Welcome to Deuteronomy. Think this is gonna be a yawn-fest, like rewatching an old movie? 📽️ Nope.
Did you know that Jesus quoted Deuteronomy more than any other OT book? He did. In fact, when Jesus was tempted by the Devil in the wilderness, ALL of His refutations came from Deuteronomy. 🤓
In fact, let’s drill down here for just a sec…
Israel wandered in the wilderness for 40 years. 🏜️
Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness – in some of the exact same locations. 🏜️
Israel was fed with manna and water from a rock. 🪨💦
Jesus was the manna (Jn. 6:48-51), and the water (Jn. 7:37-39), and the rock (1 Cor. 10:4). 🪨💦
At the end of the 40 years in the wilderness, before they begin the task of driving the demonized Canaanites out of Yahweh’s land, Israel is given the book of Deuteronomy.
At the end of His 40 days of fasting in the wilderness, before He begins the task of driving the kingdom of darkness out of the earth, Jesus quotes from the book of Deuteronomy.
Coincidence? I don’t think so. 🤔
It’s about the year 1451 BC. Moses is 120 years old and about to die. Joshua is poised and anointed to be the next leader.
Like an old grandfather gathering his children around his deathbed, Moses calls the nation together to pass on the family history and entrust the next generation with Yahweh’s covenant.
I’m just going to elaborate on a few things something that stood out to me in this opening chapter…
“And you grumbled in your tents, and you said, ‘Because of the hatred of Yahweh toward us he has brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.”
Deuteronomy 1:27 LEB
That is a completely wonky perspective. It made me think of this quote:
“Behind every sin is a lie about God.”
– from the book Everyday Church by Steve Timmis and Tim Chester.
Paul said that idolaters are those “who exchanged the truth of God with a lie, and worshiped and served the creation rather than the Creator, who is blessed for eternity. Amen.” Romans 1:25 LEB
Lies are sneaky things.
Have you ever dealt with an infestation? Like – ants or roaches or mice or termites?
🐜🐜🐜🐜🐜 🪳🪳🪳🪳🪳 🐁🐁🐁🐁🐁
You see evidence of their presence but you don’t really see many of them until you dismantle a wall or floor. You’re pulling off layers then suddenly, one final board is pulled away and there’s the whole squirmy nest of em. Ick. You’ve reached the source of the problem.
That’s what Moses just did with verse 27. He pulled up the floorboard of rebellion and revealed the nasty squirming nest of lies about Yahweh that was the source of all those pesky complaints.
Let’s pick this mess apart.
“And you grumbled in your tents, and you said, ‘Because of the hatred of Yahweh toward us he has brought us out from the land of Egypt to give us into the hand of the Amorites to destroy us.”
Deuteronomy 1:27 LEB
- They do not know the heart of Yahweh. ❤️
- They actually believe that Yahweh hates them. 🧊🖤🧊
- It’s like they’ve gaslighted themselves on this point. I don’t know how you convince yourself that the Deity who dismantled an entire nation to free you from slavery somehow hates you. Makes zero sense.
- They attribute to Yahweh a false motive (hatred) for removing them from Egypt. 🐪
- They assume a false end goal for Yahweh – to destroy them. 💥
- They assume a false means to the false end – that He would use the Amorites (the giants) to do it. 🗡️
- As if Yahweh couldn’t just pinch their existence right out if He so chose.
- They “grumble in their tents.” They repeat this lie to their families and neighbors and feed this colony of lies with complaints until it takes on the appearance of a settled truth in the community. Grumblers tend to congregate in grumbling groups. ⛺️
Moses exposes the lie to the light. 🔦
Why on earth would they think that Yahweh hated them and wanted to destroy them? Note- it’s the older generation – the one that had been slaves in Egypt. It’s not their kids saying this.
This is the part of Biblical interpretation where we have to take off our 21st century shoes and go put on their ancient sandals.
Israel has been in Egypt for 400 years. In the ancient world, the common understanding was that each nation had a god (or several). And their god was supposed to take care of them. If you were conquered by another nation, it meant that their god was stronger than yours or maybe that your god was off on vacation and didn’t care what happened to you. Given that way of thinking, what would you suppose if you were part of a nation that had been enslaved for nearly 400 years? Might you assume that the God of your ancestors had washed His hands of you?
Israel: yeah I know that Yahweh freed us from Egypt and all, but I’m not so sure He likes us. I mean, we did that stupid golden calf thing. And the quails. And the complaining. We can’t all be Moses. God likes him. But not us.
If, for most of your life, you have believed, “God doesn’t like me,” that can be a challenging mindset to walk away from. You can justify ignoring His purpose for your life because – “Hey, He doesn’t like me or have any use for me anyway. I’ve already messed up too bad for Him to be able to do anything with me.”
I smell a very clever excuse disguised as humility. If it’s true that the Creator truly does love you, then that puts a whole different spin on things. It’s not the Lord rejecting you, it’s you rejecting Him.
And I suspect that may be what was behind Israel’s constant complaints and bizarre wish to go back to a life of slavery in Egypt. At least there, they could go on telling themselves that Yahweh hates them. (“See! Here’s the proof! We’re slaves. Yahweh doesn’t care what we do. He has foresaken us.”) And they could continue compromising with Egyptian culture.
But the deliverance from Egypt – especially the dramatic death of the firstborn at the Passover – is an inconvenient truth that proves Yahweh loves them and hasn’t abandoned them.
To all of Humanity telling themselves that the Most High, the Maker of Heaven and Earth “hates them,” I have an inconvenient truth to share: The Firstborn Son of God died and was forsaken so that you could be freed from slavery to self and sin. All of the complaints about God and the claims that He “hates you” will not stand up before the crucified and risen God-man, Jesus Christ. Look at the beaten and crucified Savior and tell me again how God hates you?
