Paul wrote to the generous Philippian Church … “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:19

And Jesus (our Saviour) Himself advised, commanded really … “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.” With “these things” being food and clothing and shelter! I’ve quoted Matthew 6:33 here.

God, the Provider!

And this morning (our Lesson) is found in Deuteronomy 29:5-6, where Moses is reviewing a bit of Jewish history. (The previous 40 years anyway.)

Listen to the Lord God: “And I have led you forty years in the wilderness: your clothes are not waxen old upon you, and thy shoe is not waxen old upon thy foot. ⁶ Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.

Again, the great Provider!

Clothes not wearing out! The noun here for “clothes” is “salmah,” meaning anything from outerwear to underwear. Quite a wardrobe! The verb “waxen old” (spelled “balah” in Hebrew) means “to waste away, to be consumed.”

Nor their shoes either, no decay! The noun here can mean either sandals or shoes. (Saturday leaving for the North Carolina Revival this week I had to go by the little “shoe repair shop” at the Mall in Chattanooga!)

Oh, by the way … where God here says “I have led” you … He beautifully employs “halak,” a verb meaning (122 times) “to walk” by one’s side!

Wow!

What Companionship!

Then the 6th verse. “Ye have not eaten bread, neither have ye drunk wine or strong drink: that ye might know that I am the LORD your God.”

Wow!

Actually the Israelites did not encamp anywhere long enough to plant and harvest crops. (Thus, no bread, from earthly grain anyway!) And certainly not long enough to become grape growers. (No “wine.”) So … God surely has the “manna” in mind, as their means of sustenance! So His people would TRUST His Provision, TRUST His Person, TRUST His Word!

Now … many would complain at such a unified diet. Year after year, identical meals, manna and water! In fact, the Jews did complain, some of them anyway.

But God is obviously thrilled with the report!

God is claiming that He (alone) fed them!

He did!

The doubters once asked … “Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” Psalm 78:19

Well, in a word, YES!

The Bible says: “He (the Lord) rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven.” Psalm 78:24

And He furthermore … “smote the rock, that the waters gushed out, and the streams overflowed.” Psalm 78:20

Gourmets today would have called God’s plan (this heavenly diet) way too limited!

Boring!

But God is satisfied with it.

Why?

Moses explaining God’s actions to the Israelites …

“And He humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that He might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.” Deuteronomy 8:3, a verse Jesus later quoted to Satan!

Yes, God the Provider … so that mankind might TRUST Him for every need!

Folks, let’s thank Him today for His (many) provisions!

Psalm 68:19 teaches us how … “Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation.”

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

The Bible even suggests that God feeds the animal world too! “Sing unto the LORD with thanksgiving; sing praise upon the harp unto our God: Who covereth the heaven with clouds, who prepareth rain for the earth, who maketh grass to grow upon the mountains. He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.” Psalm 147:7-9

 

One of my Grandmothers (called “Grandma” actually) used to advise us: “Don’t ‘wish’ your life away!” (I, as an early teen, was bad to say: “I wish I was old enough to get my driver’s license.” Or … “I wish I was old enough to pastor a Church.”)

I’ve thought of her words many times, especially as I have aged. “Mike, “don’t ‘wish’ your life away!” She would then continue: “All in God’s Time.”

And the Apostle Paul, though in different terminology, says essentially the same thing in both Ephesians 5:16 and Colossians 4:5. “Redeeming the time.” (Not …”rushing” the time!)

Jesus too, while on earth two thousand years ago, kept His Eye on an approaching “Hour!” Once (in John 2:4) He said to His Mother: “Mine hour is not yet come.” He had in mind the “Hour” of His Sacrifice for the sins of the world, Calvary! (Meaning a specific “period” of time. That torturous Ordeal on the Cross lasted six hours, according to the four Gospels.) Still, our Lord never once “rushed” that hour!

But today our Bible Study (our Text) says, in describing the consequences of disobeying God … “In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning! For the fear of thine heart wherewith thou shalt fear.” Deuteonomy 28:67

Again, because of fear and worry and terror … all due to Israel’s rebellion against God … “In the morning thou shalt say, Would God it were even! and at even thou shalt say, Would God it were morning!”

Yes, the exclamation point is really in the Text, King James Version!

Wishing one’s life away!

Dreading every single day!

And night!

How better any child of God would live … if he or she simply did what God said, as a habitual way of conduct! In fact, here is the path that person would follow daily … “This is the DAY which the LORD hath made; we WILL REJOICE and BE GLAD in it.” Psalm 118:24

Wow!

Big difference!

All depending on one’s being “right” with God.

Advice for this Saturday morning in April … ENJOY every minute God gives you today.

As the hours go by … remember what Moses said back in Psalm 90:12. “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.” Moses “prayed” these words, really.

Don’t rush your life away.

Savor every second.

Not only is ETERNAL LIFE a Gift from God.

So is daily mundane life …

This too, Psalm 31:15, another prayer to God … “My times are in Thy Hand.”

Wow!

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

I only received one Text of encouragement yesterday! It was precious, though! Yes, you all have me spoiled! Has this Lesson spoken to anyone’s heart? If so, you know what to do … 770-844-7627. Thanks!

By the way, Deuteronomy 28 (which we have now studied the last three mornings) is the longest chapter in the whole Book. With Deuteronomy having 34 chapters, a total of 959 verses.

