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Deuteronomy 28-29 Deep Diving Bible Study

 

GOOD MORNING! 
Today’s readings are Deuteronomy 28-29

Click here to read today’s passages on BibleGateway.

I feel a tangent coming on so feel free to skip if you want to get right to the reading. 

Rabbit Trails 

Today we move on from the curses to the blessings (and back to the curses, but I digress…) If you’re anything like me, you really like the blessing part! That is human nature, to just want the good, none of the bad. The problem is that we want the good given to us with no requirements on our part. 

All of my life I’ve heard that salvation is a free gift, that we are saved by grace alone and there is nothing we could possibly do to earn it – and you know what? 

All of that is absolutely true.

But notice that these verses were not given to an unsaved people. They had already been chosen as God’s own. They had been shown grace time and again, and in return something is required of them. 

Just as with us, when we accept the grace and salvation that is given to us through faith in Messiah, we can’t just go on living as we did beforehand. 

There is more and often today, we miss it. 

The Holy Spirit comes to dwell within us and we must live a life worthy of being that vessel for the Holy Spirit. 

I’m not saying we’re to be perfect because we will naturally make mistakes – but we can’t let the whole “nobody’s perfect” excuse prevent us from pursuing Holiness – from attempting to live our lives in a manner that will please God.

In Leviticus 11:44-45, YHWH says “You must be holy because I am holy.”

In Leviticus 19:2 He says “Be holy because I, YHWH your God, am holy.”

And in Leviticus 20:7 YHWH says “be holy for I am YHWH your God.”

Then in 1 Peter 1:16, Peter reiterates this when he says:

“For it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy.’” 

Note: The New Testament is just folks teaching the “old” testament so you see a lot of quoting. 

In fact, 69% of the writings in 1 Peter are merely quotations from the “old testament”, or as Jesus and the apostles more accurately referred to this part of the Bible, “Scripture”.

We are to pursue the standards YHWH set for us. Whether you consider those to be the Ten Commandments alone or the Bible in its entirety – we can agree that it is always best to pursue Him, His truth, His model, and His standards of behavior for us. 

The great thing is that It is easy to do so because He gave us a living, breathing example in human form in his precious beloved son, our Messiah.

Those “What Would Jesus Do” bracelets used to be everywhere we turned. My husband wore one for years. But we’ve changed our thinking on that. 

Now, instead of asking “What Would Jesus Do?” We read our Bibles and ask “What DID Jesus Do?”- and that is the direction we go in.

Messiah is our ultimate example, so let’s live as closely to how He lived as possible.

They will know us by our fruit! 

Deut 28:57 seems horrific, but go read 2 Kings 6:24-33.

Deut 28:66-67 In a way, this describes life for a lot of people living outside of YHWH’s will today, in our own country. In fact, this describes what was once my life.

Deut 29:14-15 gives me goose bumps, do you see why?

14 It is not with you alone that I am making this sworn covenant, 15 but with whoever is standing here with us today before the Lord our God, and with whoever is not here with us today.

I believe that is partly a reference to us today.

Deut 29:18-19

18 Beware lest there be among you a man or woman or clan or tribe whose heart is turning away today from the Lord our God to go and serve the gods of those nations. Beware lest there be among you a root bearing poisonous and bitter fruit, 19 one who, when he hears the words of this sworn covenant, blesses himself in his heart, saying, ‘I shall be safe, though I walk in the stubbornness of my heart.’…

Y’all. I’ve been that person!!


Test everything, hold tight to what is good.~ 1 Thess 5:21

We are saved by Grace alone: Obedience is not the root of our salvation, it is the fruit!

May YHWH bless the reading of His Word!