I MYSELF AM HE

Deuteronomy 32:1-47

Key Verse 39

"See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand."

There are many things in this world that look reliable to make our lives secure.   Our new car, our muscles, our brain power, the U.S. military, and of course money is probably the biggest one.  Especially living in this nation (the USA) in 2007 there are tons of gadgets and computer programs and medical knowledge to rely on and seek after for our well-being.  But today’s passage shows us that serving the Lord and his will is the key to building the true security of our lives.  It’s this problem that the Israelites had a lot of trouble accepting many generations ago.  But this problem still exists today.  For the Israelites this temptation to go after and indulge in other things came when they entered the Promised Land, also known as “the land flowing with milk and honey.”   They would go for all these new resources and forget about God.  Even though Moses had been hammering on the point again and again how important it was that they keep all the Lord’s commands and laws even after entering the Promised Land, still they ended up just seeking to secure their life, and stopped struggling to obey God.  As a result they eventually ended up losing blessings, and their entire life security in fact.

We face the same problem now in the U.S.  God raised up this nation as a more modern day promised land, having many plans and purposes for her.  And God has indeed used America to send out many missionaries to all over the world.  He blessed America, making it a land flowing with milk and honey and hamburgers and cars and laptops and much more.  But steadily we’ve come to only seek to enjoy these things, while disobeying his words and commands.  As a result we are losing many blessings.  Even though Americans work hard to keep the blessings and secure their lives, still they are losing them.  Many problems are creeping in.  Today American’s must worry about so many issues like the Social Security issue, child abuse, domestic violence, drug abuse, many many health issues, and of course terrorism.  Politicians claim to have all the solutions, and we would like to think that America is mighty enough that it will be able to solve these problems.  But if the Lord is not going to bless America, then it’s not going to work.  We may solve one problem, only to discover two or three more.  What is the real solution to our security and crises here in this land?  This song that Moses recited to the Israelites will tell us.

First, The greatness of our God (1-4)

When disasters came upon the Israelites, certainly many questions would be raised about how great God actually is since such terrible things were happening to those who were apparently his people.  But this part of the song tells us at the outset that there is absolutely nothing wrong with God.  The disasters to come had absolutely nothing to do with God not being good; it rather was because of the unfaithfulness of his people.

Verse 4 especially gives us several details describing the greatness of God:

“He is the Rock”

Rock is symbolic throughout the Bible and in today’s world as well of stability or strength.  We want to build our houses on material like rock as opposed to sand, right?  Notice though that he isn’t just called “a Rock” but “the Rock” meaning he is a greater source of stability and security than all else.  God was totally able to protect the Israelites but he didn’t do it.  Why didn’t he do it?  That leads us to the second characteristic of God’s greatness mentioned here.

“His works are perfect”

In the time of trouble there is the temptation to think that there is something wrong with God.  People wonder, “Does God make mistakes?”  “Does God know what he is doing?”  But there is never anything wrong with God.  He is God.  His works are perfect.  When disaster after disaster came upon the Israelites surely many people doubted God and wondered if his works are really perfect.  Some even blamed God.  But the real reason for such terrible disasters was the disobedience of the people.  He was punishing them out of his holy anger, and also so that future generations might take him more seriously.  God totally knew what he was doing and he always does for His works are perfect.

I’ll group the final part of the verse all into one category.

“All his ways are just.  A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.”

This reminds us that God really really really hates sin.  It was only because of the Israelite’s disobedience that the LORD was punishing them as He did.  He is a faithful God who does no wrong.  When it comes to his judgments he never ever messes up.  But he is upright and just.  So if you’ve sinned, you better repent before it’s too late.

 

If we want this nation of America to stay secure and be blessed continually let’s deeply remember who God is.  He is certainly strong enough to do it (for He is the Rock).  He’s smart enough to do it, far smarter and wiser than any of the 2008 presidential candidates (for His works are perfect).  The only question is, “will He do it?”  His ways are just.  Upright and just is he.  He will not do it as long as the nation goes the way of disobedience.  He’s too upright and just to bless America anyway.  But if the nation wakes up and repents, turns their hearts back to the LORD and serves him, He most certainly will bless us continually.

