January 3, 2014 - Friday

Start Time: 10:16 A.M.

End Time: 11:21 A.M.

TITLE: The Journey from Kadesh Barnea to Moab

Scriptures: Deuteronomy 2:1 – 37

God’s Message / God’s Promises / God’s Commands:

→ In this chapter, God once again told His people that they have circled around this mountain (Mount Seir) long enough, now turn north!  God instructed His people to cross the border of their relatives, the descendants of Esau who inhabit Seir; they will be afraid of the Israelites so God warned them to watch themselves carefully.  God told the Israelites not to be hostile against or towards them because He has not given them the lands of the descendants of Esau.  God declared to them that Mount Seir is an inheritance for Esau so they are not to touch their land.  They can purchase food to eat and water to drink from them but that’s all.  God emphasized and reminded them everything He has done for them.  He has not abandoned them and has blessed every effort they make; God has been attentive to their travels through the great wasteland for 40 years and they have lacked nothing.  So they turned away from their relatives, the descendants of Esau and travelled the way of the Moab wasteland because of this.  The Lord also told them not to harass or provoke them to war for God will not give them any of their land as their territory for God has given Ar to the descendants of Lot as their possession.  The Lord instructed them to go up and cross the WadiZered and they did as they were commanded.  It took them 38 years to travel to Wadi Zered for that’s how long it took for all the military men of that generation to die, just as the Lord had vowed to them.

NOTES:

Ø At times we not only parked in one area but we have been living our lives in circles.  We do things over and over again and it has become routinary – the worst of it all is that we have become comfortable with it and did not desire for better things in our lives.  We lived on in circles when this is not what God has planned for us.  So God is saying, we have circled around our current lives long enough, it is time to turn north!  In short, it is time to go up!  No longer running around in circles, the only way is up to God!

Ø There are certain things that God does not allow us to take possessions of.  Sometimes, we envy and covet things that are of our brothers and sisters.  We see their lives and we want to live their lives but we have to remember that their lives are not what God promised us.  The lives our brothers and sisters are living are the inheritance or promise God gave them and not to you; God also has an inheritance for you and for you alone; you must seek for that promise and not covet the life or promise God made to your brothers and sisters.

Ø Only when the generation of sin (rebellion – the military men who rebelled against God’s commands) died, were the Israelites able to move or continue their travel.  We need to kill sin in our lives so we can move on in receiving God’s promise to us.

→ Then God told the Israelites to cross the border of Moab, that is, of Ar, but when they come close to the Ammomites, they are not to harass or provoke them because God is not giving them the Ammonites’ land as their possession; the Lord then told the people that this land used to be owned by the Rephaites – they are people as powerful, numerous and tall as the Anakites.  But the Lord destroyed the Rephaites in advance of the Ammonites so they disposed the land and settled down in their place.  In the same way, in the earlier verses, God told the Israelites of how the descendants of Esau dispossessed Mount Seir from the people who used to live there because He has given Mt Seir to the descendants of Esau.

NOTES:

Ø Clearly God is building the confidence of the Israelites as they journey to possess the Promised Land God gave them.  God made sure they see how God delivered their brothers (descendants of Esau and Lot) and won the lands that God gave them for their inheritance.  And surely, God will do the same for them, His chosen people, and even more!

→ Then God told them to get up and make their way across Wadi Amon and told them that He has already delivered over to them Sihon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land.  So God instructed them to go and take it and engage in Way.  For on that very day, God began to fill all the people of the earth with dread and to terrify them when they hear about the Israelites.  They will shiver and shake in anticipation of the Israelites approach.

NOTES:

Ø When God sends us to possess the land, He has gone first and ensures our victory.  He has filled the enemy with dread and terrified them of our existence.  The enemy will shiver and shake in anticipation of our approach because God has delivered him to us and has given us victory in possessing the Promised land so we are to act in confidence and full trust in Him.

→ So Moses send a messenger to King Sihon of Heshbon with an offer of peace but the King was unwilling to allow them to pass for God has made the King obstinate and stubborn so that He might deliver him over to the Israelites this very day.  And God said to them, “Look!  I have already begun to give over Sihon and his land to you.  Start right now to take his land as your possession.”  And it happened as God said it would.  God delivered the King of Sihon to the Israelites and they struck him down, along with his sons and everyone else.  They seized all his cities and put every one of them under divine judgment, including even the women and children; so they left no survivors.  They kept only the livestock and plunder from the cities for themselves.  However they did not approach the land of the Ammonites, the Wadi Jabbok, the cities of the hill country or any place else forbidden by the Lord our God.

NOTES:

Ø God set everything for the victory of the Israelites and He will do the same for our victory in our lives.  He is saying that it is time for us to take charge and take possession and He has prepared everything so that we get our victory over our enemies because our victory brings glory to His Name.

Application / Realization:

Ø God is saying, we have stayed or circled long enough, it is time to go and possess the land He has promised.  It is time to take charge and take what is ours!  But note that there will be a journey to travel and in this journey, we will see others victory ahead of us.  We will see brothers and sisters already possessing their lands and living in God’s promises.  These things should encourage us and not cause us to be envious or covet what they have.  Because what God has done for them, He will do for us too. 

Ø We must recognize that God has promises to each one of us and one may be different from the other so we are to seek God’s promise to us and not take what belongs to others.  We are to be patient and live in God's grace and in obedience to God so we experience the victory and promises that God has for us.

Prayer:

Lord Jesus, how great and awesome You are!  Father I am so much blessed and grateful for the kind of God, You are to us.  I am so touched and moved that You have seen our present conditions and have seen our routines and You, Yourself, say that we have stayed or circled enough.  It is time for us to experience what is rightfully ours and You will help us accomplish it!  Lord, help me remain focus on Your promises to me and not crave for what others has or what others are experiencing.  Help me to seek Your will and promises to me and help me to conquer or take possession of what is mine and not what belongs to others.  Encourage my spirit and inspire me to find Your promises.  Help me to have the listening ear and the humble heart to do Your will more than anything else.  I commit everything to You.  In Jesus’ Name, Amen!