  Related Stories     • View comments • Track comments • Behold the Kindness and Severity of GodThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude Those who think of the Old Testament God as an angry, punishing deity are wrong. There is not one God of justice in the Old and another God of grace in the New; there is only a God who loves his children beyond description, patiently endures their rebellion, punishes the sin when they persist, but looks for ways to restore them to his favor as soon as he can. As the Apostle Paul exclaims, “Behold the kindness and severity of God.”  Going Deep // Focus: Deuteronomy 30:1-4
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ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude
While we want to know everything that God knows—on its face, a ridiculous desire—he keeps certain things to himself! Like a good parent with a small child, he gives us bits and pieces of information at a time, as we are able to absorb and obey it. We couldn’t handle a divine data dump of everything God knows; it would overload us and even damage our development. Rather, he gives us what we need and simply asks us to obey it. And with what we don’t know, he asks us to trust.
I think you would agree, whether you are a parent, grandparent or a teacher, that a child’s ability to grasp information is connected to his or her level of emotional and intellectual development. When we teach our little ones, we give them bits and pieces at a time, but not the whole wagonload of knowledge. They couldn’t handle it if we did; we would overload them and even damage their development. We simply teach them at their current level, helping them to understand and obey what they know.
So it is with God. And while we want to know everything within his domain of knowledge—which we know, on its face, is a ridiculous desire—he keeps certain things to himself. We may have a spiritual tantrum, stomp our feet and demands answers, but he doesn’t give into our “why God” whining. Sure, as we mature, he reveals deeper truths to us, but like a good parent, there are things we are not yet ready to handle. And in those cases, he simply wants us to trust and obey.
It will always be that way in our walk with God. I suspect it will even be that way in eternity. While we will have unlimited capacity to grasp the deep things of God in the eternal future, we still won’t know everything within his domain—that would make us God. We will, however, be on an ever-increasing journey of grasping the revelation of God throughout the endless age, for there is no limit to the mind of God. How exciting! Those who think of heaven as sitting on a cloud and strumming a harp for eternity are in for a big surprise; they will instead find a boundless adventure of growing, learning, discovering, achieving and reigning over God’s ever-expanding creation.
But for the time being, God has revealed certain things to us. He has given us what we need to know. Of course, we have to unpack it—know it, develop it into wisdom through the disciplines of the faith, and apply it practically in our everyday lives through obedience. We have to prove ourselves faithful with the information we have. Yet there remain secret things that he has not yet revealed. With those, we simply need to trust. With some of the thing of God, we are on a need to know basis.
It is likely that when Moses spoke to Israel of God’s secrets, he was referring to their future. And by that he was simply telling them not to get caught up in what might or might not happen in the future—a year, or ten or a lifetime later; that was an outcome known only to God. Their responsibility was simply to be accountable for the conditions of the covenant today. They were to trust and obey God today; God would take care of their tomorrow.
The next time you wrestle with the unknown, and perhaps are frustrated that God has not given you an adequate explanation, remember Deuteronomy 29:29. The truth is, whether you like it or not, the secret things belong to the Lord your God, but the things he has revealed to you are adequate for today. Obey them and trust God with what you don’t know and can’t see.
You are on a need to know basis with God. And while there are some things you may never know, what you do know is that he has a flawless track record of accomplishing his good, perfect and pleasing will in the lives of his people.
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ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude
As redeemed followers of Jesus, we have been given much: salvation at no cost to us, paid in full through Christ’s sacrificial, substitutionary death. We have received much; much will be required. And what is required is nothing less than to continually and eternally serve him with joy and enthusiasm!
Nowhere in the Bible is the blessing of God contrasted with the cursing of God as clearly as in Deuteronomy 28. On the one hand, when the people whom God chose to be his very own hold up their end of the covenant, the blessings he promises to pour out upon them would make the so-called prosperity gospel of modern American Christianity look tame by comparison. God is clear that obedience to all of his commands will lead to, among other things,
And while is it not specifically enumerated as one of the blessings of obedience in this chapter, physical health is clearly one of the benefits as well. As Moses spells out the awful curses that will result from wanton disregard of God’s commands, the removal of health and the affliction of disease will be one of the first consequences Israel experiences.
Then after describing these incredible blessings of obedience, Moses gives a long graphic warning of what will happen if Israel violates their covenantal commitment. The list is extensive, hard to hear, dark and depressing—intentionally so. God anticipates that over time, his people will drift from full devotion to him and began to chase after false gods, so he wants to be very clear that nothing less than cruel suffering will be the consequence of their backsliding. Indeed, the very things Moses enumerates in this chapter literally occurred at different points in Israel’s future history during extended seasons of spiritual rebellion. I won’t take the time to list them here, so you will have to read them for yourself. But fair warning: they are awful.
So why would God threaten his people with such immense and unspeakable suffering? Well, I would ask a similar question: Why would God promise his people such immense and indescribable blessing? The answer to both questions lies, in part, to God’s sovereign call upon Israel. Both the unspeakable curses and the indescribable blessings can only be explained in the context of his rights of ownership over Israel. Due to no worthiness of their own, God chose them to be his own people from all the nations of the earth. Israel belonged to him as no other people did. He had poured out his unrestrained favor upon them, and he now called them to serve him with “joy and enthusiasm for the abundant benefits.” It was only right that Israel would remain fully devoted to the Lord their God. If they did, ever-increasing blessings of abundance awaited; if they didn’t, ceaseless curses would be unleashed.
