“You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day” (Deuteronomy 8:18, ESV).
This verse is one of my favorites. Moses is preaching to Israel and preparing them to enter the promised land.
He reminds them of all God has miraculously done in bringing them out of Egyptian slavery and during their wilderness wanderings over the last forty years.
“Listen, Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is One. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (Deuteronomy 6:4-5, HCSB).
These two verses are commonly known as the Shema. They are titled after the first word of verse 4, the Hebrew word for “hear” or “listen.”
“Everything is futile. What does a man gain for all his efforts that he labors at under the sun… For who knows what is good for man in life, in the few days of his futile life that he spends like a shadow? Who can tell man what will happen after him under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3; 6:17, HCSB).
It seems like the writer of Ecclesiastes, who calls himself the Teacher and is probably Solomon, had a jaundiced, even cynical outlook on life.
“I commanded Joshua at that time: Your own eyes have seen everything the Lord your God has done to these two kings. The Lord will do the same to all the kingdoms you are about to enter. Don’t be afraid of them, for the Lord your God fights for you” (Deuteronomy 3:21-22, HCSB).
These are words spoken by Moses when he transferred leadership over Israel to Joshua. There’s no enemy that Joshua and the Israelites should fear because…
“I tell you, of all who have ever lived, none is greater than John. Yet even the least person in the Kingdom of God is greater than he is!” (Luke 7:28, NLT).
Jesus praised John the Baptist as one of the greatest people who have ever lived. Then, Jesus contrasted the eminence of John with that of people who are just “average” citizens of God’s Kingdom.
“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” (Deuteronomy 1:8, NLT).
To prepare the Israelites for the conquest of Canaan, Moses reminded them of life in Egypt, of the forty years of wandering in the wilderness, and of their past fearfulness that resulted in disobedience to God and rebellion against His promises.
“Evil men do not understand justice, but those who seek the Lord understand everything” (Proverbs 28:5, HCSB).
Those who seek and know God bear the unique responsibility of assimilating God’s spiritual kingdom, the Kingdom of God, into the reality in which they live because they are residents of both realms—the present created order and the future spiritual order.
But we live, think, and experience the world in which we live through our five senses. Unfortunately, according to the order of this world, if you cannot see it, hear it, touch it, feel it, or smell it, then it does not exist.
“But love your enemies, and do good, and lend, expecting nothing in return, and your reward will be great, and you will be sons of the Most High, for he is kind to the ungrateful and the evil. Be merciful, even as your Father is merciful” (Luke 6:35-36, ESV).
Jesus told His disciples to love their enemies, do good and pray for those who hate and mistreat them, and give without expecting anything in return, even if someone is stealing from them.
Seems pretty radical doesn’t it?
“And Jesus said to them, ‘I ask you, is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to destroy it?'” (Luke 6:9, ESV).
Luke 6:1-5 describes how once when Jesus and His disciples were walking through grain fields on a Sabbath, some of His disciples plucked and ate some heads of grain.
Some Pharisees considered plucking grain on the Sabbath as forbidden work and challenged Jesus on the matter. The penalty for profaning the Sabbath was death (Exodus 31:14), so this was a pretty serious charge made against Jesus’ disciples by the Pharisees.
“For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people! And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus” (Luke 5:9-11, NLT).
In this story that is the first call of disciples recorded in Luke’s gospel, Peter, James and John had just fished all night with no results.
Steve's Bible Meditations 