. We are just born with this. Proverbs says, do not be afraid of sudden fear. When sudden fear occurs, recognize it, and do not be afraid. You would apply brakes or swerve in an on-coming accident. You would flee a burning building. You would not try to pick up a venomous snake as it slithers by. You would be cautious, attentive, mindful, and putting things into their right place within your mind. God is there. God is sovereign. God is all-knowing. God is all-powerful. He will never leave or forsake you.

There is another type of fear that should not be in the hearts and minds of those who trust in, rely upon, and cling to Jesus Christ. It is the fear of an unknown outcome of a potential event of something in the near or distant future. How do these fears arise within us? How do they gain even a spec of space within our minds? If you spend any time reading or watching news outlets you will be told what to fear right now and what to fear in the future. They will lay out their narrative in convincing crafty words. Every news and weather outlet broadcast station is supported by income from advertising that pays certain fees depending on the number of viewers. How better to get more viewers than to incite fear? Stay tuned for more breaking news. We will keep an eye on this for you, stay tuned in. This is a developing story, stay tuned. New information has come to light, stay tuned. This could affect every single person, so stay tuned. Scientists confirm, stay tuned. Witnesses have stated, stay tuned. Researchers have just revealed, stay tuned. The more they can generate fear the masses will tune in and hopefully rely on them to make sense of the fear being generated.

In contrast, God’s Word says to “Fear Not”, “Be of this world but not partakers of it”, “Be anxious about nothing”, “Trust in the Lord your God”, “God will never leave you or forsake you”, “I am with you”, “I am your rock and refuge”, “God is all-powerful”, God is ever-present”, God is all-knowing”, “the battle is the Lords”, “nothing can separate you from the Love of God.

The biggest battle we should fear is the battle with, neglect, complacency, lukewarmness, being attracted to things of this world, lust, greed, pride, envy, jealousy, arrogance, hate, anger, self-worth, self-reliance, etc….. Paul said that by the renewing of your mind, studying yourself as a workman who doesn’t need to be afraid, be anxious about nothing, guard your heart, be strong, be steadfast in your commitment, lean not unto your own understanding, be courageous, trust in Jesus Christ, be faithful, be holy, be more than babies in the Word of God and its application in your lives, hold onto what is true, rejoice, praise, be joyful, and love, these things must come to pass but do not be afraid, etc…..

Fear has no place in the heart that trusts in God. We can place all of our concerns at His feet and fully trust in Him to be with us no matter what the concern is. He will never leave you. He is ever-present. He can do all things mighty and powerful is He.

50.k. Wilderness – 14.q. “Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is”

Deu 9:1-3  “Hear, O Israel: you are to cross over the Jordan today, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than you, cities great and fortified up to heaven, a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard it said, ‘Who can stand before the sons of Anak?’ Know therefore today that he who goes over before you as a consuming fire is the LORD your God. He will destroy them and subdue them before you. So you shall drive them out and make them perish quickly, as the LORD has promised you.

Nahum 1:6     Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

Matthew 15:10   And he called the people to him and said to them, “Hear and understand:

Ephesians 5:17    Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is.

They had come, 38 years before this, nearly to the verge of the promised land, but were not permitted, because of their unbelief and rebellion, at that day or time, to enter; but this time they shall certainly pass over. This was spoken in the eleventh month of the fortieth year of their journeying; and it was on the first month of the following year they passed over, and during this interval Moses died.

God was leading Israel into something too big for them. It was a challenge they could only meet if they trusted in God. The cities they would battle against were mighty and the people they would battle against were great and tall. Yet God had called them to enter into this seemingly impossible battle. There was no way Israel could do this in the flesh, or on their strength. God commanded them to do something that was just beyond their ability to do in themselves. Obviously, God did not inspire Israel with a false sense of confidence or hype. He wanted them to realistically know what the battle ahead would be like. In the same way, Jesus never calls us with hype or false promises that would lead to false confidence. He plainly says, If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. (Matthew 16:24) Jesus let us know right from the beginning that following Him would require giving God everything. (Guzik)

