Deuteronomy 7-9 Plan and Path to Blessing

Psalm 27:7-14 Experiencing the Goodness of the Lord

Ps 27:7

(4 One thing I have desired of Yahweh, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of Yahweh all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of Yahweh, and to inquire in His temple.)

“Hear, Yahweh, when I cry with my voice. Have mercy also on me, and answer me. 8 When you said, "Seek my face," my heart said to you, "I will seek your face, Yahweh." 9 Don’t hide your face from me. Don’t put your servant away in anger. You have been my help. Don’t abandon me, neither forsake me, God of my salvation. 10 When my father and my mother forsake me, then Yahweh will take me up. 11 Teach me your way, Yahweh. Lead me in a straight path, because of my enemies. 12 Don’t deliver me over to the desire of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen up against me, such as breathe out cruelty. 13 I would have lost heart unless I had believed: I would see the goodness of Yahweh in the land of the living. (NKJV) 14 Wait on the Lord, be of good courage, and He shall strengthen your heart. Wait, I say, on the Lord." (KJV)

Observations: 27:1-6 See post on Exodus 27 for vv 1-6, for David's affirmation of his confidence in God, who was His highest priority and greatest delight.

27:7-14 David calls out to God for help, who gives instruction to seek His face (character, protection and favor). David responds with purposeful obedience to seek not only God, but His ways as well. Regardless of abandonment, or opposition, David would trust and depend upon God. Waiting on the Lord is not just hanging around waiting for God to do something. The verbs are in the Piel, intensive stem, meaning to “eagerly and expectantly look to”, as in seek His face, in which one finds hope, strength and courage. It is that kind of seeking God that results in a strengthened heart, as one develops confidence in God's goodness.

The last two verses (27:13-14) took on special meaning for me when I discovered them one morning in my quiet time over three decades ago. In the preceding week I heard of at least three guys who were convinced that God wanted them to marry a godly gal whom I was beginning to see as the goodness of the Lord. I waited upon God, sought His face, and found strength to trust and wait; He guided my paths, and in His perfect timing, He gave me courage to ask her to marry me; and I experienced the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. (Pr 18:22; Thanks God!)

Application: Seek God as your top priority, let Him direct your paths, and bring Matthew 6:33 to fruition in your life. (It worked for me.)

Prayer: Heavenly Father and giver of all that is good, thanks for revealing Yourself so that I can seek and know You, and draw strength and guidance for following Your ways, knowing that they will lead to what's best. (Thanks for Jill, too.) Amen.

Proverbs 7:21-23 What Does It Cost?

Pr 7:21 “With persuasive words, she led him astray. With the flattering of her lips, she seduced him. 22 He followed her immediately, as an ox goes to the slaughter, as a fool stepping into a noose. 23 Until an arrow strikes through his liver, as a bird hurries to the snare, and doesn’t know that it will cost his life.“

Observations: 7:21-23 One of the first phrases to learn in any foreign language is “How much?” It's also an important question to ask in your native language. Lot's of things might be fun or enjoyable, but are they worth what you have to give in exchange? Is it a good value? Wisdom and understanding guide in choosing the right objectives by helping you determine what you get for your money, time, or life. Sin might yield some temporary pleasure/benefit (after all, if there was no appeal, no one would do it), but is it worth a lifetime of suffering or an eternity of regret? Unfortunately most sin doesn't have an obvious price tag. Immorality does, and that is why Proverbs spend a fair amount of time warning against it. Sin is enticing and persuasive; it flatters and seduces; it dominates our thinking to the point where we don't think, or care. We become addicted to it, so that we're willing to follow it anywhere. But it doesn't lead to happily every after, but rather death; both physical, sometimes, and spiritual, always.

Application: Count the cost of sin, and determine that it's not worth it, because it isn't.

Prayer: Lord, protect me from both evil and my own desires, so that I might exchange my life for something eternally beneficial, rather than eternal regret. Amen.

Deuteronomy 7-9

Chapter 7 A Holy People Get Blessed By A Holy God

7:1 When Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you; 2 and when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; 3 neither shall you make marriages with them; 4 For they will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly.

5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God: Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for His own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 Yahweh didn`t set His love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: 8 but because Yahweh loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and hesed/loyal love with them who love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations, 10 and repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them: He will not be slack to him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them. 12 It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the hesed/loyal love which He swore to your fathers: 13 and He will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which He swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15 Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, will He put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you.

