Do you find your desires are affected by your surroundings, property, or the people you surround yourself with? Straying from our faith and dependance upon God is nothing new because thousands of years ago the people of Israel were fighting against the fleshly desires which sought to pull them away from God. What is the solution to this problem of having our devotion to God pulled away? Deuteronomy chapters 7 and 8 continue with God exhorting the people of Israel through Moses in his final speech to the people before the leadership transitioned to Joseph and the entry into the promised land began.
I was amazed how the truth that unequally yoked marriages draw you away from God is glimpsed in chapter 7 verses 1-11. God knew that when the people entered into the promised land that if they didn’t hold to His commands the people would begin to stray from Him. If the Israelites choose to marry into the people they conquered they would slowly be corrupted from within because the men or women who are not of Israel would not fear God or follow Him and in doing thus they would also pull their spouse away from God. I see this today in my life. I see a lot of great women who I find attractive but if they are not motivated by God any relationship would be destined to draw me away from God. It is not easy to wait on God but if I let my pride lead me in my desires for a future wife instead of God I will be pulled away from God.
God promises to bless the Israelites if they follow His commandments that were given to them through Moses. This promise of blessing comes with a warning to the people that they do not forget God. When the blessings are given and life becomes it is easy to become filled with pride and to think that you were solely able to bring yourself to the place you are without God. Chapter 8:11-14 tells the story, “Beware that you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments and His ordinances and His statutes which I am commanding you today; otherwise, when you have eaten and are satisfied, and have built good houses and lived in them, and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and gold multiply, and all that you have multiplies, then your heart will become proud and you will forget the Lord your God who brought you out from the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery.” I think this danger is alive and deadly today in America. We have an abundance and it is all too easy for us to go about our daily lives and never once thing that God is blessing us. The cultures of Israel and America seem all to similar when you think about how easily it is to forget God when life is easy. I know that if I do not abide in God’s Word on a consistent basis I will stray all too easily.
What does this truth about humanities inherent desire to stray from God mean for us today? I think it is a warning to keep among the body of Christ. God places believers around us to help us when we are going through difficult moments. The author of Hebrews sums it up perfectly, “Let us hold fast the confession of out hope without wavering, for He who promised is faithful; and let us consider how to stimulate one another to love and good deeds, not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another; and all the more as you see the day drawing dear.” Do not attempt to live life as a solitary christian because it will not work because we are designed and destined to be within a body of believers. Seek God and guard against your pride taking preeminence over God. I’ll honestly say that through my own power I am destined to fail but through Jesus Christ and the indwelling Holy Spirit I find the hope for tomorrow.
thanks for the blog post, i enjoyed it very much. Outside of the Church “true” christianity, the way it was intended, simply does not exist.