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Day 55 – Thru the Bible
Today we continue through Deuteronomy and Psalms.
Video – YHWH:LORD
You can learn more about The Shema prayer here About – The Shema.
How does this video help you better understand the Shema?
Deuteronomy 7 – Why did God choose Israel to be “a people for his treasured possession”? It was not because of any good quality inherent in them, but because of His love for them and His faithfulness to the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Since God so loved Israel, Israel was to respond by loving God and keeping His commandments.
Similarly, the apostle Paul says, “In love [God] predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ” (Ephesians 1:4–5). Like Israel, we were chosen because of God’s love for us that was expressed before we could try to claim anything inherent in us or accomplished by us.
Having received this unconditional love from God, what’s our natural response? Hint: 1 John 4:19; John 14:15 (I don’t believe this is an if/then verse, as much as Jesus simply stating a fact.).
Deuteronomy 8 – In the wilderness God humbled Israel, so that the people would learn to depend on Him and walk in His ways, and so that it would go well with them in the end. In the Promised Land God blessed Israel with an abundance, so that they would learn to depend on Him, not saying it was “my power” but rather knowing that it was the Lord who empowered them for abundant life. Israel was not to forget God, but was instead to remember Him continually.
How did Jesus teach us this same principle of dependence? Hint: John 15:4-5.
As a branch depends on the main stock, so we depend on Jesus to live a truly fruitful life. We BEAR the fruit that He PRODUCES in us.
Depending on Jesus is one aspect of “abiding” in Him, and abiding in Him certainly requires that we remember Him continually, as Israel was to remember the Lord continually.
Deuteronomy 9 – These verses make it abundantly clear that Israel’s inheritance of the Promised Land was based on grace and not law. “Do not say in your heart . . . ‘It is because of my righteousness’” (v. 4). “Not because of your righteousness” (v. 5). “Not because of your righteousness” (v. 6). Verses 7–24 then recount Israel’s repeated rebellion against God in the wilderness.
Two explicit reasons are given for Israel’s inheritance of the Promised Land:
(1) the wickedness of the Canaanites, and
(2) the promise made to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
God’s unconditional promise to the patriarchs continues to surface in the book of Deuteronomy (see 1:8; 4:31; 7:8).
A third reason is implicit: the mediation of Moses. Had there been no mediator to stand in the gap between the holy God and sinful Israel, they would have never survived.
How is the mediatorial work of Moses a foreshadow pointing us to Jesus? Hint: 1 Timothy 2:5; Hebrews 8:6; 12:24.
Not because of our righteousness but because “He is the mediator of a new covenant,” we “may receive the promised eternal inheritance” (Hebrews 9:15).
As we reflect on the merciful work of our perfect Mediator, our hearts are transformed to love and serve Him with joy.
Psalm 55 – Previously David alluded to the angst caused when countrymen become traitors (Psalm 54). In this Psalm he describes the pain of being betrayed by a close friend (see 2 Samuel 15:1–12; 16:15–23). His hymn gives voice to the panic-stricken. He articulates the escapist thoughts of the anxious. He fashions imprecations to express anger to the Lord rather than storing it up in bitterness or acting on it in rage.
Recalling that God is King allows the believer to calm his emotions. He is calmed by the realization that his Shepherd-King “gives ear” to his “voice” and protects his soul in the battle. A fresh vision of a benevolent and all-powerful King creates a stable and steadfast faith, inviting other anxious souls to “cast [their] burden” upon the Lord rather than be cast about on the waves of doubt or even be cast down into the “pit of destruction”.
How does the New Testament reinforce this thought to trust God through the Person and work of Jesus? Hint: 1 Peter 5:6–7; Philippians 2:9-11.
What other thoughts or questions does today’s video and reading bring up?
Some of these notes are from the ESV Gospel Transformation Bible study notes. We highly recommend this study Bible.
Videos produced by www.TheGospelProject.com.
All links you need to be a part of this are here – Thru the Bible in 2018.