Enjoy The Blessings In God's Word

ENJOY THE BLESSINGS IN GOD’S WORD

Dueteronomy 11:18-21,26-28 - June 13, 2003 – PENTECOST 2

DEUTERONOMY 11:18-21, 26-28

18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 20Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates, 21so that your days and the days of your children may be many in the land that the LORD swore to give your forefathers, as many as the days that the heavens are above the earth....

26See, I am setting before you today a blessing and a curse-- 27the blessing if you obey the commands of the LORD your God that I am giving you today; 28the curse if you disobey the commands of the LORD your God and turn from the way that I command you today by following other gods, which you have not known.

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Dear Fellow-Redeemed and Saints in the Lord:

Are you really enjoying life? The Lord reminds believers to enjoy life. Yet, we might not enjoy life as we used to or as much as we ought to. It seems the world around al-ways reminds us of the bad things. It seems as if there is not very much to look forward to at least according to the view of the world. But the Lord reminds us today, as Moses speaks to the children Israel, of the enjoyment of life; the enjoyment of life found really in the presence of God and in the power of God’s Word. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes about the enjoyment of life, that it comes from God. In Ecclesiastes chapter 3, verse 12 and 13, he writes: "I know that there is nothing better for men than to be happy and do good while they live. That everyone may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all his toil--this is the gift of God" (Ecclesiastes 3: 12,13). God’s gift to us is that we are able to enjoy life, day after day right here on earth.

Today we look at God’s gift more closely. In these words of Deuteronomy Moses reminds us to enjoy God’s blessings in His Word. In order to enjoy God’s blessings in His Word the Lord tells us

I. To hear and read God’s Word

II. To study and live God’s Word

I. HEAR AND READ GOD’S WORD

In the book of Deuteronomy the setting is important to us to always remember. The chil-dren of Israel were going to leave behind the 40 years of wandering in the wilderness that they might step into the Promised Land. In fact they are east of the Jordan, and they are excited to get into the land that the Lord had promised to their forefathers. The people are anxious to not have to go out day by day and gather manna, such a boring food. They are anxious not to have to wander day after day as they did for 40 years. Again, Moses wants them to always remember and never forget the blessings that God had shown to them through and by His Word.

In Deuteronomy, which means second law, Moses has reminded God’s people about God’s commandments. Then he says to them: 18Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds. The Lord wants them to plant the Word of God just like a seed into their hearts. As that Word of God is planted there, then it springs up and bears abundant fruit. The children of Israel had to listen to God’s Word, because at this time about the only thing they had written down were God’s Ten Commandments on the tablets of stone. The Bible, as we have it today, was not around. Then as God’s Word is planted in their hearts, it is going to grow and help them.

Moses continues: tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. It is going to go from their hearts to their minds and to their hands and to their feet, this hearing and studying God’s Word. Quite sadly, we know that some of the Jewish people took these words so literal that they made for themselves little boxes and they tied them to their hands and they tied them to their foreheads. You may see them from time to time and wonder what that is. These boxes containing God’s Word are called phylacteries. We know the Lord did not mean to literally tie God’s Word to their hands and foreheads. In the next verse Gods says through Moses: 19Teach them to your children. So it was not supposed to stay wrapped up in a little box hidden away, but they were to read it and hear it and they were to share it with their children all the time. He says: 19Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. They were to do this whenever they would get the opportunity to hear God’s Word and read it. It would be a testimony not only for themselves but also for others.