God Keeps His Promises [Deuteronomy 29]

24"All the nations will say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land? Why this great outburst of anger?'

 25"Then men will say, 'Because they forsook the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, which He made with them when He brought them out of the land of Egypt.

 26'They went and served other gods and worshiped them, gods whom they have not known and whom He had not allotted to them.

 27'Therefore, the anger of the LORD burned against that land, to bring upon it every curse which is written in this book;

 28and the LORD uprooted them from their land in anger and in fury and in great wrath, and cast them into another land, as it is this day.'

 29"The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law.


 

There are a couple of things that come to mind as I read this passage. First, God never broke His promises to the people. It was the people who broke the covenant with their disobedience. I guess the people began to take God and His tender care for granted and assumed He would always take care of them in the same way no matter what they did. They didn't remember the clear warnings.


The second thing I considered was how many people I know who blame the so called bad stuff in their lives on Satan as if Satan was in control of everything. One thing that is plain to see in Deuteronomy is that God is in control and the blessings and the cursings originate from Him. Again, that doesn't add up to God being mean or hateful... it means that God does what He says He will do. He keeps His promises.


Finally, I thank God that because of Jesus, I can know that the difficult stuff in my life is not punishment as it was in the Old Testament, but it is God's loving discipline. Jesus took the punishment that I deserve because I cannot keep the law any more than the Old Testament people could. Satan is just God's puppet in God's hand to bring to bear on me the things that will get my attention and draw me closer to God. I will never have to experience God's wrath because in Christ I have been judged not guilty!


 

We praise You, God, that you keep Your promises. We praise You that You provided Jesus to take the punishment we deserve for our sin. Thank You for Your loving discipline that draws us closer to You in just the right way. Thank You for the grace to walk with You in joy and peace in spite of ourselves and our circumstances.

Beth Warlick, 9/24/2010