16“But they and our fathers acted presumptuously and stiffened their neck and did not obey your commandments. 17They refused to obey and were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.c But you are a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18Even when they had made for themselves a goldend calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ and had committed great blasphemies, 19you in your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. The pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, nor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20You gave your good Spirit to instruct them and did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21Forty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.
22“And you gave them kingdoms and peoples and allotted to them every corner. So they took possession of the land of Sihon king of Heshbon and the land of Og king of Bashan. 23You multiplied their children as the stars of heaven, and you brought them into the land that you had told their fathers to enter and possess. 24So the descendants went in and possessed the land, and you subdued before them the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, and gave them into their hand, with their kings and the peoples of the land, that they might do with them as they would. 25And they captured fortified cities and a rich land, and took possession of houses full of all good things, cisterns already hewn, vineyards, olive orchards and fruit trees in abundance. So they ate and were filled and became fat and delighted themselves in your great goodness.
26“Nevertheless, they were disobedient and rebelled against you and cast your law behind their back and killed your prophets, who had warned them in order to turn them back to you, and they committed great blasphemies. 27Therefore you gave them into the hand of their enemies, who made them suffer. And in the time of their suffering they cried out to you and you heard them from heaven, and according to your great mercies you gave them saviors who saved them from the hand of their enemies. 28But after they had rest they did evil again before you, and you abandoned them to the hand of their enemies, so that they had dominion over them. Yet when they turned and cried to you, you heard from heaven, and many times you delivered them according to your mercies. 29And you warned them in order to turn them back to your law. Yet they acted presumptuously and did not obey your commandments, but sinned against your rules, which if a person does them, he shall live by them, and they turned a stubborn shoulder and stiffened their neck and would not obey. 30Many years you bore with them and warned them by your Spirit through your prophets. Yet they would not give ear. Therefore you gave them into the hand of the peoples of the lands. 31Nevertheless, in your great mercies you did not make an end of them or forsake them, for you are a gracious and merciful God.
32“Now, therefore, our God, the great, the mighty, and the awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love, let not all the hardship seem little to you that has come upon us, upon our kings, our princes, our priests, our prophets, our fathers, and all your people, since the time of the kings of Assyria until this day. 33Yet you have been righteous in all that has come upon us, for you have dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly. 34Our kings, our princes, our priests, and our fathers have not kept your law or paid attention to your commandments and your warnings that you gave them. 35Even in their own kingdom, and amid your great goodness that you gave them, and in the large and rich land that you set before them, they did not serve you or turn from their wicked works. 36Behold, we are slaves this day; in the land that you gave to our fathers to enjoy its fruit and its good gifts, behold, we are slaves. 37And its rich yield goes to the kings whom you have set over us because of our sins. They rule over our bodies and over our livestock as they please, and we are in great distress.
What can we learn about God when we review our life honestly before Him?
Text your thoughts and prayers to your peer group. Each group should post an entry on the site
What a marvelous picture of the patience of God! He lets us taste the results of our evil. He gets our attention sometimes by letting disaster strike. But it is only in order that we might hear what He is saying and be delivered. He warns us in order to keep us free.
One evening the president of the Gay People’s Union of a university was invited to come and speak to a church’s group of young people on what the Bible says about homosexuality. The group gave him the opportunity to defend the position that the Bible endorses homosexuality as an alternate lifestyle. Although this man was the president of his university’s debating club, he struggled as he tried to present his case. He went all through the Bible trying to prove his cause, but he floundered and could not get anything together.
The group leader made an agreement with him that when he finished, one of the church’s pastors would speak on the same subject. The pastor graciously opened the Scriptures and pointed out that when God forbids something it is not because He wants to limit us or narrow our lives. It is because He is protecting us from something that we cannot handle, something so devastating it will ruin us. He demonstrated from the Word how homosexuality destroys human beings and turns them into something God never intended them to be. Eventually those embracing a homosexual lifestyle would be locked into pain, hurt, misery, loneliness, and death.
Out of that episode came opportunity for members of this church to reach out to those who were struggling with homosexual tendencies. A great number of these people were delivered by the mercy and grace of God. That is what this passage describes–the tough love of God, who will not let ruin overtake us without adequate warning.
The closing paragraph, beginning with verse 32, connects the history of earlier generations with the present generation. Here we find a change of pronouns from they and them to we and our as the Israelites begin to look at their own generation.