 

Second, Israel rejects God; God rejects Israel (5-35)

This part of the song summarizes the tremendous efforts the Lord made to bless the Israelites.  Basically, he found them, he led them, provided for them, and cared for them.  Verse 10 says, "In a desert land he found him, in a barren and howling waste."  It also says that “he shielded him and cared for him; he guarded him as the apple of his eye."  It means that though they were stuck in sin and had no future, living as slaves in Egypt, it was God who reached out a loving hand and found them.  God was the one who gave them hope for a future.  Not only did he start the process by finding them, but he cared for them, protecting them by giving them many miraculous victories over many enemies.  The Lord guarded them "as the apple of his eye".  By the way, do you know the history of this expression – "apple of his eye"?  I did a little research so I could know more clearly what it means.  The apple of our eye is the pupil.  Historically our pupil was thought to be apple-shaped.  And since the pupil is essential for eyesight, it was thought to be one of the most precious and cherished parts of the body.  So the expression "the apple of his eye" means that the Israelites were very precious and cherished by the Lord.  

And one way the Lord wanted to express his love for his people was through the tremendously great purpose and plan he had for them.  Verse 8 tells us, "When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when he divided all mankind, he set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel."  You see, God had a plan for the Israelites to conquer the world, to bring the world back to God.  And God started working to fulfill this plan as far back as after the flood, when he divided the nations between Noah’s sons.  The nations established after the flood likely numbered 70.  They were prepared so that the 70 descendants of Israel (who went down to Egypt) could later take them over.  70 nations; 70 sons.  Obviously each person should be responsible for a nation.  So God’s purpose for them was very clear.  Take over the world, that the whole world would come under God’s reign and be saved.  The LORD saved them and trained them for 40 long years for this very purpose.  As you can see God invested tremendous amounts of time and efforts into helping them serve this purpose.  And the Promised Land they were given was to be used as a power station to start doing it.  But as soon as they entered the Promised Land, they started doing something completely different.  Let’s see what they did.

Look at verse 15.

"Jeshurun grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior."

They just indulged!  Instead of serving God’s purpose for bringing them there, they lived for a completely different purpose.  They sought to simply accumulate many assets and tried hard to enjoy life as much as possible.  They ate more and more, far beyond what they needed, until they grew fat.  Instead of remembering that God is their Protector and Provider, as he had been for the past 40 years in the desert they looked to the fruits and resources of the land for all of this security.  Instead of God being their security, they built up their own life security through doing a lot of business while completely ignoring God’s business.

God has this great purpose for the United States as well.  Just think of our awesome geographical location and ability to access and influence the world with an ocean on two coasts!  If we think that God’s efforts to try to use our lives and this nation continually is a burden, we are sadly mistaken.  God’s mission for us is a blessing to us.  God wants to bless his children in every conceivable way.  But such blessings are not complete if he doesn’t give our lives great meaning and purpose through giving us a mission.  What greater mission could he give these Israelites than to raise them as a kingdom of priests and holy nation to serve the rest of the world?!  What greater mission could he give to the United States than for us to be a missionary-sending nation to bless the world?!

The following verses 16, 17, and 18 show us some details of the Israelites’ unfaithful, rebellious, and sinful behavior.  They made the LORD jealous with their foreign gods.  They angered the Lord with their detestable idols.  They actually made sacrifices to false gods!  Finally according to verse 18 they deserted the Rock, who fathered them; and even forgot the God who gave them birth as a nation.  Why had all of this happened?  It all started when they abandoned the purpose the Lord had for them.  When they didn’t live for this purpose, they came up with a million other purposes for their lives, which was spiritual adultery.  Indeed when we don’t set our hearts on serving the Lord, there are a million other things we end up getting entangled in.  What was the result of all this?  We know the answer.  They were in for trouble.

Look at verses 19 and 20.  "The LORD saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters.  'I will hide my face from them,' he said, 'and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful.'"  Verse 21.  “They made me jealous by what is no god and angered me with their worthless idols.  I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding.”  These verses and the verses that follow foretell the many troubles to come upon the Israelites (or Jewish people) throughout history due to their turning away from God.  And it continues on today, mostly in and through their rejection of the Messiah God sent, Jesus Christ.  God has largely turned away from the Jewish people and is now blessing the Gentiles and using them to accomplish his salvation purpose.  But this is done also in hopes of making Israel jealous so they will come back to their senses and come back to God.  Starting with verse 23 we see detailed prophecy of all the terrible, terrible, terrible troubles that would come upon Israel as God turned his face away.  Things such as wasting famine, deadly plagues, the fangs of wild beasts, the venom of vipers, violence in the streets, terror in the home (perhaps meaning spousal or child abuse).  And according to last part of verse 25 there would also be many deaths no matter what their age (young men, young women, infants, and gray haired men).  Question.  Though they worked so hard in the Promised Land to do their own business and secure their lives, did they really have life security?