16 You shall consume all the peoples who Yahweh your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you. 17 If you shall say in your heart, "These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?" 18 You shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt; 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby Yahweh your God brought you out: so shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. 21 You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God. 22 Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little: you may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you. 23 But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed. 24 He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under the sky: there shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them. 25 The engraved images of their gods shall you burn with fire: you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it to you, lest you be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it: you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

Observations: 7:2 God was judging the idolaters according to His plan revealed to Abe (Genesis 15). If Israel became like the people He was judging through them, He would have to destroy Israel too. He requires them to remove anything that might defile their holiness from their midst.

7:9 This is similar to the great self-portrait of God's glory given to Moses in Exodus 34, and appealed to by Moses at Kadesh-Barnea. God loves those who love Him, and dislikes those who don't. Does this match your view of God?

7:17-22 God fights our battles according to His wise plan.

Application: We're not chosen for our numbers, strength nor might, but for the purpose of our holy obedience.

Prayer: Great and Awesome God, don't let me set my heart on anything or anyone that will displease You; help me set my heart on You, and what You desire for me. Amen.

Chapter 8 A Full People Fail to Remember and Get Destroyed

8:1 All the commandment which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers. 2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that He might humble you, to refine/prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments, or not. 3 He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, that He might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live. 4 Your clothing didn`t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. 6 You shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in His ways, and to fear Him. 10 You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which He has given you. 11 Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping His commandments, and His ordinances, and His statutes, which I command you this day: 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built good houses, and lived therein; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; 15 who led you...who brought water out of the rock of flint; 16 who fed you... that He might humble you, and that He might refine you, to do you good at your latter end: 17 and [lest] you say in your heart, "My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth." 18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is He who gives you power to get wealth; that He may establish His covenant which He swore to your fathers, as at this day. 19 It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so shall you perish; because you wouldn`t listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

Observations: 8:2, 11, 14, 18, 19 all admonish us to remember and not forget God, what He's done for us, and what He requires of us. When we're needy, we are quicker to learn than when we're full and complacent.

Application: How do you plan to keep God and what He's done, and requires, in the forefront of your thinking?

Prayer: Gracious God, keep me mindful of all You've done and require, so I won't forget and fail. Amen.

Chapter 9 It's Not That You're So Good, But That They're So Bad.

9:1 Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, "Who can stand before the sons of Anak?" 3 Know therefore this day, that Yahweh your God is He who goes over before you as a devouring fire; He will destroy them, and He will bring them down before you: so shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you. 4 Don`t speak in your heart, after that Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh does drive them out from before you. 5 Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you, and that He may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn`t give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, don`t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. 12 “...Your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image.” 18 I fell down before Yahweh...19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also. 23 When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given you; then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn`t believe Him, nor listen to His voice. 24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you...

Observations: Moses recounts the sins of the nation so the new generation won't think it was because of their righteousness that they were being given the land (for they were stiff-necked and rebellious from the get-go), but because of the unrighteousness of the pagans in the promised land.

Application: Never forget where you were before God became part of your life.

Prayer: God thank You for forgiving and blessing me. Send me warnings so I may never anger You by being rebellious or stiff-necked. Amen.

Digging Deeper:

God in a nutshell: Yahweh is the knowable faithful God, who keeps covenant promises and hesed/loyal love with them who love Him and keep His commandments; He rapidly repays those who hate Him to their face, to destroy them. He is committed to those He loves, and trains His people by leading them into difficult circumstances to refine them and build trust towards Himself. He wants to use His people to accomplish His purposes, if they cooperate and believe Him.

Us in a nutshell: We tend towards being independent, rebellious, fearful, self-sufficient and inadequate (Think about those last two.) Nevertheless, God loves us, but will loathe us if we cross the line too far. We don't remember very well, especially when our bellies are full.