Moses represents the strength of the enemies they were now to encounter. This was to drive them to God, and engage their hope in him. He assures them of victory, by the presence of God with them. He cautions them not to have the least thought of their own righteousness, as if that procured this favour at God’s hand. In Christ we have both righteousness and strength; in Him we must glory, not in ourselves, nor in any sufficiency of our own. It is for the wickedness of these nations that God drives them out. All whom God rejects, are rejected for their own wickedness; but none whom he accepts are accepted for their own righteousness. Thus boasting is for ever done away (Henry)

In our time it is hard to imagine this taking place. And yet, it did. Great fortified cities and fierce warriors occupied the land of promise. God said He was going to be with them and that He would be their strength, power, and might. They had to work but this work was because of His sovereignty and for His purpose. How many times have we gone off and done something that was not by god’s leading, only to fail? How many times have we followed God’s leading, only to take credit for ourselves?

In modern times, Israel became a nation once again almost 2,000 years after the death of Jesus. In 1948 this amazing feat took place. They were back in the promised land. They have been attacked over and over again by those who deny it belongs to them, and yet they are established. They are established because of God’s Sovereignty, purpose, and plans. Those who do not support Israel are in a battle against God. The last battle with mankind’s attempt to do away with Israel and anything to do with God will take place in Israel. You do not have to search very hard to see all of the uprisings and protests against Israel because they defended their country against attacks to know how a great majority feel about Israel. They deny God’s plans and purpose for His chosen people. They deny God’s Word. They reject Jesus Christ. They reject the Gospel of Jesus Christ. All of this leads to the final days when Jesus returns to once and for all claim those that are His and destroy every last soul that denies His rightful place as King of Kings, Savior, Redeemer, Son of God.

50.h. Wilderness – 14.n. “You shall not covet the silver or the gold”

Deu 7:22-26 The LORD your God will clear away these nations before you little by little. You may not make an end of them at once, lest the wild beasts grow too numerous for you. But the LORD your God will give them over to you and throw them into great confusion, until they are destroyed. And he will give their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under heaven. No one shall be able to stand against you until you have destroyed them. The carved images of their gods you shall burn with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them or take it for yourselves, lest you be ensnared by it, for it is an abomination to the LORD your God. And you shall not bring an abominable thing into your house and become devoted to destruction like it. You shall utterly detest and abhor it, for it is devoted to destruction.

Sometimes to our frustration, this is the way God often works in our life. He clears things away little by little even though we might prefer it all at once. But God wanted Israel to grow spiritually in the process of taking the Promised Land. Doing it all at once might seem easier and better to us but will have consequences we cannot see or appreciate. God cares that we grow, and so He grows us little by little.(Guzik)

Thou shalt not be able; I will not assist thee with my omnipotence, to crush them at one run of success and victory; for you are not yet numerous enough to people the whole country at once. But I will bless thee in the use of ordinary means, and thou shalt destroy them by degrees, in several battles, that thou mayest learn by experience to put thy trust in me. (Benson)

It is an abomination to the Lord thy God; not only the idol itself, being put in the place of God, and so derogatory to his honour and glory, but the gold and silver on it, being devoted to a superstitious and idolatrous use; and even the taking of it, and appropriating it to a man’s own use, was an abomination, and resented by the Lord as such. (Gill)

We need to rely upon God’s leading to discern what is good and right and what is worldly and heavenly. The problem arises when we think we can discern this on our own. We lean on our own understanding. We listen to pastors and teachers who do not preach and teach the full Word of God. It would seem they are more interested in how big they can become rather than what you learn. They feed baby food day after day. We should not expect to be able to discern anything living on baby food. It is no wonder there is little difference in how the world lives each day and how many “Christians” live. The love of this world and pleasures of the flesh easily find their way into the hearts that should be far from it. Oh, you may feel comfortable in your church and it might be growing but are the people maturing? Is there a difference in their lives? How many examples does the Bible show us of how easy it is to fall away and blend in with the worldly? How many examples of God’s anger and judgment do we need to read before it changes how we live? How much preaching is on sin? How much teaching is on God’s holiness? How many times are you in church and you feel comfortable and satisfied?

