We need to prepare for our future by remembering our past.
Deuteronomy 1:1-5 These are the words that Moses spoke to all the people of Israel while they were in the wilderness east of the Jordan River. They were camped in the Jordan Valley near Suph, between Paran on one side and Tophel, Laban, Hazeroth, and Di-zahab on the other.
2 Normally it takes only eleven days to travel from Mount Sinai to Kadesh-barnea, going by way of Mount Seir. 3 But forty years after the Israelites left Egypt, on the first day of the eleventh month, Moses addressed the people of Israel, telling them everything the LORD had commanded him to say. 4 This took place after he had defeated King Sihon of the Amorites, who ruled in Heshbon, and at Edrei had defeated King Og of Bashan, who ruled in Ashtaroth.
5 While the Israelites were in the land of Moab east of the Jordan River, Moses carefully explained the LORD's instructions as follows.
Deuteronomy 1:8 Look, I am giving all this land to you! Go in and occupy it, for it is the land the LORD swore to give to your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and to all their descendants.'"
In my previous post we saw that God brought the second generation of his chosen people
back to the Plains of Moab. That's the place where the first generation did not have enough faith that God would take them safely to their promised new home.
Moses knows that his own time on earth is coming to an end, so he focuses on preparing the people for what lies ahead. He understands that this new generation was either small children or not yet born when God unleashed the plagues on Egypt, buried their enemies in the Red Sea, or when God spoke from the thunder of Mount Sinai. After all of those miracles, their parents still failed to trust and obey God, but we will also see that their children will be no better.
The wilderness years should have been a forty-year lesson in faith, passed from parent to child, but the parents failed their children. Instead, the older generation taught mainly by negative example, their children grew up seeing their parents complain, fear, rebellion, and unbelief instead of learning a deep trust in God.
After forty years of wandering, the people have learned almost nothing about themselves or their Creator. The book of Deuteronomy is Moses’ final effort to teach the new generation what they must know and do in order to enter the Promised Land successfully.
God brought them to the land twice.
Deuteronomy 1:26-27 "But you rebelled against the command of the LORD your God and refused to go in. You complained in your tents and said, 'The LORD must hate us. That's why he has brought us here from Egypt-to hand us over to the Amorites to be slaughtered.
The new generation must learn about God's love and what he has done for them to prove his love. They unfairly complained about God and swore that he must hate them and he must have brought them so far just to kill them. But the truth is, they have always been treated better than they deserved. As bad as they were God could not be convinced that he should curse them and he went out of his way to prevent Balaam from cursing them.
Moses wants to help them learn from the past to see that the evidence of God's love for his people and even though they can't win against the Canaanites, God still can. They can look to God who can or they can look at their lack of resources or the giants in the land and say "we can't."
God controls history and blesses his children.
Deuteronomy 2:7 For the LORD your God has blessed you in everything you have done. He has watched your every step through this great wilderness. During these forty years, the LORD your God has been with you, and you have lacked nothing."'
The new generation needed to learn that their circumstances were not a measure of God's love for them. For centuries, their circumstances have been marked by hardship and tragedy.
Think about their past, before Egypt they endured famine. In Egypt, after a brief period of prosperity, they suffered under slavery. Then, in the wilderness, they faced conditions that were impossible to survive, but through it all God remained faithful, providing for them and keeping His promises.
Israel survived the wilderness only because God provided for them, they had a supernatural supply line that Egypt could not duplicate. Egypt had no such provision to rely on, and after the plagues and the loss of their military at the Red Sea, they were hurting severely. Egypt had already been weakened by God’s power so that the wilderness that looked like a curse to God's people was actually an incredible blessing
I wonder how God's people, who had done little but complain for forty years, reacted when Moses told them, "You have lacked nothing." If anyone was complaining at that moment, I bet they stopped!
God is able to defeat even the strongest enemies and giants.
Deuteronomy 3:21-22 "At that time I gave Joshua this charge: 'You have seen for yourself everything the LORD your God has done to these two kings. He will do the same to all the kingdoms on the west side of the Jordan. Do not be afraid of the nations there, for the LORD your God will fight for you.'
The same God that protected and provided for his people as they survived the impossible for forty years would also provide military strength for them to get rid of the Canaanites.
It is remarkable that they could wage war at all, they didn't have raw materials and a plant to manufacture weapons, they didn't have food to send to the front line and they didn't have a mobile hospital unit to take care of wounded troops.
But they didn't need logistics, they already survived for 40 years despite the lack of logistics. These former slaves without military training were supposed to have faith by now that the same God who brought them out would also bring them in.
It sounds silly to us but we do the very same thing.
Colossians 1:13-14 For he has rescued us from the kingdom of darkness and transferred us into the Kingdom of his dear Son, who purchased our freedom and forgave our sins.
God's people are no different today. We have been rescued from slavery to the kingdom of darkness and are being led through our own wilderness—a place where God teaches, refines, and shapes us. Yet, like Israel, we are often quick to focus on what we lack instead of recognizing how faithfully God has cared for us. He has sustained us, taught us, and provided exactly what we need, yet we still grumble.
Deuteronomy 4:20 Remember that the LORD rescued you from the iron-smelting furnace of Egypt in order to make you his very own people and his special possession, which is what you are today.
We need our own Moses today to teach us the same lesson. Despite being delivered from the bondage of sin, we often complain while living in blessings that previous generations could scarcely imagine. Our hearts can still be marked by unbelief and rebellion against our loving God, just as the writer of Hebrews warns:
Hebrews 3:12 Be careful then, dear brothers and sisters. Make sure that your own hearts are not evil and unbelieving, turning you away from the living God.
God intentionally leads us through seasons where our own strength and resources are insufficient. The wilderness exposes our dependence on Him so that His power, faithfulness, and love become unmistakable. What seems unsustainable apart from God becomes the very place where He proves that He is enough.
