One of the best words I can give you today comes from Deuteronomy 20. I’ll give you a link. Deuteronomy 20:3, 4.
. . . Do not be afraid, or panic, or tremble [in terror] . . .
for the LORD your God is He who goes with you . . .
Goes with you to class, to work, to confront, to comfort, to the memorial service, to the store for groceries, or clothes, or shoes. He goes with you. Today!
The Hebrews left Egypt by the Hand of the Lord and in time came to the Promised Land. (See Exodus 12 and Joshua 4)
And then there is Deuteronomy 6: 23.
23 But he brought us out from there to bring us in and give us the land he promised on oath to our ancestors. source
And now centuries upon centuries, here we are.
It is my considered opinion that the Promised Land is not figuratively or comparatively or any other ly, Heaven.
We were not delivered from Egypt (or shall we say hell) straight into Heaven – Heaven is a PROMISED LAND to us but the promised land of Scripture does not sound like Heaven to me – It’s full of giants, enemies, sickness, diseases, miracles, victories, memorials and accomplishments and the list goes on. From salvation to Heaven we pass through a land, foreign and hostile, yet with His Promises for every step we make. He brought us out not for us to do our own thing but to learn His Ways (so we will not stick out like a sore thumb in Heaven when we get there :) ) and in the mean time have one holy blast of adventure after another until we arrive HOME. O! the stories Joshua will have to tell us when we all get to Heaven! Come to think of it! I want some stories of my own! Stories of victories and miracles and giants slain and sicknesses healed and folks delivered!
How’s your journey so far? Still working on that sore thumb image? Me too!
It is the nature of man to make gods of what we see. And so GOD said:
15“So be very watchful over your souls since you saw no form on the day that Adonai spoke to you in Horeb out of the midst of the fire, 16 so that you do not act corruptly and make for yourselves a graven image in the likeness of any figure—. . . Deuteronomy 4. TLV source
So, what are some of the ways you keep watch over your soul that you do not bow to little gods?