I am not sure we should be comfortable though we ought to find comfort. I don’t think we should be satisfied though we ought to find satisfaction. When we are being led by pastors and teachers who feed baby food we will be very comfortable and very satisfied when in fact we should be in awe, wonder, reverent, humble, thankful, and ever searching our hearts and minds for maturity in knowing and understanding God’s holiness and our sinfulness.

Oh that God would raise up pastors and teachers who rightly divide the Word of God and purpose to do so over butts in the pew and money in reserve.

49.r. Wilderness – 13.x. “Know therefore today, and lay it to your heart”

Deu 4:32-40 “For ask now of the days that are past, which were before you, since the day that God created man on the earth, and ask from one end of heaven to the other, whether such a great thing as this has ever happened or was ever heard of. Did any people ever hear the voice of a god speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and still live? Or has any god ever attempted to go and take a nation for himself from the midst of another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, and by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, and by great deeds of terror, all of which the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes? To you it was shown, that you might know that the LORD is God; there is no other besides him. Out of heaven he let you hear his voice, that he might discipline you. And on earth he let you see his great fire, and you heard his words out of the midst of the fire. And because he loved your fathers and chose their offspring after them and brought you out of Egypt with his own presence, by his great power, driving out before you nations greater and mightier than you, to bring you in, to give you their land for an inheritance, as it is this day, know therefore today, and lay it to your heart, that the LORD is God in heaven above and on the earth beneath; there is no other. Therefore you shall keep his statutes and his commandments, which I command you today, that it may go well with you and with your children after you, and that you may prolong your days in the land that the LORD your God is giving you for all time.”

Moses asked Israel to carefully consider the days that are past, and if God had ever dealt with any other nation the way He had dealt with Israel. Israel needed to know they had a special place in the plan of God. Israel could know that the LORD was God, because of all the amazing things God did in the life of their nation. In the same way, when we consider how God has touched our lives – how we have experienced the power to free us from sin, to give us hope when we are discouraged, to heal our bodies, to free our bitter hearts, to answer our prayers, to overcome the most difficult obstacles – when we consider these things, we can know that the LORD Himself is God. Israel heard God’s audible voice from heaven; they saw His holy fire and benefited from His divine choice. They could know this from all God had done for them. In light of who God is, and all He did for Israel, obedience to His commands made perfect sense. It was simply what should be done. We are fools to disobey such a God of love and power. (Guzik)

Note this is from the Old Testament while Israel was in the wilderness being encouraged by Moses before going into the Promised Land. The reasoning is pure, right, and true. Fast forward to today. We live with the knowledge of so much more knowledge of God and what He has done over the course of time up to and through the death of the writers of the New Testament. We know of God’s power and love. We have been given precious promises. He sent His one and only Son to redeem us, forgive our sins, and give us eternal life, and we have been given the Holy Spirit to indwell in us to teach, convict, encourage, lead, and guide our thoughts, words, and actions so that we would honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

What punishment awaits those who deny, reject, neglect, and turn their backs on such a great gift of salvation? Romans rings true; “Man is without excuse”.

49.c. Wilderness – 13.i. “Israel’s Refusal to Enter the Land”

Deu 1:21-28 See, the LORD your God has set the land before you. Go up, take possession, as the LORD, the God of your fathers, has told you. Do not fear or be dismayed.’ Then all of you came near me and said, ‘Let us send men before us, that they may explore the land for us and bring us word again of the way by which we must go up and the cities into which we shall come.’ The thing seemed good to me, and I took twelve men from you, one man from each tribe. And they turned and went up into the hill country, and came to the Valley of Eshcol and spied it out. And they took in their hands some of the fruit of the land and brought it down to us, and brought us word again and said, ‘It is a good land that the LORD our God is giving us.’ “Yet you would not go up, but rebelled against the command of the LORD your God. And you murmured in your tents and said, ‘Because the LORD hated us he has brought us out of the land of Egypt, to give us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us. Where are we going up? Our brothers have made our hearts melt, saying, “The people are greater and taller than we. The cities are great and fortified up to heaven. And besides, we have seen the sons of the Anakim there.”’ Yet in spite of this word you did not believe the LORD your God, who went before you in the way to seek you out a place to pitch your tents, in fire by night and in the cloud by day, to show you by what way you should go.