Where to Go for More:

Truthbase.net

Deuteronomy complete text

Chapter 7

7:1 When Yahweh your God shall bring you into the land where you go to possess it, and shall cast out many nations before you, the Hittite, and the Girgashite, and the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, seven nations greater and mightier than you; 2 and when Yahweh your God shall deliver them up before you, and you shall strike them; then you shall utterly destroy them: you shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them; 3 neither shall you make marriages with them; your daughter you shall not give to his son, nor his daughter shall you take to your son. 4 For he will turn away your son from following me, that they may serve other gods: so will the anger of Yahweh be kindled against you, and he will destroy you quickly. 5 But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and hew down their Asherim, and burn their engraved images with fire. 6 For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God: Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. 7 Yahweh didn`t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: 8 but because Yahweh loves you, and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, has Yahweh brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that Yahweh your God, he is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and lovingkindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, 10 and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him who hates him, he will repay him to his face. 11 You shall therefore keep the commandment, and the statutes, and the ordinances, which I command you this day, to do them. 12 It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances, and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the lovingkindness which he swore to your fathers: 13 and he will love you, and bless you, and multiply you; he will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your cattle and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. 14 You shall be blessed above all peoples: there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cattle. 15 Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, will he put on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. 16 You shall consume all the peoples who Yahweh your God shall deliver to you; your eye shall not pity them: neither shall you serve their gods; for that will be a snare to you. 17 If you shall say in your heart, These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them? 18 you shall not be afraid of them: you shall well remember what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh, and to all Egypt; 19 the great trials which your eyes saw, and the signs, and the wonders, and the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, whereby Yahweh your God brought you out: so shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. 20 Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. 21 You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is in the midst of you, a great and awesome God. 22 Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you by little and little: you may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you. 23 But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they be destroyed. 24 He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name to perish from under the sky: there shall no man be able to stand before you, until you have destroyed them. 25 The engraved images of their gods shall you burn with fire: you shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it to you, lest you be snared therein; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. 26 You shall not bring an abomination into your house, and become a devoted thing like it: you shall utterly detest it, and you shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.

Chapter 8

8:1 All the commandment which I command you this day shall you observe to do, that you may live, and multiply, and go in and possess the land which Yahweh swore to your fathers. 2 You shall remember all the way which Yahweh your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you, to prove you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep his commandments, or not. 3 He humbled you, and allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna, which you didn`t know, neither did your fathers know; that he might make you know that man does not live by bread only, but by everything that proceeds out of the mouth of Yahweh does man live. 4 Your clothing didn`t grow old on you, neither did your foot swell, these forty years. 5 You shall consider in your heart that as a man chastens his son, so Yahweh your God chastens you. 6 You shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, to walk in his ways, and to fear him. 7 For Yahweh your God brings you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of springs and springs, flowing forth in valleys and hills; 8 a land of wheat and barley, and vines and fig-trees and pomegranates; a land of olive-trees and honey; 9 a land in which you shall eat bread without scarceness, you shall not lack anything in it; a land whose stones are iron, and out of whose hills you may dig copper. 10 You shall eat and be full, and you shall bless Yahweh your God for the good land which he has given you. 11 Beware lest you forget Yahweh your God, in not keeping his commandments, and his ordinances, and his statutes, which I command you this day: 12 lest, when you have eaten and are full, and have built goodly houses, and lived therein; 13 and when your herds and your flocks multiply, and your silver and your gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied; 14 then your heart be lifted up, and you forget Yahweh your God, who brought you forth out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; 15 who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, [in which were] fiery serpents and scorpions, and thirsty ground where was no water; who brought you forth water out of the rock of flint; 16 who fed you in the wilderness with manna, which your fathers didn`t know; that he might humble you, and that he might prove you, to do you good at your latter end: 17 and [lest] you say in your heart, My power and the might of my hand has gotten me this wealth. 18 But you shall remember Yahweh your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth; that he may establish his covenant which he swore to your fathers, as at this day. 19 It shall be, if you shall forget Yahweh your God, and walk after other gods, and serve them, and worship them, I testify against you this day that you shall surely perish. 20 As the nations that Yahweh makes to perish before you, so shall you perish; because you wouldn`t listen to the voice of Yahweh your God.

