Day Thirty Six

Deuteronomy 4:5–8 

⁵ See, I have taught you statutes and rules, as the Lord my God commanded me that you should do them in the land that you are entering to take possession of it.

⁶ Keep them and do them, for that will be your wisdom and your understanding in the sight of the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and understanding people.’

⁷ For what great nation is there that has a god so near to it as the Lord our God is to us, whenever we call upon Him?

⁸ And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today?

         Moses is giving instruction and laws to the people. There were far more laws than just the ten commandments. Throughout the Old Testament there are 613 laws given from God to the Israelites. When some hear that they will say that God is way too restrictive. Yet, here in the USA we have thousands of laws other than just the Constitution. In fact, our representatives are called ‘lawmakers.’ The Jewish nation was thousands of years along when Jesus was born. We aren’t even to 250 years. Comparatively speaking, God practically left them alone. We are far more restricted than the Jews were.

         So Moses is giving instruction. And then he stops and tells them just how important the laws are. He says the laws will cause other nations to respect Israel. And the laws for Israel would be righteous laws. Verse eight from above says; And what great nation is there, that has statutes and rules so righteous as all this law that I set before you today? People were going to be impressed to the point of amazement by the laws. The laws were wise and they would lift up the nation.

         However, Israel suffered defeats and enslavements when they moved away from God. They would start by ignoring the small laws that were easy to get away from, and no harm was done. Then they left bigger laws and then bigger until God brought judgment.

         The legal system in the United States was originally based on English law, which was, in turn, based on the Old Testament Scripture. The Founding Fathers were creating a new country. They could have based the legal system on the Grecian system or the Roman system. After all, there was no great love for the English in the beginning. But they choose to build on a system that used and exalted Biblical law.

         Where have we gone and how have we gotten here? There are laws now, or interpretations of laws, that intentionally stifle Christians. Our faith is ridiculed, our denominations are leaving the Lord, our intelligence is mocked. What has happened?

         Satan can make his lie look so convincing, so attractive. He can pull people in without trying. We fume and rant and get angry, but nothing will change until the Lord intervenes. And the Lord will not intervene until we Christians get our act together and begin to follow the Lord with all of our hearts and minds.

         Our nation will be punished. You cannot try and separate yourself from God and expect to get away with it. Unfortunately, we Christians will be in the line of fire.

         Our prayer today is two fold. First, make a commitment to draw nearer and nearer to the Lord. There is a great old song, although it is theologically wrong, that goes, “Draw me nearer, nearer, nearer precious Lord, to thy precious bleeding side.” We don’t let the Lord draw us nearer. He has already done everything for us. It is up to us to draw nearer to Him.

         The second part of our prayer today is to pray for our country. Pray for our leaders even if you don’t like them. Pray for one another. Pray that we will have the Spiritual strength to reach out to the lost and love them to Jesus.