As Moses remembered this suggestion, he looked back with regret. There really was no compelling reason to send forth spies into the Promised Land. God had told them that the land was good. Unless they did not believe Him, there was no reason to confirm it on their own. God had told them they would take the land and defeat the nations living there. Unless they did not believe Him, there was no reason to take a look at the enemies and see if God was somehow up to the challenge. Moses must have had regret as he remembered this. The people suggested it and Moses agreed to it. Yet when ten of the twelve spies came back with a report filled with fear and unbelief, the nation believed them and refused to believe God’s promise and enter in. (Guzik)

Moses reminds the Israelites of their march from Horeb to Kadesh-barnea, through that great and terrible wilderness. He shows how near they were to a happy settlement in Canaan. It will aggravate the eternal ruin of hypocrites, that they were not far from the kingdom of God. As if it were not enough that they were sure of their God before them, they would send men before them. Never any looked into the Holy Land, but they must own it to be a good land. And was there any cause to distrust this God? An unbelieving heart was at the bottom of all this. All disobedience to God’s laws, and distrust of his power and goodness, flow from disbelief of his word, as all true obedience springs from faith. It is profitable for us to divide our past lives into distinct periods; to give thanks to God for the mercies we have received in each, to confess and seek the forgiveness of all the sins we can remember; and thus to renew our acceptance of God’s salvation, and our surrender of ourselves to his service. Our own plans seldom avail to good purpose; while courage in the exercise of faith, and in the path of duty, enables the believer to follow the Lord fully, to disregard all that opposes, to triumph over all opposition, and to take firm hold upon the promised blessings. (Henry)

Trusting and relying on God in all things leaves no room for doubting His promises, power, goodness, grace, mercy, and sovereignty. There is no room for doubt. When God speaks into your heart hear and obey His leading. It is far better for the soul to trust in our all-powerful God than to live in doubt and fear.

47.q. “Wilderness” – 11.w. “Because you did not believe in me”

Num 20:12  And the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” These are the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and through them he showed himself holy.

2 Chronicles 20:20     And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the LORD your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.”

Isaiah 7:9    And the head of Ephraim is Samaria, and the head of Samaria is the son of Remaliah. If you are not firm in faith, you will not be firm at all.’”

Matthew 17:17    And Jesus answered, “O faithless and twisted generation, how long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him here to me.”

Luke 1:20  And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

Luke 1:45   And blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Romans 4:20    No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God,

Deuteronomy 1:37    Even with me the LORD was angry on your account and said, ‘You also shall not go in there.

Deuteronomy 32:51    because you broke faith with me in the midst of the people of Israel at the waters of Meribah-kadesh, in the wilderness of Zin, and because you did not treat me as holy in the midst of the people of Israel.

Deuteronomy 3:23-26    “And I pleaded with the LORD at that time, saying,  ‘O Lord GOD, you have only begun to show your servant your greatness and your mighty hand. For what god is there in heaven or on earth who can do such works and mighty acts as yours?  Please let me go over and see the good land beyond the Jordan, that good hill country and Lebanon.’  But the LORD was angry with me because of you and would not listen to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘Enough from you; do not speak to me of this matter again.

Moses and Aaron distrusted the word and power of God, and that they yielded to the impulse of impatience and anger, as betrayed both by the language which they used and by the double smiting of the rock, to which Moses had been commanded only to speak. To what degree Aaron was concerned in these sins can be inferred only from the facts that he, as well as Moses, was charged with the sin of unbelief, and that the punishment of exclusion from the land of Canaan was inflicted upon both. (Ellicott)

God is as able as ever to supply his people with what is needful for them. But Moses and Aaron acted wrong. They took much of the glory of this work of wonder to themselves; Must we fetch water? As if it were done by some power or worthiness of their own. They were to speak to the rock, but they smote it. Therefore it is charged upon them, that they did not sanctify God, that is, they did not give to him alone that glory of this miracle which was due unto his name. And being provoked by the people, Moses spake unadvisedly with his lips. The same pride of man would still usurp the office of the appointed Mediator; and become to ourselves wisdom, righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption. Such a state of sinful independence, such a rebellion of the soul against its Saviour, the voice of God condemns in every page of the gospel. (Henry)

