Today’s Reading: Deuteronomy 31:18, 14-32:47
Those of you who know me a bit will know that one of my favourite bible verses is “Be strong & courageous”. We will hear this verse at least 3 times during our reading today. And with this verse, what I call accompanying verse is again very close to my heart – “for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.” Now, how many of you have read this “never leave you nor forsake you” verse memorized and tattooed on your forehead – raise your hands? Yes, for me, I have it tattooed on my heart (if I ever be able to open my heart without killing myself, I would show it to you). This verse is also in Hebrew – yes, we have it in New Testament as well! God is constant & never-changing!
Then, look at the song Moses teaches the Israelites to remind them not to be apart from God. “Oh, praise the greatness of our God; He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.” He is the Rock that we can stake our life upon. His works are perfect for us who are stuck in the world of imperfection. His ways are just and he is faithful even if we are faithless to him. He does no wrong, when we wrong him at every corner. Before this song, God even tells Moses “these people (the Israelites) will soon prostitute themselves to the foreign gods of the land they are entering. They will forsake me and break the covenant I made with them”. He already knew the Israelites would break their covenant and be faithless. But, God continues to be faithful to them and keeps his covenant — that’s why I am grateful we are in a covenant relationship, not a contractual relationship. If we were in a contractual relationship, we have broken our contract with God so many times and God has no obligation or no reason to be faithful to us. But, in a covenant relationship, your action is not dependent upon the other party. No matter what the other party does, you are to keep your side of promise. And God is telling us today that “He will never leave us and never forsake us”, even if we do, because God made his covenant (promise) to us and God is a promise keeper, not a promise breaker.
How comforting in the continuous storms of life we have…. Are you comforted by his Words today? I certainly am.