Matthew 26:47-75; Deuteronomy 3-4; Job 5
The story of Jesus’ betrayal and trial are an interesting visual of humanity. You have the character of Judas, who claims to be a follower, yet trades him for earthly wealth. You have the disciples who, once Jesus was arrested, when the world had “ruined” who they believed he was, they left and would not stand by his side. Then you have the priests, the so called “religious” group, who claim to be connected with God but in reality their hearts are elsewhere. They are prideful and pious and do not follow the true Lord. Then there is Peter, a passionate follower who follows Jesus at a distance. He doesn’t want to be seen as being Jesus’ disciple and in fact will passionately claim otherwise. Yet, he is still there, still searching, still attempting to discover Jesus. Each of these personas are present in the world today. They all claim to be filled with Christ but they do not follow him wherever he leads. We need to evaluate what kind of follower we are and seek to be the kind that would follow him to the cross.
Moses was not allowed to go into the promised land. God showed it to him, but his purpose was not to make it, he was to disciple Joshua to complete the journey. Because of Moses’ previous choices, God determined what he would and would not do. There are consequences of our actions. Even if believers want to think that God will completely forgive our sins, which he does, life is not just a series of mini-stories, what we do in our past does touch our present and future. However, the disciple Joshua was a very important role and Moses needed to do that with all the passion and determination that he wanted to put into making it to the promised land. He still had a defined role, it was just different from what he expected or wanted.
Wow, what a cool statement: “No other nation has laws that are as fair as the ones the Lord my God told me to give you. If you faithfully obey them when you enter the land, you will show other nations how wise you are. In fact, everyone that hears about your laws will say, ‘that great nation certainly is wise!’ And what makes us greater than other nations? We have a God who is close to us and answers our prayers.” (Deut. 4:5-8)
For some reason it is easy to forget the promises and acts of God. A little time passes and it is as if we have to relearn to trust the Lord. The Israelites kept forgetting, and modern day believers can often find themselves in similar situations.
Moses took a lot of time to remind the people of Israel that God is the only god to be worshipped. If I look at society, it is easy to see that people have created other idols: money, sex, status, substances, people, ideas, organizations…the list continues.
All the things that Eliphaz says to Job are true at times. God does protect and will rescue his people, he will strike down the wicked and rescue the needy. His thought was that perhaps Job was in the wrong and needed to ask God for forgiveness or help. It is great to give advice to people, but it is important that, before a person gives advice, that they know the full situation so that they do not unjustly consider something more or less than it is.
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