Deuteronomy 1:1-46

They say that those who ignore history are bound to repeat it.  Moses seems to be very aware of this truth so he sets out to try to prevent the children of Israel from repeating the same mistakes that their forefathers had made.  He begins this book as his last reminder to the people of what God has done, what God has promised and what God expects from them.  There will be very little new information in this book, but it will be an important reminder that all of us need to hear.  Repetition is an important part of learning for all of us; we constantly repeat instructions to our children because we want them to remember these instructions and begin to pattern their lives according to these instructions.  We repeat the same stories over and over again because we want our children to be aware of their history, to learn from the mistakes of the past as well as be aware of their godly heritage when they hear of victories that have been won by God’s grace.

REMEMBER YOUR REPRESENTATIVES: Moses recounts how the children of Israel were represented by leaders from each of the tribes.  It was impossible for Moses to decide every issue and so authority had to be delegated and distributed to other leaders.  There are always different levels of leaders to whom we must be accountable and this was no exception with Israel.  Leaders can be a great blessing in our lives when they are led by the Lord and we follow them out of loyalty to the Lord.  However, they can be a great source of pain in our lives when they do not trust and obey the Lord.  This is why we must be so faithful to pray for our leaders.  There are leaders over us that we truly would not have chosen; but for some reason within God’s sovereign plan he has appointed them to be our leaders.  The Bible does not tell us that we must always obey; as they could easily command us to do something that goes against God’s Word or they could prohibit something that God’s Word commands.  However, the Bible does call us to pray for them whether we voted for them or not.

REMEMBER YOUR REFUSAL: The people to whom Moses is talking were not the ones who refused to enter the Promised Land, but it is vital that they remember this refusal and its consequences for the entire nation.  This was a case when the leaders that were assigned to spy out the land failed the people by not trusting and obeying the Lord.  However, even though there were ten leaders who were faithless, there were four: Joshua, Caleb, Moses and Aaron, who were urging the people to trust and obey.  The majority is not always right, and the people’s refusal to listen to the godly counsel of the minority cost them their lives.  When God gives us instructions, He expects them to be followed no matter how difficult the task may seem.  He has repeatedly demonstrated His ability to do the impossible and He simply asks us to trust Him and know that He is willing, ready and able to accomplish His will in us and fulfill His promises to us.

REMEMBER YOUR REBELION: When God pronounced His judgment on the people for their refusal to do His will, the people cried out in sorrow for the consequences of their disobedience.  They then decided that they could “fix” it on their own and decided to go ahead and go into battle on their own strength.  God warned them not to rebel against Him in this way, but they would not listen and many were killed in the battle that ensued.  God wants us to trust Him and recognize that without Him we can do nothing; but that with Him all things are possible.  The reason the children of Israel refused to go into the land was because they were depending on their own strength.  The reason that they lost the battle they eventually mustered the courage to undertake was because they were depending on their own strength.  Their sin of self confidence was simply repeating itself.  We must be very careful not to repeat these same mistakes in our own lives.  It is much easier for us to learn dependence on the Lord from the mistakes of the children of Israel than it is for us to learn it from our own mistakes.