And yet they did not doubt of the power of God, but of his will, whether he would gratify these rebels with this further miracle, after so many of the like kind. And besides the words themselves, it is considerable, both with what mind they were spoken, which God saw to be distrustful, and in what manner they were delivered, which the people might discern to come from misbelief or doubt. (Poole)

it is certain from the text that unbelief was their sin; they were diffident about the will of God to bring water out of the rock for such a rebellious people, and they did not put them in mind of the miracles God had wrought in former time, to encourage their faith; and so the Lord was not sanctified by them before the people, as he ought to have been. (Gill)

There are many thoughts about the sin that Moses and Aaron committed here that led to their banishment from entering the promised land. I think it is hard to understand their sin in the few words given in this scripture. Let us not go deeper than what is given, suffice it for us to know that we must guard our hearts and minds against taking glory away from God in times when it is clearly God who has done great things. He may have used us but the glory is all His, not ours. When we desire to spend time in God’s Word and think about the things of God – this is good and right. When we seek and desire to honor and glorify Jesus Christ in all that we think, say, and do – this is right and good. When we seek to know our sinfulness so that we might know sinfulness and repent of it – this is right and good. When we seek and desire to grow in our understanding and knowledge of God’s grace, mercy, and love – this is right and good.

The problem is that we become complacent, neglectful, and lukewarm to God’s Word and things of God. We speak more of current events, politics, sports, and what’s in the news or social media outlets than things of God. Check your thoughts and speech today and see if there is more content of the worldly or Godly coming from both.

43.v. “Wilderness” – 8.b. “Abstain from every form of evil”

Exodus 23:4  “If you meet your enemy’s ox or his donkey going astray, you shall bring it back to him. If you see the donkey of one who hates you lying down under its burden, you shall refrain from leaving him with it; you shall rescue it with him. “You shall not pervert the justice due to your poor in his lawsuit. Keep far from a false charge, and do not kill the innocent and righteous, for I will not acquit the wicked.

Proverbs 4:14-15   Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of the evil.  Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on.

Isaiah 33:15    He who walks righteously and speaks uprightly, who despises the gain of oppressions, who shakes his hands, lest they hold a bribe, who stops his ears from hearing of bloodshed and shuts his eyes from looking on evil

1 Thessalonians 5:22   Abstain from every form of evil.

Proverbs 17:15   He who justifies the wicked and he who condemns the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD.

Romans 1:18   For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.

Romans 2:5-6   But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.  He will render to each one according to his works:

Exodus 34:6  The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

How you feel about someone does not determine right and wrong behavior towards them. There are principles of justice that must be observed above our feelings. This command to do good for your enemy was important. It showed that goodness and kindness in Israel was not only required for those one liked and loved, but to all. One might not need a command to do this for a friend, but it was necessary for the enemy and one who hates you. God knew that it was always easy for the poor to be neglected in the administration of justice. Being poor did not make one right in a legal dispute, but it should never keep them from getting a fair hearing and justice. God knew how much evil and injustice is justified among men by lies, so He emphasized truth telling in Israel’s daily life and legal practices. In the promotion of justice, God also commanded against bribery. Specifically, He commanded against the taking of a bribe; bribe makers can’t exist without bribe takers. (Guzik)

Here we have a sort of anticipation of Christianity—active kindness to an enemy being required, even when it costs us some trouble. The principle of friendliness is involved—the germ which in Christianity blossoms out into the precept, “Love your enemies.” (Ellicott)

Every thing in it is suited to the desired and avowed object, the worship of one only God, and the separation of Israel from the pagan world. Neither parties, friends, witnesses, nor common opinions, must move us to lessen great faults, to aggravate small ones, excuse offenders, accuse the innocent, or misrepresent any thing. (Henry)

Keep thee far from a false matter, from receiving a false testimony, or taking the false or wrong side of a cause, or engaging in a bad one; keep aloof off from it, as much at a distance from it as possible. God will not justify those wicked men cleared by them, but will, in his own time and way, sooner or later, inflict the deserved punishment on them. (Gill)

