66 - "Chosen To Stand" Deuteronomy 17-20

#66 The Levitical priests. Chosen to stand & minister. Out of all the tribes. For they have no inheritance. The Lord is their Inheritance.

                                                       

"For the Lord your God has chosen them and their descendants out of all your tribes to stand and minister in the Lord’s name always." The Lord chose your grandparent, Robert Alvin Brandon, to stand and minister all his days. And he did it with joy and conviction and wisdom and 

Then and Now. Chosen. 

Our Inheritance is You. Not what is passed on to us. You are out Most Prized Possession. So, how does that change how I live?

Whether the enemy is disease or a dungeon or an army or an activity, the God Who brought us to this place will be with us.

When you go to war against your enemies and see horses and chariots and an army greater than yours, do not be afraid of them, because the Lord your God, who brought you up out of Egypt, will be with you. ... And the priest says, Do not be fainthearted or afraid; do not panic or be terrified by them. For the Lord your God is the one who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies to give you victory.”

PHOTO: This is the place where your Grandpa grew up in Washington state and his parents lived their sunset years. Eatonville. 

65 - "May Your Hearts Be Full Of This Word" Deuteronomy 14-16

                                                     

Here is Moses recounting some of the terrible and wonderful works their eyes have seen. May we never forget what our eyes have seen. Think back on it now. Look at where you have walked. Remember the terrible and wonderful! We should be the better person for having lived through it dependent on God.

May your hearts be full of this Word.

May your eyes be fixed on this Word.

May your tongues be full of this Word.

Deut 11:18. "The eyes of the LORD your God are always upon [your life], from the beginning of the year to the end of the year." Deut 11:11-12. 

In Deut 14:1-2, Moses recants three distinguishing privileges: 

ADOPTED AS HIS SON~

"You are the sons of the LORD, your God," because you need a father.

CALLED TO BE HOLY ~  

"You are a people holy to the LORD, your God," because you are not.

CHOSEN BY GRACE ~

"The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His Treasured Possession, out of all the peoples who are on the face of the earth," not because of who you are, because of His Grace all over you.

"Our heavenly Father forbids nothing but for our welfare. Do thyself no harm; do not ruin thy health, thy reputation, thy domestic comforts, thy peace of mind. Especially do not murder thy soul." Matthew Henry.

Take Care ~

Lest there be an unworthy thought in your heart and ... "your eye look grudgingly" ...  Deut 15:9.  What a haunting thought.  Unworthy thoughts.  Oh God!

PHOTO:  Standing in a little rain, watching the thunder clouds roll in.  Thinking about this conversation I had with a friend:  "Ask yourself: 'What's not happening that needs to happen.' Dread is the old man hating no 'return on his investment.'  When it is all right that others don't love you back, then you are glad to see them, and you are different." So let go of goods and kindred.  Let go of having anyone have to love you and respond to you. Let go. And here comes the rain!

64 - "My Eyes Saw All That He Has Done For Me" Deuteronomy 11-13

                                                                    

It was not your children who saw the discipline of the LORD:
His Majesty
His Mighty Hand
His Outstretched Arms.
No, it wasn't your children, No.

It was your own eyes that saw all these great things the Lord has done." Deuteronomy 11:7

And what will you do with this God of yours?
What will you take away and live forever?
Can we ever ever be the same? No.
How He has overwhelmed us.
Walking floors of oceans.
40-year old shoes.
Miracles!!!

OH!  That I remember all those times you have Outstretched your Arms for me, for my family, for my friends.  I have seen You with my eyes---and may the Gospel ring true today in my life because of it.

PHOTO: I Stood Here. Right Where I Am. And I Knew. It IS His Outstretched Arms to Me Here. 

63 - "Know Your Heart and The Truth Rises Up" Deuteronomy 8-10

#62 When we come to know what is in our hearts, the truth rises up—-the Power and Patience and Presence of God and our total dependence on Him. Deuteronomy 8:2.