Jesus described a similar contrast of blessings and curses in Luke 12:47-48 in an eschatological illustration known as the Parable of the Banquet:
The servant who knows the master’s will and does not get ready or does not do what the master wants will be beaten with many blows. But the one who does not know and does things deserving punishment will be beaten with few blows. From everyone who has been given much, much will be demanded; and from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked.
Perhaps this, more than anything, describes the incredible joys of obedience and the unspeakable cruelty of disobedience: to whom much has been given, much will be demanded. You and I, as redeemed followers of Jesus, have been given much: salvation at no cost to us, paid in full through his sacrificial, substitutionary death. We have received his abundant benefits—how could we not continually and eternally serve him with joy and enthusiasm?
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ThanksLiving: 365 Days of Gratitude
You don’t huff and roll your eyes whenever you see a traffic sign that reminds you, “Danger Ahead: Reduce Speed.” No, you subconsciously say, “It’s there for safety—mine and others.” So why get bent out of shape when God’s law is preached and you are warned of wrong behavior and called to right living? God’s law is God’s covenant of love, and there are blessings for obeying it and consequences for not. The Bible is not a burdensome rulebook, it is an amazing relational covenant that will lead a life of abundance with God and with others.
Deuteronomy is the Greek word for second law. Actually, it was the first law given a second time. As Moses nears the end of his administration over Israel and the people of Israel now stand at the edge of the Promised Land, ready to go in and take possession of it, one final time their leader reminds them of the covenantal relationship God has called them into. What might appear to us as yet another endless lists of rules to obey is actually a powerful reminder to them of the blessings and curses associated with this covenant.
In our world, we tend to associate law with legalism, and we don’t like it. We don’t want to be reminded of the rules. We would much prefer to talk about grace, which in reality, is often code for don’t hold me accountable for my attitudes and actions; I want the freedom to be my own master. We can insist on that until we are blue in the face, but God is not swayed. He is still a covenantal God. And he still expects us to abide by the rules of the covenant.
Now of course, keeping rules does not save us. Let’s be clear about that one more time. We are saved by grace through faith in the death and resurrection of Jesus. It is not by works of law keeping, period. Christ’s righteousness is imputed to us, and that is what saves our bacon. Yet our salvation evidences itself in how we behave. We may not have to keep the rules, but we honor the rules because we are saved—rules that demonstrate our love for God and our love for one another.
Let me offer an earthy illustration. I entered into a human covenant with my wife the day we spoke our wedding vows to one another. It was an act dominated by love, not rule-keeping. Yet we both promised to each other to keep certain rules: faithfulness to one another exclusively, cherishing each other unconditionally, loving and respecting the other through thick and thin, ‘til death do us part. We joyfully embraced those rules, not as burdensome, but as continual reminders of our covenantal love. After years of marriage, we do not verbally repeat the rulebook to each other, but we do live the rules out in our attitudes, words and actions. And if ever we sense dissonance in our covenantal commitment, you bet we talk specifics. It is what love does. No, our marriage vows are not burdensome rules. They are a cherished and necessary part of our relational covenant.
It is in the context of relationships that God called Israel into covenant. It is a covenant that spells out how God will treat them and how they will treat God and how they will treat each other—not as separate subsections of the contract, but as a seamless way of living. The covenant makes it plain that commitment will be lovingly demonstrated by specific obedience. The covenant is likewise quite clear as to the blessings of obedience and curses of disobedience. Now once again, this only makes sense in the context of love—God’s love for his people, their love for God, and God’s love through them for each another. The rules are simply a reminder of that love.
All that to say, rules are not burdensome; they are reminders of a very powerful relational covenant. Now we don’t woodenly apply many of those Mosaic rules today—our situation is different. We don’t have a Levitical priesthood that needs to pronounce us ceremonially clean from mold in our home; we don’t need to sprinkle ashes from a red heifer to relieve our contamination from touching a corpse; we don’t sacrifice animals to purify us from sin. Most of those Old Testament laws were subsumed in the sacrifice of Jesus. But that doesn’t mean we throw the baby out with the bath water. We still follow the rule of loving God and loving each other; of not lying, or lusting or stealing—hopefully. So we have to be mature enough as it relates to Mosaic Law to know what is still literally to be obeyed and what is only spiritually to be observed. This spiritual maturity recognizes that the rules remind us of love, and love is demonstrated in obedience to covenant.
So give the law a break! Don’t roll your eyes or huff when the Old Testament is preached or you are called to adjust your behavior or a sobering reminder of the covenant is given. You don’t huff and eye-roll whenever you see a traffic sign that reminds you, “Danger Ahead: Reduce Speed.” No, you subconsciously say, “that is there for safety—mine and others.” And you know there are blessings for obeying it and consequences for not.
God’s law is God’s love. Look at it through the lens of covenantal love and you will never read the Old Testament again as a burdensome set of rules to keep. No, you will gratefully think of it as an amazing relational covenant—one that became even more amazing as it was fulfilled in Jesus Christ.
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