To be bribed by gifts, because “the gift makes seeing men blind, and perverts the causes of the just.” (Kiel)

It is very easy to be swayed by what we hear and what we read, but how are we to know the truth from lies, good from bad, and right from wrong? Someone with clear intent on causing harmful reactions in their hearers or readers can speak convincingly and so craftily that a person is moved to think badly or even take some sort of shameless action. Wisdom has two faces. Wisdom from and of the world will confuse, make anxious, cause fear and hate, division without remedy, needless pain, suffering, and death, and guide the weak and blind down paths that neither honor nor glorify God. The other face of wisdom is of God. It comes to us in and through the presence of the Holy Spirit and manifests itself by peace, truth, faith, hope, without fear, unity, grace, gentleness, kindness, patience, and generosity, all of which honor and glorifies Jesus Christ. It is sad that in many, more time is spent with worldly wisdom than seeking and desiring Godly wisdom. No one is immune to the temptations and offers of worldly wisdom. We are bombarded with it constantly. If time in God’s Word is second in our lives to what the world is spewing out that person is in trouble of being dragged away into unholy thoughts and actions. Be cautious about your time, what you take interest in hearing and reading, and what you allow to influence your thoughts and actions. Seek and desire the Holy Spirit to guide you and allow you to recognize the worldly from the Godly in what you hear and read. Allow the filter to your heart, mind, and soul to be the Word of God and the Holy Spirit indwelling there.

43.g. “Wilderness” – 7.n. Sinai – “Now when all the people saw”

Exodus 20:18  Now when all the people saw the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled, and they stood far off and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.” Moses said to the people, “Do not fear, for God has come to test you, that the fear of him may be before you, that you may not sin.” The people stood far off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

Psalms 139:7-8    Where shall I go from your Spirit? Or where shall I flee from your presence?  If I ascend to heaven, you are there! If I make my bed in Sheol, you are there!

Isaiah 41:10   fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help you, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.

Deuteronomy 13:3   For the LORD your God is testing you, to know whether you love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

Deuteronomy 8:2   And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, testing you to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments or not.

Job 28:28     And he said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”

Proverbs 1:7    The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge;

Proverbs 3:7   Be not wise in your own eyes; fear the LORD, and turn away from evil.

Joshua 24:14  “Now therefore fear the LORD and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness.

Deuteronomy 5:5    while I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the LORD. For you were afraid because of the fire

Psalms 97:2    Clouds and thick darkness are all around him; righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.

1 Timothy 6:16   who alone has immortality, who dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion.

Deuteronomy 5:23 explains why the mountain smoked; it says the mountain was burning with fire. The awe of all the phenomenon did nothing to draw the people closer to God; it only made them stand afar off. One might think that Israel loved the dramatic experience at Mount Sinai, and especially the honor of hearing God’s voice like a loudspeaker from heaven. Instead, because of the great awe and dread they felt, they wanted God to stop speaking to them directly. This is a typical reaction of those who came into the presence of God, such as Isaiah who felt undone before God (Isaiah 6:1-5) and John who fell as a dead man before the Lord (Revelation 1:17). The people promised to hear and (by implication) obey the word of God that came to them by Moses. In following generations, Israel interpreted the law downward, so it could be more easily obeyed, removing the heart and intent of the law. Jesus exposed this shallow understanding of the law in His Sermon on the Mount.

The people of Israel wanted to separate themselves from the manifest presence of God, but God meant it for good to test them. The test revealed to them what kind of God they served: a God above nature, personal, good, and holy. The test revealed to them their own weakness and need for God’s grace, help, and rescue. The test revealed to them what God’s expectations were, that God is a moral God who expects moral behavior from His people. That His fear may be before you speaks of the attitude of honor and reverence that leads to respect and obedience. Though it is better to obey God out of fear than to disobey Him, God’s ultimate motivation for obedience is love. This is clear from 1 John 4:18-19: There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. We love Him because He first loved us. Moses had a relationship with God the common man in Israel did not have. Through the circumstances of his life and the direct revelation of God, Moses was aware of both God’s holy power and also of God’s glorious grace. (Guzik)