                                                    

Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the wilderness these forty years, to humble and test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 40 years! The journey was less than 15 days in distance. What happened? Deuteronomy 8:2.  What's the point here? How do we live like this? God humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Held Ezri at 1 day old and wondered this very same thought. Will she soon discover that man does not live by bread but by every Word out of the mouth of God.

God had the power to make it a very brief journey in the wilderness. And the same with "change" in our own lives. But how else is character formed? Overnight? How else can we come to see ourselves for who we really are? A C.S. Lewis quote comes to mind: "No man knows how bad he is until he has tried very hard to be good." They had to try awful hard in a wilderness---so do we. And what does it reveal? Humility and dependence or self-knowledge and arrogance. When we come "to know what is in our heart," that knowledge rises up---that's what the word "to know" means in the Hebrew. The truth rises up in our hearts of the Power and Patience and Presence of God---and our total dependence on Him.

PHOTO: Our total dependence on Him to move our mountains that we may “know.”

62 - "The Secret of Parenting" Deuteronomy 5-7

                                                          

You shall not make for yourselves the likeness of anything in the heavens, in the earth, under the earth, even under the waters.  No likeness of anything.  Moses understood this one far more than any living person.  You must not demand that to find success, to see God's Hand move, to attain fulfillment that you should enter the Promised Land.  Moses "let go" of his heart's desire.  No likeness of serving anything except his God.  What is God telling me to "let go" of this day?  Can I fling everything in my hand, in my heart upward to Heaven? 

What is on your heart --- Deuteronomy 6:6 ---- is what you will pass on to your children and friends. It is the whole secret to raising children. The Secret of Parenting!  Write His commands on your heart!  Not on your mind!  Get them inside of you.  So how do we do that?  So many Bible teachers focus on knowledge which puffs up---but Love changes everything. Deuteronomy 7:7 - It's all because of Love.  God didn't choose you because you are important.  No He chose you out of His Love.  Don't ever forget how you got to the place where you are today (6:12).  All because of Love.  So what does holiness look like in my situation this day and what does it mean for me to write His commands on my heart?

Frederick Buechner put it this way: "People are so apt to drift along on the surface of their lives, not really seeing or hearing or feeling very much because most of the time they are little more than half alive, the rest of the time dazed, dreaming, or detached."  

These Ten Commandments, this Law of Love the Lord Your God with all your heart and your neighbor as yourself, this Law of Love will be broken again and again.  We don't need to be punished for messing up.  God came  to destroy sin not to punish us for sinning.  No one can keep all of these commandments day in/day out.  May our commitment be to surrender not to self-improvement.

PHOTO: On our way to Seattle 

61 - "Demand Nothing Here. Expect Everything There." Deuteronomy 3-4

Take care, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things that your eyes have seen, and lest they depart from your heart all the days of your life. Make them known to your children and your children's children— how on the day that you stood before the Lord, He answered.  Deut 4:9-10

Larry Crabb said it this way:  "Demand nothing here.  Expect everything there.
Surrender all rights to justice, to loving treatment from others, to fulfilling ministry,
to all the good things of this life and you will be given tastes of the good things to come.
That is how you taste the LORD and discover that He is good.  
It is those tastes that fill you with sustaining hope until you're welcomed to the banquet."

And he encouraged the people he led saying: "The LORD your God Who goes before you will Himself fight for you." Deut 1:30. This is Moses' last sermon and he knows it. And Moses still does not falter. He faces his grave disappointment with dependence.

I am still stunned that Moses knew he wouldn't enter the land of Canaan, the promised land. Yet! Moses carried on. Moses' final destination was heaven not Horeb, an eternal home not an earthly one. His view of success did not include the conquest of Canaan. His ministry was to people not places. So, he kept on keeping on. Just like that young servant in Mark 5:36---keep on believing no matter what the circumstances show. There is an untold unseen unfolding Story.

PHOTO:  The clouds from 30,000 feet in the air. 