Chapter 9

9:1 Hear, Israel: you are to pass over the Jordan this day, to go in to dispossess nations greater and mightier than yourself, cities great and fortified up to the sky, 2 a people great and tall, the sons of the Anakim, whom you know, and of whom you have heard say, Who can stand before the sons of Anak? 3 Know therefore this day, that Yahweh your God is he who goes over before you as a devouring fire; he will destroy them, and he will bring them down before you: so shall you drive them out, and make them to perish quickly, as Yahweh has spoken to you. 4 Don`t speak in your heart, after that Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, saying, For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land; whereas for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh does drive them out from before you. 5 Not for your righteousness, or for the uprightness of your heart, do you go in to possess their land; but for the wickedness of these nations Yahweh your God does drive them out from before you, and that he may establish the word which Yahweh swore to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. 6 Know therefore, that Yahweh your God doesn`t give you this good land to possess it for your righteousness; for you are a stiff-necked people. 7 Remember, don`t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness: from the day that you went forth out of the land of Egypt, until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. 8 Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you. 9 When I was gone up onto the mountain to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water. 10 Yahweh delivered to me the two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them [was written] according to all the words, which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly. 11 It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights, that Yahweh gave me the two tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant. 12 Yahweh said to me, Arise, get you down quickly from hence; for your people whom you have brought forth out of Egypt have corrupted themselves; they have quickly turned aside out of the way which I commanded them; they have made them a molten image. 13 Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, I have seen this people, and, behold, it is a stiff-necked people: 14 let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name from under the sky; and I will make of you a nation mightier and greater than they. 15 So I turned and came down from the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire: and the two tables of the covenant were in my two hands. 16 I looked, and, behold, you had sinned against Yahweh your God; you had made you a molten calf: you had turned aside quickly out of the way which Yahweh had commanded you. 17 I took hold of the two tables, and cast them out of my two hands, and broke them before your eyes. 18 I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights; I did neither eat bread nor drink water; because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in the sight of Yahweh, to provoke him to anger. 19 For I was afraid of the anger and hot displeasure, with which Yahweh was angry against you to destroy you. But Yahweh listened to me that time also. 20 Yahweh was very angry with Aaron to destroy him: and I prayed for Aaron also at the same time. 21 I took your sin, the calf which you had made, and burnt it with fire, and stamped it, grinding it very small, until it was as fine as dust: and I cast the dust of it into the brook that descended out of the mountain. 22 At Taberah, and at Massah, and at Kibrothhattaavah, you provoked Yahweh to wrath. 23 When Yahweh sent you from Kadesh-barnea, saying, Go up and possess the land which I have given You; then you rebelled against the commandment of Yahweh your God, and you didn`t believe Him, nor listen to His voice. 24 You have been rebellious against Yahweh from the day that I knew you. 25 So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said He would destroy you. 26 I prayed to Yahweh, and said, Lord Yahweh, don`t destroy Your people and Your inheritance, that You have redeemed through Your greatness, that You have brought forth out of Egypt with a mighty hand. 27 Remember Your servants, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; don`t look to the stubbornness of this people, nor to their wickedness, nor to their sin, 28 lest the land whence You brought us out say, Because Yahweh was not able to bring them into the land which He promised to them, and because He hated them, He has brought them out to kill them in the wilderness. 29 Yet they are Your people and Your inheritance, which you brought out by Your great power and by Your outstretched arm.

Genesis 32-34 Friend or Foe?

Psalm 7:1-5, 8 A Plea From Pure Heart and Hands

7:1 "Yahweh, my God, I take refuge/have put my trust in You. Save me from all those who pursue me, and deliver me, 2 lest they tear apart my soul like a lion, ripping it in pieces, while there is none to deliver. 3 Yahweh, my God, if I have done this, if there is iniquity in my hands, 4 if I have rewarded evil to him who was at peace with me (yes, if I have delivered him who without cause was my adversary), 5 let the enemy pursue my soul, and overtake it; yes, let him tread my life down to the earth, and lay my glory in the dust. Selah...8 Yahweh administers judgment to the peoples. Judge/vindicate me, Yahweh, according to my righteousness, and to my integrity that is in me.“

Observation: Psalm 6 (last post) asked God for help while reaping consequences of one's sin. In Psalm 7 the person is persecuted without cause. Note the four things this guy didn't do (with four consequences).

Application: When difficulties arise, you don't want them to be through your fault. That way you can confidently look to see how God plans to bless you through the tough time. Can you make the appeal of verse 8?

Prayer: O Just Judge of the Universe, help me always be in a place where You can bless me, even if that means suffering for doing what's right. Amen.

