If you had caring, loving parents who wanted the best for you and read God’s Word and believed what He said; you probably heard directives come from them throughout your life such as—
“Do it the task this way and it will work better for you.”
“Be kind and treat people they way you want to be treated.”
“Don’t hit back, instead try to make a friend.”
“Listen to your teachers and do what they say, if you don’t understand, ask questions.”
“Take a shower, please, so you won’t offend anyone and you will be healthier for it.”
“Don’t forget, I love you, God loves you, and your family loves you.”
“I’m on your side and come to help you.”
“Help others when they need it.”
“Look for the helpers when you need assistance with a problem.”
“Remember, God is with you always with you.”
We heard these words and much more while growing, maturing children, making our way through adolescence. If we survived middle school and high school, still believing God but testing the waters; we became young adults who would also learn the consequences of disobedience to parental wisdom that ultimately originated with God, our Father in Heaven.
The altar at Mount Ebal was to serve as a reminder of the blessings of obedience and the curses of disobedience. Actions have consequences. Because the Israelites neglected to obey God, they later fell into the hands of the Assyrians and the Babylonians. But that’s a lesson for later…
Deuteronomy 27
The Altar on Mount Ebal
Moses and the elders of Israel commanded the people: “Keep all these commands that I give you today. 2 When you have crossed the Jordan into the land the Lord your God is giving you, set up some large stones and coat them with plaster. 3 Write on them all the words of this law when you have crossed over to enter the land the Lord your God is giving you, a land flowing with milk and honey, just as the Lord, the God of your ancestors, promised you. 4 And when you have crossed the Jordan, set up these stones on Mount Ebal, as I command you today, and coat them with plaster. 5 Build there an altar to the Lord your God, an altar of stones. Do not use any iron tool on them. 6 Build the altar of the Lord your God with fieldstones and offer burnt offerings on it to the Lord your God. 7 Sacrifice fellowship offerings there, eating them and rejoicing in the presence of the Lord your God. 8 And you shall write very clearly all the words of this law on these stones you have set up.”
Curses From Mount Ebal
9 Then Moses and the Levitical priests said to all Israel, “Be silent, Israel, and listen! You have now become the people of the Lord your God. 10 Obey the Lord your God and follow his commands and decrees that I give you today.”
11 On the same day Moses commanded the people:
12 When you have crossed the Jordan, these tribes shall stand on Mount Gerizim to bless the people: Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Joseph and Benjamin. 13 And these tribes shall stand on Mount Ebal to pronounce curses: Reuben, Gad, Asher, Zebulun, Dan and Naphtali.
14 The Levites shall recite to all the people of Israel in a loud voice:
15 “Cursed is anyone who makes an idol—a thing detestable to the Lord, the work of skilled hands—and sets it up in secret.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
16“Cursed is anyone who dishonors their father or mother.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
17 “Cursed is anyone who moves their neighbor’s boundary stone.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
18 “Cursed is anyone who leads the blind astray on the road.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
19 “Cursed is anyone who withholds justice from the foreigner, the fatherless or the widow.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
20 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he dishonors his father’s bed.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
21 “Cursed is anyone who has sexual relations with any animal.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
22 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his sister, the daughter of his father or the daughter of his mother.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
23 “Cursed is anyone who sleeps with his mother-in-law.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
24 “Cursed is anyone who kills their neighbor secretly.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
25 “Cursed is anyone who accepts a bribe to kill an innocent person.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
26 “Cursed is anyone who does not uphold the words of this law by carrying them out.”
Then all the people shall say, “Amen!”
WHAT DO WE LEARN—HOW DO WE RESPOND?
You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain. Psalm 139:1-7
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
“All believers have God in their heart. But not all believers have given their whole heart to God. The question is not, how can I have more of the Spirit, but rather, how can the Spirit have more of me?” –Max Lucado, Encouraging Word Bible
Read that again and realize God knows our hearts. We cannot hide anything from the God who create us and knows our “inmost being”! (Psalm 139) So, why try? Our obedience to God should not come from fear of what He will do to us. Instead, our obedience to God should be a demonstration of our love for God! The desire of our hearts should be a mind that seeks to honor, please, worship, and give God glory with all that is within us—all because we love Him because He first loved us.” (1 John 4:19)
It is the effectual love of God that first changes our hearts to make us capable of love, and it is His example of love that reminds us again and again of our need to love other people. His love growing and maturing in us causes us to obey the top ten commandments that were written in love. Love God. Love Others—the two most important commandments according to Jesus who was God in the flesh. ALL other commandments hang on these two and have their origins the love God has for us.
How can God’s Holy Spirit have more of me? Surrender. Be still, let go, and know God. Ask God for His Spirit to lead. Seek God first in all things. Ask for wisdom (skills for living) for all things of this life. But, most of all begin by loving God back. From God’s love in us; Love others like God loves us.
David, who was “the apple of God’s eye” and rose from shepherd boy to King of Israel, wrote from a place of disobedience to God asking for a return of God’s Holy Spirit within him. This psalm of David was his song of repentance to God. The prophet Nathan came to him to bring him back to God after David had committed adultery with Bathsheba.
“Have mercy on me, O God, according to your unfailing love;
according to your great compassion blot out my transgressions.
Wash away all my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.
For I know my transgressions, and my sin is always before me.
Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict and justified when you judge.
Surely I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me.
Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb; you taught me wisdom in that secret place.
Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.
Let me hear joy and gladness; let the bones you have crushed rejoice.
Hide your face from my sins and blot out all my iniquity.
Create in me a pure heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Do not cast me from your presence or take your Holy Spirit from me.
Restore to me the joy of your salvation and grant me a willing spirit, to sustain me.
Then I will teach transgressors your ways, so that sinners will turn back to you. Psalm 51:1-13
This is the great example of a man who has sinned, confessing his sins to God, taking full responsibility for his sins, asking for God’s forgiveness. There will be consequences for his disobedience but with a humbled heart he comes to God. God gives grace to the humbled before Him.
No matter what we’ve done, no matter how far we’ve fallen, God is always ready to forgive and welcome us once again into his presence. We will never go where God is not. This is blessed assurance of God’s love for us:
“Who then will condemn us? No one—for Christ Jesus died for us and was raised to life for us, and he is sitting in the place of honor at God’s right hand, pleading for us.
Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? (As the Scriptures say, “For your sake we are killed every day; we are being slaughtered like sheep.”) No, despite all these things, overwhelming victory is ours through Christ, who loved us.
And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:34-39, NLT
Believe and be saved.
Love God. Love Others.
In Jesus Name, for our good and His glory, Amen!
Daily Manna (Coffee with Jesus) 