This law, which is so extensive that we cannot measure it, so spiritual that we cannot evade it, and so reasonable that we cannot find fault with it, will be the rule of the future judgment of God, as it is for the present conduct of man. If tried by this rule, we shall find our lives have been passed in transgressions. And with this holy law and an awful judgment before us, who can despise the gospel of Christ? And the knowledge of the law shows our need of repentance. In every believer’s heart sin is dethroned and crucified, the law of God is written, and the image of God renewed. The Holy Spirit enables him to hate sin and flee from it, to love and keep this law in sincerity and truth; nor will he cease to repent. (Henry)

The Israelites drew near to the mountain. They were intrigued by what they saw and heard when the 10 commandments were given. Now in closeness to God and the power and might of presence, they heard and saw and felt the holy awesomeness of God and feared for their lives.

What would our lives be like if we would have a reverent, trusting, and reliant fear of God? Would it be different than it is now? Would we fear, hate, anger, and be anxious less? Would we rejoice, praise, and worship more? Would we be content? Would greed, pride, and unkindness be not found in our lives? Would we run to the mountain of God or would we retreat to what we believe is a safe distance? Would we desire to be in the continual presence of God? Would we want to hear His voice with a desire to obey it for His honor and glory? Would things of this earth become less distracting and things of God become more encompassing? Would we know joy and peace that passes all understanding? Would we be more generous? Would we discern the quiet whispers of the Holy Spirit leading us? Would the Word of God be precious to us? Would our thoughts, words, and actions be in line with honor and glory to Jesus Christ? Would we hunger and thirst for His Word and leading so that this honor and glory would be pure? Would we??????

43. “Wilderness” – 7.g. Sinai – “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy”

Exodus 20:8  “Remember the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. Six days you shall labor, and do all your work but the seventh day is a Sabbath to the LORD your God. On it you shall not do any work, you, or your son, or your daughter, your male servant, or your female servant, or your livestock, or the sojourner who is within your gates. For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the LORD blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.

Leviticus 23:3   “Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day is a Sabbath of solemn rest, a holy convocation. You shall do no work. It is a Sabbath to the LORD in all your dwelling places.

Isaiah 56:6  “And the foreigners who join themselves to the LORD, to minister to him, to love the name of the LORD, and to be his servants, everyone who keeps the Sabbath and does not profane it, and holds fast my covenant—

Exodus 34:21   “Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

Exodus 31:13   “You are to speak to the people of Israel and say, ‘Above all you shall keep my Sabbaths, for this is a sign between me and you throughout your generations, that you may know that I, the LORD, sanctify you.

Exodus 16:33 He said to them, “This is what the LORD commanded: ‘Tomorrow is to be a day of sabbath rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD. So bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil. Save whatever is left and keep it until morning.’”

Probably there were always some whom natural piety taught that, in the absence of their ordinary employments, it was intended they should devote themselves to prayer and communion with God—to meditation on “high and holy themes,” such as His mercies in past time, His character, attributes, revelations of Himself, government of the world, dealings with men and nations. Thus only could the day be really “kept holy,” with a positive holiness. (Ellicott)

God commanded Israel – and all humanity – to make sure that there was sacred time in their life, separated time of rest, to warm the hearts of the people towards the observance of the Sabbath, and to render the Sabbath rest dear to the people, since it served to keep the Israelites constantly in mind of the rest which Jehovah had procured for them from the slave labour of Egypt. For resting from every work is the basis of the observance of the Sabbath. law, it belonged to the “shadow of (good) things to come” (Colossians 2:17, cf. Hebrews 10:1), which was to be done away when the “body” in Christ had come. Christ is Lord of the Sabbath (Matthew 12:8), and after the completion of His work, He also rested on the Sabbath. But He rose again on the Sunday; and through His resurrection, which is the pledge to the world of the fruits of His redeeming work, He has made this day the κυριακὴ ἡμέρα (Lord’s day) for His Church, to be observed by it till the Captain of its salvation shall return, and having finished the judgment upon all His foes to the very last shall lead it to the rest of that eternal Sabbath, which God prepared for the whole creation through His own resting after the completion of the heaven and the earth. (Brown)

Diluting this day of rest with worldly ideas of rest is not what is intended nor is it God-honoring. Just because the busyness of life fills every allowed minute of our days does not allow us to just allot this day to our whims and pass it by to get done that which we have determined to be more important than God, as so many days during our normal life are lived.