60 - “God Knows Your Coming & Going in 2026” Deuteronomy 1-2

                                                                   

God knows your going and coming in your wilderness. Deut 2:7. He knows.

I am stunned that Moses knew he wouldn't enter the land of Canaan, the promised land. Yet! Moses carried on. And he encouraged the people he led saying: "The LORD your God Who goes before you will Himself fight for you." Deut 1:30. This is Moses' last sermon and he knows it. And Moses still does not falter. He faces his grave disappointment with dependence.

Larry Crabb said it this way:  "Demand nothing here.  Expect everything there.
Surrender all rights to justice, to loving treatment from others, to fulfilling ministry,
to all the good things of this life and you will be given tastes of the good things to come.
That is how you taste the LORD and discover that He is good.  
It is those tastes that fill you with sustaining hope until you're welcomed to the banquet."

"There is no better evidence and earnest of God's favor than His putting His Law in our hearts." Psalm 147:19.

PHOTO:  It's a tree in the wilderness outside of my window.  And in this wilderness in which I sit, God orchestrates my story.  I no longer live for success but for Him!  

59 - “Are We Succeeding In God's Eyes” Numbers 34-36

"If you do not drive out the inhabitants of the land from before you, then it shall be that those whom you let remain shall be irritants in your eyes and thorns in your sides." Numbers 34. Israel must drive out the Canaanites or they will be driven out themselves.  The Israelites could still stay in the Promised Land with barbs in their eyes and bristles in their sides.  We may succeed in the eyes of this world that we live in, but are we succeeding in God's eyes, God's commands?  We cannot allow evil to take root in our spiritual communities, in our churches, without dealing with it.  We must always start with ourselves. 

PHOTO:  Standing with my community walking through this unspeakable hand-wrought beauty.  Thinking about how much I want to succeed in the eyes of the world and have not.  Yearning with all within to live for God and His Story---not for promised lands.

58 - “May I Be Taken With Who You are and Whose I Am” Numbers 32-33

  

"Because they have not followed me wholeheartedly, not one of those who were twenty years old or more when they came up out of Egypt will see the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— not one, except Caleb son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite and Joshua son of Nun, for they followed the Lord wholeheartedly.  And.  The Lord’s anger burned against Israel and he made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until the whole generation of those who had done evil in his sight was gone.  He is a holy God who demands our attention that we might follow fully.  

If you sin against the Lord,

you may be sure of this---

your sins will find you out.

Numbers 32:23

If I am stuck in sin, not because I "will" it but because I am unholy, then help me wander better than this.  Wholeheartedly.  With Wonder.  Because of You.  For You are hold and I am not.

PHOTO: It's the dawn of a brand new day. May I be more "taken" with Who You are and Whose I am than any thing! 

57 - "Falling Forward. Fully Following." Numbers 30-31

                                                     

    Orders to divide up the land:  Check.

The people numbered:  Check.

Ready to enter a pagan land: Check.

So, what is their first MO to enter hostile territory.

A Battle Plan? 

No, it's

W.O.R.S.H.I.P.

Daily. Weekly. Monthly. Yearly.

Take your religion with you into the place where you are going

and live to worship. “He shall not break his word." Numbers 30:2.  Every word that comes out must be true.  I caught a few words that slipped today.  Not accurate.  No laws here though.  Grace for the lips. 

No man can do it well before a Holy God.  They stayed on the wilderness path for four decades.  May your time be short in following fully a Holy God.  Where do I need to repent, turn around, forsake, lay down?

"They refused to walk the narrow road of belief that welcomes exposure of failure and conflict, knowing that God has a plan to overcome them."  God righted our wrongs once and for all.  And now forever.  Always righting our wrongs.  Always drawing us to Himself.

Thank you for exposing us for who we are----Whose we are.  Fully Yours, this day and forward.  Falling.  Fully.  Following.

PHOTO:  I looked over this city and wept.  How much more God looks over our world today and weeps.