Now this is the Lord’s message to us today.  As we’ve already established, God has definitely blessed America.  And there’s still a lot of hope for this nation.  Because America lived for the purposes of God, sending out many missionaries to all over the world, God has continued blessing America for a long time now.  But in many ways it looks like America has grown fat and has started kicking.  Rather than continuing to live up to God’s purposes and mission, most Americans these days only want to enjoy the prosperity.  As this mentality continues, God’s blessings are taken away more and more, while more and more problems arise every day.  Financial problems, social problems, mental problems, military problems, medical problems, relationship problems, gang problems, and the list goes on and on.  Of course you might argue that these problems have always been here.  You’re right, but most of these have not been here in such a large magnitude.  What can we do to change the course of history here in America back to a blessed and secure country?  Certainly we must do more than say “God bless America.”  We must repent of our idolatrous ways and come back to obeying the commands of God in the Bible. Especially we must commit ourselves to serving the purposes of God.  That is his purpose for us to ultimately make disciples of all nations.  These days a lot of people, myself included, have a lot of ideas for how to improve our ministry here in Downey.  This is wonderful; many of the ideas are wonderful ideas.  But let’s not just talk, talk, talk about it, but do it.  Especially, let’s do what we know is the will of God – being fishers of men by fishing for people to have Bible study, feeding sheep and taking care of them, for Jesus directly asked us to do both of theses, and making disciples of them, for this was a command of Jesus too.  For even all of the Israelites who were about to enter the Promised Land talked big, saying they would obey all the commands that the Lord gave them, but when they entered the land they ended up doing basically nothing.  At first they pretended to do something, but soon they just began to build their own nest.  And I am speaking partially about myself here when I speak of having many ideas but not that much action, for although tons of ideas cross my mind of how we (or myself) could better do things, I end up doing very few of them.  Practically, I didn’t even do that much in terms of fishing or making disciples which I know is a great idea, in fact it is God’s idea and his way to thoroughly bless me.  So I renew my commitment and will take these more seriously now.

Third, I myself am He (36-47)

Now look at verse 36.  I'll read from here.

"36 The LORD will judge his people and have compassion on his servants when he sees their strength is gone and no one is left, slave or free. 37 He will say: "Now where are their gods, the rock they took refuge in, 38 the gods who ate the fat of their sacrifices and drank the wine of their drink offerings? Let them rise up to help you! Let them give you shelter! 39 "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand."  

This passage says that the LORD alone is the only true God; He alone is responsible for good times and bad times hitting you.

When God decides to punish you, no one can prevent Him from punishing you. No asset you own can protect you either.  By the same token, when God decides to rescue you no one can stop him from rescuing you.  Pharaoh tried hard to get Moses but was not able.  You see, reliance on God is not just a good idea; it is really essential for our security, our eternal security most importantly.  If our life is going to be truly secure, it’s going to be God who makes it secure.

Let's read verse 39 again, our key verse for today.

39 "See now that I myself am He! There is no god besides me. I put to death and I bring to life, I have wounded and I will heal, and no one can deliver out of my hand."

“See now that I myself am He!”  When we condense this down we have the message title, “I myself am He.”  God is the one in control of history.  He was responsible for the Israelites each and every step of the way.  It is God who saves the ones to be saved, trains the ones to be trained, blesses those whom he desires to bless, punishes the ones to be punished, and then restores those who deserve be to be restored. And he continues to do this today and is going to keep doing it.

Let’s finish by reading verses 44-47 together.

“Moses came with Joshua son of Nun and spoke all the words of this song in the hearing of the people. 45 When Moses finished reciting all these words to all Israel, 46 he said to them, "Take to heart all the words I have solemnly declared to you this day, so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law. 47 They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess."

I talked about how God is in control of history.  But how he controls history is very much connected to how his people respond to his commands.  Let’s remember that the words of God are not just idle words – they are our life, and the life of our children.  How can we take something lightly that is directly related to our life?  And not just our life in our physical body but the life that is to come.  Notice the words “so that” – “so that you may command your children to obey carefully all the words of this law.”  This indicates that we must first take the messages of the Bible to heart ourselves, remembering the serious things spoken of such as blessings and curses.  When we’ve taken these serious messages to heart and are serious ourselves, then we can command our children to obey them carefully as well.  But if we’re not serious, do you think our children and spiritual children are going to take us seriously?

In summary, let’s set our priorities straight.  Surely we want to build our life and nation on a secure foundation.  But this secure foundation is attained through seeking God and His purposes first.  Blessings and life security from the LORD are to follow after.  But we must not reverse the order, going after all the goodies and security first.  In Matthew 6:33 Jesus tells us plainly, “…seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.”

One Word: Seek first his kingdom.