It’s not that God hates you. It’s that the sinful nature of humanity hates God.
“Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace. For the sinful nature is always hostile to God. It never did obey God’s laws, and it never will. That’s why those who are still under the control of their sinful nature can never please God.” Romans 8:5-8 NLT
This is why the REAL Christian is not a reformed sinner; because you cannot reform the sinful nature. It must be put to death. That’s what all the talk in the NT about being “crucified with Christ” and then “risen with Christ” is about. If you wish to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, the selfish sinful nature of YOU does not survive. We either let it die on the cross with Christ and receive in exchange the holy life of Jesus, or we’re stuck with it outside the Kingdom for eternity. Take your pick. (It’s honestly a no-brainer.)
This isn’t Burger King where you can “Have It Your Way.” I can’t do my version of being a Christian where I get to pick and choose how to live like it’s some kind of buffet – a little healthy church attendance and a little naughtiness to satisfy the flesh on the side. If you are risen with Christ (i.e. a “Christian”) then IT. IS. NOT. YOUR. LIFE. ANYMORE. You don’t get to decide. It’s Jesus’ life. He’s sharing it with you on His terms.
Ok. Gonna put a pin in my Gospel rant for now and move on because I literally have 15 minutes to leave for work. And I’m still in my pjs. Not that you needed to know that.
Have you ever seen those posts on social media where they say, “Your whole life is a lie”? In case you’re not hip to that trend, it’s basically a post that shares some bit of information that makes you realize you’ve had the wrong idea about something.
For Example:
Brenda Lee was only 13 years old when she recorded Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree. (I thought she was like 50! My life is a lie!)
Did you know that the walls of stacked towels at Bed Bath and Beyond are fake? It’s a foam shape covered with towel cloth. Your life is a lie!
Concrete tile paths are often made by stamping a pattern into poured concrete rather than laying individual blocks. Gasp! Your life is a lie!
Did you know that in pancake commercials, they pour motor oil over the pancakes instead of syrup because it looks better and doesn’t quickly get absorbed. Your life has been a lie!
Fancy wedding cakes are often carved from styrofoam and decorated with inedible icing with a little sample section of real cake for the bride and groom to “cut out.” The cake that is served to guests is simple sheet cake. Much easier to cut and serve. And better tasting. Your life is a lie!
People use this phrase to express their feelings when they find out something was fake, or a long-held assumption was false.
Donald Trump’s hair is REAL! (O. M. G. My life has been a lie!)
This guy found out he’s been using a measuring pitcher “wrong” his whole life.
And his outfit.
If Deuteronomy 1:27 happened today some kid would make a video of Moses explaining that Yahweh actually loved Israel and planned to bless them, then show screenshots of verses from Genesis and video of Red Sea parting and manna then say, “your life has been a lie!”
When I was a teenager my family had a shop in an amusement park so I got to know what amusement parks are really like. I watched the stunt show and the magic show enough times to find out that the “volunteer from the audience” was nothing of the sort. He was a member of the crew. Since then, any time I’ve been at an event where they pick a volunteer from the audience, unless it’s ME, then I’m very suspicious that it’s probably a fake volunteer. 🤨
In America, our lives are surrounded by the fake and phony all the time. Fake food. Fake news. Women have fake lips and hips that are pumped and plumped beyond anything natural. Advertisements, Influencers, and A.I. images are as phony as a three-dollar bill. I’ll not pull on this thread any further because we would be here a while unraveling this sweater. There may be more to our lives that is a lie than we realize.
The worst lies are the ones we believe about the LORD. Those lies have consequences because belief determines behavior.
If you are struggling to overcome sin or finding it difficult to have victory and peace in your soul, you need to examine what you truly believe about God. (Not what you believe about yourself. Get what you believe about God right first and that will fix probably 99.9% of the wrong things you believe about yourself. But if you start with yourself, you’ll probably never move beyond that.)
You won’t help yourself by glossing over the negative parts. If you don’t trust God with something just say so. Out loud. Don’t prettify it with oily corporate-speak. Like –
“The unforeseen circumstances have led to challenges in my outcomes.”
Or “Christianese” like…
“I’m in a season of testing on my journey. I’m just kinda in a dry place but God’s got this.”
Just say, “Life hit me hard and I don’t think God cares.”
BAM!
Now we can work with that. Get brutally honest. Then get in the book and find out if it’s actually true. If it smacks of God not caring or He’s out to get you – you’re dealing with a lie.
If you’re struggling with sin, (or dandelions), you’re not going to actually get rid of it until the whole root is gone. It will always come back until you dig up the source – which is believing a lie about God.
If you find yourself needing the stuff or affirmations of this world to be happy or feel significant and secure, pull up the floor boards and find out where those needs are coming from.
Does Jesus actually have victory over sin?
Did He invite you to share that victory?
Is He able to pull off what He promised?
If you don’t actually believe those things, it’s time to realize “your life is a lie.” Jesus DOES in fact have victory over sin and He IS able to share it with you.
Only – quit trying to have Jesus in YOUR life. He calls us to join HIS life. You abandon you and go move into Jesus’ life. And stay there.
I feel like a lot of people get that the wrong way round. They think Jesus is suppose to come into their lives or be sprinkled on them like so much pixie dust to enable them to fly. This isn’t Peter Pan. We’re called to lay down OUR lives and be submerged into Christ. He already laid down His life. He’s just waiting for us to do the same.
To quote a dear friend, “Reject Satan’s lies and embrace God’s Truth.”
If you do believe the Truth, let’s live like it and be at peace.
(Hmm. I feel like I should say “Amen” or something. So…)
Amen. 🙏
By the way- is that a prayer emoji or a high-five emoji? 😲🤔🫨🤔😏😆
To The Reader 