Proverbs 2:14-17 Rejoicing in Evil

2:14 “(10 wisdom...knowledge...11 discretion... understanding will keep you, 12 to deliver you from the way of evil, from the men 13 who forsake the paths of uprightness, to walk in the ways of darkness) 14 who rejoice to do evil, and delight in the perverseness of evil; 15 who are crooked in their ways, and wayward in their paths“

Observations: 2:14-17 The fruits of Proverbs, wisdom ...understanding, are designed to deliver the one who develops them from evil and evil men (and evil women in the next verses). The author describes the characteristics of the evil men, who haven't changed in thousands of years. They are those who left the light to slither in the dark. Their joy and delight is not just in acts of evil, but in the fact that it is perverse. Pushing the envelop for the sake of rebelling against civilization-building norms is the essence of perverseness. Their highest good is bad. Their value system embraces that which contributes to their temporal happiness and eternal demise. Perhaps they never walked far enough along the path of uprightness to experience it's benefits, or perhaps their lust for the temporal has blinded them to their condition and fate.

Application: Those who have trained themselves to develop wisdom will not walk with those headed to destruction.

Prayer: Lord, help me embrace Your values and paths, and deliver me from those who rejoice in evil and value perversity. Thanks. Amen.

Genesis 32–34 Friend or Foe?

Genesis 32 Praying and Wrestling with God

32:1 "Jacob went on his way, and the angels of God met him. 2 When he saw them, Jacob said, "This is God's army." 3 Jacob sent messengers in front of him to Esau 5...I have sent to tell my lord, that I may find favor in your sight.'" 6 The messengers returned to Jacob, saying, "...he comes to meet you, and four hundred men with him." 7 Then Jacob was greatly afraid and was distressed. 9 Jacob said, "God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, Yahweh, who said to me, 'Return to your country, and to your relatives, and I will do you good,' 10 I am not worthy of the least of all the loving kindnesses (hesed loyalty), and of all the truth (faithfulness), which you have shown to your servant; for with just my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I have become two companies. 11 Please deliver me from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he come and strike me, and the mothers with the children. 12 You said, 'I will surely do you good, and make your seed as the sand of the sea, which can't be numbered because there are so many.'" 
13 He lodged there that night, and took from that which he had with him, a present for Esau, his brother: 20...For, he said, "I will appease him with the present that goes before me, and afterward I will see his face. Perhaps he will accept me."  
24 Jacob was left alone, and wrestled with a man there until the breaking of the day. 25 When he saw that he didn't prevail against him, he touched the hollow of his thigh, and the hollow of Jacob's thigh was strained, as he wrestled. 26 The man said, "Let me go, for the day breaks." Jacob said, "I won't let you go, unless you bless me." 27 He said to him, "What is your name?" He said, "Jacob." 28 He said, "Your name will no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have fought with God and with men, and have prevailed." 29 Jacob asked him, "Please tell me your name." He said, "Why is it that you ask what my name is?" He blessed him there. 30 Jacob called the name of the place Peniel for, he said, "I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved." 31...he limped because of his thigh. 32 Therefore the children of Israel don't eat the sinew of the hip, which is on the hollow of the thigh, to this day, because he touched the hollow of Jacob's thigh in the sinew of the hip."

Question: Jacob is a guy who's been incredibly blessed by God; he knows it, and everyone knows it. God guides him directly; angels appear to him; and he and God roll around in the dirt together. Yet he can't trust God to protect him from his big hairy brother.

What is Jacob's problem? (It's a problem faced by a lot of self-sufficient, hard-working types. Think about it, then check out the Application below.)

Observations: 32:9-11 In his first recorded prayer, Jacob does well to remind himself (and God) that he is in this situation because of obeying God in returning. A little humility and reminding God of His promises probably don't hurt either.

32:24 Whatever is going on here, Jacob was persistent, and got: blessed, a new name, and a limp. He says his opponent was God.

32:28 Jacob (supplanter-who takes the place of another by force or treachery) gets a new name Israel (struggles with God).

Application: Failure to depend daily upon God results in panic when facing problems beyond our strength.

Prayer: God, help me walk with You every day, so the stormy times will be a walk in the park. Amen.

