Quote for the Day
“It is the Lord your God you must follow, and Him you must revere.”
Today's Prayer
This week pray for those traveling that they will rightly see God’s mighty hand in their life. Pray that as they travel they will see what God has supplied and NOT be trapped by false gods they encounter.
Deuteronomy 13
Deuteronomy 13 (NIV)1 If a prophet, or one who foretells by dreams, appears among you and announces to you a miraculous sign or wonder, 2 and if the sign or wonder of which he has spoken takes place, and he says, “Let us follow other gods” (gods you have not known) “and let us worship them,” 3 you must not listen to the words of that prophet or dreamer. The LORD your God is testing you to find out whether you love him with all your heart and with all your soul. 4 It is the LORD your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him. 5 That prophet or dreamer must be put to death, because he preached rebellion against the LORD your God, who brought you out of and redeemed you from the land of slavery; he has tried to turn you from the way the LORD your God commanded you to follow. You must purge the evil from among you.6 If your very own brother, or your son or daughter, or the wife you love, or your closest friend secretly entices you, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods that neither you nor your fathers have known, 7 gods of the peoples around you, whether near or far, from one end of the land to the other), 8 do not yield to him or listen to him. Show him no pity. Do not spare him or shield him. 9 You must certainly put him to death. Your hand must be the first in putting him to death, and then the hands of all the people. 10 Stone him to death, because he tried to turn you away from the LORD your God, who brought you out of , out of the land of slavery. 11 Then all will hear and be afraid, and no one among you will do such an evil thing again.12 If you hear it said about one of the towns the LORD your God is giving you to live in 13 that wicked men have arisen among you and have led the people of their town astray, saying, “Let us go and worship other gods” (gods you have not known), 14 then you must inquire, probe and investigate it thoroughly. And if it is true and it has been proved that this detestable thing has been done among you, 15 you must certainly put to the sword all who live in that town. Destroy it completely, both its people and its livestock. 16 Gather all the plunder of the town into the middle of the public square and completely burn the town and all its plunder as a whole burnt offering to the LORD your God. It is to remain a ruin forever, never to be rebuilt. 17 None of those condemned things shall be found in your hands, so that the LORD will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you, and increase your numbers, as he promised on oath to your forefathers, 18 because you obey the LORD your God, keeping all his commands that I am giving you today and doing what is right in his eyes.
Message
This week we look at one of the hardest chapters I believe you will find in the Bible. It is also one that contains the message of how God feels about us and our relationship with Him. We have heard the command to love Him alone and to put no others before Him. In this passage we see that He is business when it comes to “no other gods.”In verse four He reminds us of WHAT we are to do with God Almighty, “It is the Lord your God you must follow, and him you must revere. Keep his commands and obey him; serve him and hold fast to him.” [emphasis mine] The bigger message of this chapter is what to do with ANYONE who willfully tries to turn us from God and to ANY false gods. Verse 5 says, “That prophet or dreamer must be put to death…” As the chapter progresses it is repeated and emphasized in no uncertain terms that if anyone attempts to woo us away from the Lord God Almighty, there is only one suitable punishment: DEATH, plus destruction of all equipment used in the worship of other gods. There is not a lot of room for misinterpretation of these verses.For humans is seems that to know “what” to do is not always enough; we need to know “why”. God is pleased to give us His reasons. He finishes the chapter with the all-important “why”. God intends for us to be a pure people, and we can only be pure if we are wholly sold out to Him and Him alone. He finishes the chapter by reminding us that the reason we need to put away all of those people and objects that are serving other gods is, “…so that the Lord will turn from his fierce anger; he will show you mercy, have compassion on you”… [emphasis mine]Yes, we serve a mighty God. He is also a God who allows no others before Him. This week look carefully at your life to see what is between you and God. Ask that He remove it by His mighty power.