 

 

God takes sin seriously!

And when He finds it in His Own People … He chastises, disciplines, “whips” them for their disobedience!

This “correction” is often applied both personally and nationally!

Here’s God communicating to the Israelite Nation, should they ever reject the Law: “The stranger that is within thee shall get up above thee very high; and thou shalt come down very low. He shall lend to thee, and thou shalt not lend to him: he shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.” Deuteronomy 28:43-44

Three distinct movements can be observed in our Text.

Including an “invasion” from abroad!

The noun “stranger” (in Hebrew “ger”) simply means “foreigner,” an “alien.”

Looks like these people “take over” Israel, again that would be a disobedient Jewish Land.

(God will promote the foreigners and demote the homefolks!)

Remember Psalm 75:6-7. “For promotion cometh neither from the east, nor from the west, nor from the south. But God is the judge: he putteth down one, and setteth up another.“ Wow!

Next … look who will have (at least control) the money!

No longer the hard-working Jews!

But the “invaders” again!

This does not necessarily imply a bunch of foreigners gaining ascendancy by means of warfare! No, just by immigration. Quietly, a few at a time, “moving in.”

Being a lender mean you are relatively wealthy.

Being a borrower means one has lost his resources. (Here they have been “taken” by God!)

“The rich ruleth over the poor, and the borrower is servant to the lender.” Proverbs 22:7

Wow!

Then we see “power” slowly dwindling away from Israel, or from any nation that forsakes God, I suspect. “He (the alien) shall be the head, and thou shalt be the tail.”

A once powerful community now being the “follower!” (Yes, picturesquely … the “head” becoming the “tail!”) Subservience!

Now in review …

Just (this morning) three quick indicators (signs) of God’s “judging Hand” on a group of people, on a nation.

Loss of prestige!

Loss of resources, finances!

Loss of sovereignty, leadership, power!

Hey everybody … all this actually happened to Israel in the past.

And I do believe it is happening to America as I sit here and write!

God save our Country!

Turn us around, we beg.

May we spurn sin and cleave to righteousness through Jesus Christ the Lord!

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

Pray for our national leaders today, particularly our President.

 

I realize the blessings enumerated in Deuteronomy 28 are conditional. Israel MUST obey God for these benefits to accrue. But still … verses like number seven of that chapter are phenomenal!

“The LORD shall cause thine enemies that rise up against thee to be smitten before thy face: they shall come out against thee one way, and flee before thee seven ways.” Deuteronomy 28:7

They (the enemies of God’s people) might attack from ONE direction!

But God will scatter them in SEVEN directions!

That’s quite a promise!

I love the way God does math!

Deuteronomy 32:30 (not yet studied in our series) gives another example of God’s mathematics in action! Again, to an “obedient, godly” people.

“How should ONE chase a thousand, and two put TEN THOUSAND to flight, except their Rock had sold them, and the Lord had shut them up?”

Seems like one chasing a thousand (pretty good fighting ability) … would equate to two soldiers chasing two thousand. But no, two can now handle ten thousand enemies!

Wow!

Seems like God being on one’s “side” exponentially increases that side’s ability to be overcomers!

As in Leviticus 26:8. “And FIVE of you shall chase an HUNDRED, and an HUNDRED of you shall put TEN THOUSAND to flight: and your enemies shall fall before you by the sword.”

All I’m saying today is this: “If God be for us, who can be against us?” Actually the Apostle Paul said it first, in Romans 8:31b.

Christian friends, rejoice today in the fact that God can be our Protector!

And Refuge.

He can empower us to be victorious!

Amen.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell

 

Not two messages.

But two parts to the same message.

Two “options” from God … in reference to His Word, to His commands.

As Israel is about to enter her Land, God asks her to confirm, ratify, swear to obey … the Legislation given Moses several years earlier. Well, a “generation” ago actually!

Deuteronomy 27:11-13 records: “And Moses charged the people the same day, saying, These shall stand upon mount Gerizim to bless the people, when ye are come over Jordan; Simeon, and Levi, and Judah, and Issachar, and Joseph, and Benjamin … and these shall stand upon mount Ebal to curse; Reuben, Gad, and Asher, and Zebulun, Dan, and Naphtali.”

Some to pronounce blessings upon those who obey.

Some to pronounce curses on those who do not obey!

Yes, this is classic “retribution theology.”

And it represents the very heart of the Book of Deuteronomy.

Every Jew alive, each of the twelve tribes is involved, must participate!

“To bless” doing what God says.

“To curse” not doing what God says!

This reminds me of preaching the Word of God yet today.

Paul to Timothy, a charge indeed: “Preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” 2 Timothy 4:2

Part of pulpit ministry today is positive. Emphasize God’s blessing upon obedience, “exhort with all longsuffering and doctrine.” Tell of God’s approval!

Yet at the same time, part of pulpit ministry today must be negative. Emphasizing God’s curses upon disobedience, clearly warning-filled! “Reprove, rebuke,” as necessary!

God has not changed.

Here’s Deuteronomy 30:15 encapsulated: “See, I (the Lord) have set before thee (the Israelites) this day life and good, and death and evil.” Wow!

Oh, what resolve we need.

To obey the Word of God.

— Dr. Mike Bagwell