This is where we find ourselves today. Our cities are torn with violence and strife of such intensity that people hardly dare to go outside their homes. The only recovery is to do as these people did–confess our wrongdoing to God and praise Him for His compassionate mercy.
Notice how specific the Israelites are. You have acted faithfully, but we did wrong. There is no if in true confession. You say, Lord, I did it. I walked in my own willful way. Then God hears, forgives, and restores.
How do we respond to God’s tough love in others’ lives as well as our own? Are we able to recognize and be thankful for the tough love of God?
Pain is no stranger of mine; some of it is definitely self-inflicted through indulging in sin and some of it is out of my control. Yet, it all stems from sin and our nature of desiring the flesh rather than turning to God.
In today’s passage, the people still rebelled against God and today, we are a part of that rebellion in myriad ways. Our hearts naturally are deceitful above all else things; our hearts desire the tempting, ephemeral fulfillments of this world. After reflecting on my life, I can confidently say I am nowhere near perfect and I am not someone to look up to. The only person that people should be looking up to and placing their hope in is in God. He is truly the only one who can fill that deep void in our hearts that no one can every satisfy.
I did some deep reflection this morning and realized how many of the sins I have committed stem from feeling unworthy and undeserving of love and not loving myself and arguably, not loving God enough. For a huge part of my life I have felt insignificant and truly believed that I add no value in life. This comes from the deep roots of my childhood that I have either witnessed or experienced myself. Truly, I am insignificant and add no value in life, BUT it is God who is the one who makes me valuable and worthy (Psalm 139) and gives me a hope and purpose (Jeremiah 29:11).
Lord, thank you for loving me in spite of the ways I have hurt you and will hurt you in the future. I feel undeserving of this love, yet you already paid the price and have allowed us to no longer feel this shame and guilt that has once plagued us. You are loving, just, merciful, gracious, patient, kind, and I need you to help me be reminded of your characteristics so I don’t lose sight of you and myself. I pray that I would abide in you despite the extreme pain I feel with numerous circumstances in my life – some that were in my control and some that were out of my control. Ultimately, I pray that I can confidently proclaim that you are good through it all. Amen.
When I reviewed my life honestly before Him, I learn that I am deeply and wholly forgiven of the things I have done in the past, things that offended Jesus and did not bring glory to Him. This stems from the pool of His mercy and love and extends out to me and others. But with His love, I don’t take on the shame and guilt I’ve had before, with His love, I am renewed in Him and because of that, I have been made new.
Our God is “a God ready to forgive, gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”. Even when we sin against Him, he still loves us. I am always trying to understand how this can be because it seems too good to be true. But, God has “been righteous in all that has come upon us, for He has dealt faithfully and we have acted wickedly”.
When I review my life before God, I realize how sinful I am, but yet how graciously He lavishes mercy upon me. I didn’t do anything to deserve His grace, but yet He continues to love me. This passage focuses on that grace. God did so many great things for the Israelites, but the Israelites fled from Him and disobeyed His commands despite what God has done. You can look at the Israelites and judge them, but when we look at ourselves we realize we are at the same part too. If it wasn’t for God’s grace, we wouldn’t be here. Thank you God.
From brother Brian
Day 30: What can we learn about God when we review our life honestly before Him?
Personally I don’t need to read today’s message to answer this question. As brothers of the same faith, I hope we all share the same sentiment. We are a pile of doo doo but because we are loved by God, we are the most precious doo doo ?! Whooo hoooo. We are not worthy on our own standing but lucky for us, we have the greatest advocate and savior – Jesus! Whooo hoo!
Time and time and time and time and time (get the drift), we defy, disrespect, disobey, and reject God but yet He continues to deliver and love us. There is no greater love. Thank you Father for your mercy, love, forgivenes, punishment and suffering. Yes even punishment and suffering. Please use, mold, rebuke and strengthen us so that when we “meet face to face” (crediting bumble for that), we will be able to stand tall and proud.
I’m extremely Grateful like you all, because God has truly been there for me. I’ve reached lows and accepted a lifestyle of sin and I was locked in pain, loneliness etc. But I learned of the gospel and heard the word and, and because of Gods mercy I feel blessed and I know I need Jesus in my life. He is forgiving , while still allowing me to see the true evil nature of what I was doing. God has taught me the greatest lessons in life.