Try to practice giving this day a time of reflection, prayer, and family time with God. It is set aside by God for us to rest in Him from all of the worldly things that consume us. Try to incorporate reflecting on God-moments you have experienced this past week. Reflect and think about all of the things God is worthy of praise, worship, honor, and glory. (Not that this should be different than any other moment of any other day), but it is chosen by you to set it apart intentionally for these reasons.

Opening our minds to things of God in humble awareness of His power, love, grace, mercy, and endless blessings will put the things of this world into their proper place, and though this should be a continual way of living, let it be at least for one day of honoring, glorifying, praising, and worshiping – God our rock, refuge, and salvation.

42.v. “Wilderness” – 7.d. Sinai – “You shall not make for yourself a carved image”

Exodus 20:4  “You shall not make for yourself a carved image, or any likeness of anything that is in heaven above, or that is in the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

Leviticus 19:4    Do not turn to idols or make for yourselves any gods of cast metal: I am the LORD your God.

Leviticus 26:1    “You shall not make idols for yourselves or erect an image or pillar, and you shall not set up a figured stone in your land to bow down to it, for I am the LORD your God.

Deuteronomy 4:15  “Therefore watch yourselves very carefully.

Deuteronomy 4:23  Take care, lest you forget the covenant of the LORD your God, which he made with you

Deuteronomy 27:15   “‘Cursed be the man who makes a carved or cast metal image, an abomination to the LORD, a thing made by the hands of a craftsman, and sets it up in secret.’

Psalms 97:7    All worshipers of images are put to shame, who make their boast in worthless idols;

Isaiah 42:8   I am the LORD; that is my name; my glory I give to no other, nor my praise to carved idols.

Isaiah 44:9   All who fashion idols are nothing, and the things they delight in do not profit. Their witnesses neither see nor know, that they may be put to shame.

Isaiah 45:16    All of them are put to shame and confounded; the makers of idols go in confusion together.

Jeremiah 10:3  for the customs of the peoples are vanity.

Jeremiah 10:8-9    They are both stupid and foolish; the instruction of idols is but wood!

Romans 1:23   and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

Revelation 9:20    The rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands nor give up worshiping demons and idols of gold and silver and bronze and stone and wood, which cannot see or hear or walk,

God would have no likeness made of Him, no representation that might cloud the conception of His entire separation from matter, His purely spiritual essence. (Ellicott)

As the first commandment forbids the worship of any false god, seen or unseen, it is here forbidden to worship an image of any sort, whether the figure of a false deity or one in any way symbolic of Yahweh. (Barnes)

“After declaring in the first commandment who was the true God, He commanded that He alone should be worshipped; and now He defines what is His lawful worship” (Calvin). “Thou shalt not make to thyself a likeness and any form of that which is in heaven above,” etc. עשׂה is construed with a double accusative, so that the literal rendering would be “make, as a likeness and any form, that which is in heaven,” (Brown)

There is no God but Me. Don’t worship or place in worship anything but Me. Also, don’t make an image of Me or anything else, and indeed don’t worship it. We may find this type of worship foolish and even a bit old fashion. No one in the western world would do anything like this. Maybe some satan worshipers or others hope to find peace of mind through some eastern religion. For the most part, we think this is foolish to fashion an idol and place it in our home or church to worship it. The western world is far above this, but I might say, much further away from knowing God. The western world, for the most part, denies God, things of God, and the Word of God. They say there is no God and then live a life that is void of Him and any worship of Him. The idolaters at least try to have a god to serve – howbeit ever so wrong and God-defying. No, the western world is a place of self-reliant enlightenment. In this, they find what the world has to offer pleasing and though it never seems to satisfy an inner hunger, they keep chasing after it. Their idol is things of this world and what it has to offer. Though they may not make it an animate object of worship, it is an inanimate object of worship.

Note the verses above to those who deny and reject God and His commandments.