Importance of daily Bible reading

During the time of Deuteronomy, the modern Bible was not yet formed. Nevertheless, the Ten Commandments, as well as other elements of God's law, were well established. In Deuteronomy 17:19-20 (NLT), God stresses the importance of daily reading of God's word,

He must always keep that copy with him and read it daily as long as he lives. That way he will learn to fear the Lord his God by obeying all the terms of these instructions and decrees. This regular reading will prevent him from ... turning away from these commands in the smallest way.

Modern technology makes it easy to "always keep a copy" of the Bible. Our responsibility is to read it, and reflect upon it. Start with a small reading plan, and see where it takes you!

A word of warning from Deuteronomy

The book of Deuteronomy, particularly its first half, includes all kinds of strongly-worded warnings about the dangers of falling away from God. In this post, I turn to one such warning, appearing in Deuteronomy 11:16 (ESV),

Take care lest your heart be deceived, and you turn aside and serve other gods and worship them.

This is an easy-to-memorize verse that should guide our steps ever day. We must avoid all modern (and ancient) forms of idolatry.

Just to pick one form of modern idolatry: Do we ever become covetous? That is, do we ever desire something we don't have, to the point that that desire affects our mood and attitude toward others? My guess is that we all, to some extent, engage in this kind of behavior every day.

This is the exact kind of behavior which Deuteronomy 11:16 warns against. (In fact, one of the Ten Commandments explicitly forbids covetousness!) Let us keep this verse on the front of our minds today as we pray.

When we sin

Leviticus 5:3-5 (NLT) summarizes what we should do when we sin.

When you realize what you have done, you must admit your guilt ... When you realize its foolishness, you must admit your guilt ... When you become aware of your guilt in any of these ways, you must confess your sin.

In order to recognize our sin, it's help to return, as often as possible, to the Ten Commandments. Those serve as a guide to righteousness, and also as a mirror into our sin.

But as emphasized in the aforementioned passage from Leviticus, once we recognize our sin, we must confess, because, as David says (Psalm 66:18-19, NLT),

If I had not confessed the sin in my heart,
    the Lord would not have listened.
But God did listen!
    He paid attention to my prayer.

So these passages summarize a life of faith. We must (1) educate ourselves on what sin is, and (2) confess our sins. Doing so ensures that God will hear our prayers!  

Moses' "small" sin

Chapter 20 of Numbers finds the Israelites grumbling to Moses over a lack of water. So God instructs Moses (Numbers 20:8, NLT),

As the people watch, speak to the rock over there, and it will pour out its water.

Here is Moses' response to the people, along with his actions (Numbers 20:10-11, NLT),

“Listen, you rebels!” he shouted. “Must we bring you water from this rock?” Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with the staff, and water gushed out.

OK, end of story, right? Evidently not! Moses' actions lead God to say (Numbers 20, 12, NLT),

Because you did not trust me enough to demonstrate my holiness to the people of Israel, you will not lead them into the land I am giving them!

Whoa! What did Moses do wrong? Well, for starters, he says "must we bring you water," rather than attribute the miracle to God. Second, he strikes the rock, rather than speaks to it, as God commanded.

Forbidding the great Moses from entering the promised land seems like strong punishment for such a "small" sin. But we must realize that any sin brings us infinitely far from God's righteousness. Simply, there are no "small" sins, and there are no "unjust" punishments from God.

As scary as that is, Moses' story, thankfully, does not end there. As a great testament to God's mercy, Moses makes another appearance in the Bible, and a dramatic one at that, when Moses, along with Elijah, speaks with Jesus during the transfiguration.

So the key lessons: (1) no sin is "small" in God's eyes; (2) sins have consequences; (3) God's mercy can overcome our sins.

Focusing the heart

Proverbs 4:23 (NLT) advises,

Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.

Jesus touches on a similar theme in Matthew 6:21 (NLT),

Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.

Consider the things we desire, the things we love, the things that bring us enjoyment. Do those things conform with God's will? If not, Solomon and Jesus are telling us to re-focus our hearts. The Bible promises that we can train our hearts to take joy in Godly matters (Luke 11:9, ESV),

Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you.

Focus on those verbs: "ask," "seek," and "knock." Those are things we must do actively. Let's ask, seek, and knock today today in our prayers.

An easy-to-memorize prayer from Numbers

Most of chapter 6 of Numbers puts forth the requirements of the "Nazirite Vow." Essentially, if one seeks to set himself apart for God in a special way, he can adhere to the requirements put forth in that chapter.

But, at the very end of chapter 6, unrelated to the Nazirite material, is the "Priestly Blessing" that God gave to Aaron as a way to bless the Israelites. The blessing appears in Numbers 6:24-26. Here, I work from the NLT, but modify the wording to read like a first-person appeal to God:

Lord, bless me and protect me.
Smile on me and be gracious to me. 
Show me your favor and give me your peace.

This blessing is easy to memorize, and makes for a great prayer. Today, try praying it at the top of the hour, every hour, and see if it jumpstarts your prayer life.