Genesis 33 Peace with God...then Man

33:1 "Jacob lifted up his eyes, and looked, and, behold, Esau was coming, and with him four hundred men. 4 Esau ran to meet him, embraced him, fell on his neck, kissed him, and they wept. 5 He lifted up his eyes, and saw the women and the children; and said, "Who are these with you?" He said, "The children whom God has graciously given your servant."10 Jacob said, "Please, no, if I have now found favor in your sight, then receive my present at my hand, because I have seen your face, as one sees the face of God, and you were pleased with me. 11 Please take the gift that I brought to you, because God has dealt graciously with me, and because I have enough." He urged him, and he took it. 16 So Esau returned that day on his way to Seir. 17 Jacob traveled to Succoth, built himself a house, and made shelters for his  livestock. Therefore the name of the place is called Succoth (Booths) 18 Jacob came in peace to the city of Shechem, which is in the land of Canaan, when he came from Paddan Aram; and encamped before the city. 19 He bought the parcel of ground where he had spread his tent, at the hand of the children of Hamor, Shechem's father, for a hundred pieces of money. 20 He erected an altar there, and called it El Elohe Israel."

Observations: 33:10 It's better to have God pleased with us, than be pleasing to man.

Proverbs 16:7 "When a man's ways please Yahweh, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him."

33:20 El Elohe Israel = The Mighty God of Israel. Altars were for making sacrifices, in this case, of thanksgiving.

Application: It's good to regularly remind ourselves of God's mighty help and protection. A heap of stones or a journal or diary is preferable to a limp.

Prayer: Mighty God of Israel, may I be pleasing in Your sight every day. Amen.

Genesis 34 Violations

34:1 "Dinah, the daughter of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob, went out to see the daughters of the land. 2 Shechem the son of Hamor the Hivite, the prince of the land, saw her. He took her, lay with her, and humbled her. 3 His soul joined to Dinah, the daughter of Jacob, and he loved the young lady, and spoke kindly to the young lady. 4 Shechem spoke to his father, Hamor, saying, "Get me this young lady as a wife."

7 The sons of Jacob came in from the field when they heard it. The men were grieved, and they were very angry, because he had done folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; a which thing ought not to be done. 8 Hamor talked with them, saying, "The soul of my son, Shechem, longs for your daughter. Please give her to him as a wife. 9 Make marriages with us. Give your daughters to us, and take our daughters for yourselves. 10 You shall dwell with us, and the land will be before you. Live and trade in it, and get possessions in it."

14..."We can't do this thing, to give our sister to one who is uncircumcised; for that is a reproach to us. 15 Only on this condition will we consent to you. If you will be as we are, that every male of you be circumcised. 25 It happened on the third day, when they were sore, that two of Jacob's sons, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, each took his sword, came upon the unsuspecting city, and killed all the males. 26 They killed Hamor and Shechem, his son, with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went away. 27 Jacob's sons came on the dead, and plundered the city, because they had defiled their sister.

30 Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, "You have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites. I am few in number. They will gather themselves together against me and strike me, and I will be destroyed, I and my house." 31 They said, "Should he deal with our sister as with a prostitute?"

Observations: 34:1 Lesson to Exodus generation: Mingling and intermarrying with pagans leads to defilement.

34:2 Lesson to parents: If you don't take pains to parent properly, your children will cause you pain. Choose wisely. Shechem was another guy whose parents didn't train him to control his passions, and who consequently brought permanent pain to the entire family. Jacob had the same problem (in 34:30), and will be reaping the sorrowful consequences of failing to father properly for the rest of his life.

34:7-9 Hamor makes a tempting case for doing what “ought not to be done.” Separation from sinners is a condition of blessing.

34:24-31 Unfortunately revenge, not separation and purity was the motive for Simeon and Levi. They defiled themselves (losing out on blessing and getting cursed Genesis 49:5-7) by indulging their passion for revenge and honor, adding breaking covenant with Hamor to their sin.

Application: Master your emotions or they will master you.

Prayer: God save me from the folly of following my feelings unguided by Your Word. Amen.

Digging Deeper:

God in a nutshell: God blesses His people (surprise, surprise); lets us reap painful consequences of independence; orchestrates and initiates circumstances beyond our resources because He desires us to live in dependence upon Him.

Us in a nutshell: We think everything depends on us (obedience and wise choices do); tend to follow our feelings, pleasing ourselves and others rather than God. Reap consequences, but are slow to learn.