The Beginning of Wisdom

Deuteronomy 31:1-30, Vayelech, “And (Moses) went”

This week’s parsha comes during the ten days of awe which is the ten days that separate the feast of trumpets and Yom Kippur.  This time period is dedicated to reflecting on our relationship with God, how dedicate our walk has been with Him, and how in tune we have been to His voice.

At the same time, this year, we found ourselves being somewhat distracted by the threat of a very large hurricane.  As I wrote this blog I couldn’t help but thinking how many of us thought more about the storm and “what might happen” than we did the ten days of awe or what Yom Kippur is all about?

You see, this is really the point of this week’s parsha.  As I have pointed out previously, I see the entire book of Deuteronomy as “the Law” that God is subjecting Himself to regarding how He will interact with us as He brings us into the full fruition of the image of His Bride and His people.

Last week’s readings focused on the blessing and the curse.  Next week’s parsha is God giving Moses the “song of Moses” which he subsequently gives to the nation. 

In that parsha we will see the entire prophetic journey of the nation being given in the form of a song.  The purpose of the song is so that “in the end days,” after all the prophecy it speaks of has been fulfilled, the nation will call it to mind in the lands where God has scattered us, and it will be a witness against us.

The image is, God will somehow use this reminder that “He told us so” as a catalyst to finalize the transformation of our hearts just prior to His return.

This kind of reminds me of the generation that was given the opportunity to rebuild the temple after the Babylonian exile.  When I read about this generation weeping bitterly when the Torah was read to them, I cannot help but imagining that their weeping had something to do with the fact that they saw the worst of the curses first hand.

What do you think that would have been like?  Many of those who were alive to hear the Torah read, would have been alive years early and seen the children lead into captivity, the women sold into slavery, and the men killed in war.  In the reading of the Torah they would have read the very things we are reading today? 

At that point, they would have known that all those things could have been avoided if they only would have taken God at His word, listened to the prophets, and trusted in all that they were saying.  In this image I can see how deeply the sense of “He told us so” would have impacted their hearts.

The point I am getting at is this:  At some time in the future, prophecy tells us that we will all be “remembering” the words of the song of Moses that will be read next week.  We will hear in our spirits “God told us this would happen,” and this will deeply impact our hearts.

Four times in this week’s parsha Moses commissions Joshua and the people to “be strong and courageous” and to not “fear.”  At the same time, twice he commissions them to “fear the Lord.”  Right now, we are at a pause between the feast of trumpets and Yom Kippur.  It is called the ten days of awe.

The feast of trumpets is often recognized as the time that the King is among the people.  So, we can look at this time as a recognition that He is with us spiritually. 

At the same, we can see this as rehearsal for the day that He will return to set up His kingdom here on earth.  This will be the time that we will be called to step into battle with Him, establish His kingdom with Him, govern the world His way, and be His priesthood.

Yom Kippur is traditionally thought of as the day on which God decides what His intervention in our lives will be for the upcoming year.  At the same time, it is considered as a rehearsal for the day when we stand before His throne, at the completion of all things, when those destined for the new heaven and earth are separated from those who are destined for the lake of fire.

When I think about rehearsing for something, I think about putting myself into that place and considering what it will be like for me then.  In the case of Him coming to set up His kingdom, I would like to believe that I will be looking back at a lifetime of learning to be courageous through the battles of this world, to not trust what my eyes see or my intellect understands, but to trust in Him, the one who will be leading us into battle and the one who will be trusting us to be His priesthood.

In the case of standing before His throne, I would like to believe that first and foremost I would remain thankful for His forgiveness, for His choosing me to know Him, and for all that He has delivered me from and through. 

Secondly, I pray that I will not feel the heart wrenching pain of knowing that I did not take “fearing Him” seriously, that I had not pursued loving Him with all my heart, mind, soul, and strength, or that I had not loved others as I love myself.

These are the things this week’s parsha should led us to considering. 

Just like the nation, we know that God is for us and not against us.  We know that through Him all things are possible.  We know that what we see, understand, and acknowledge about this physical world are true.  At the same time, we know we walk in a power that is above these things and we are the children of a God who is sovereign and knows what is best.

In the end, we know what God has said about how He will parent us.  We know what He has said about why He will protect us from discomfort, and why He will not. 

This week’s parsha is a pause between God giving His instructions and the nation entering the land to possess it.  It is a pause between the giving of the blessing and the curse, and God sharing with the people exactly what their destiny will be as He looks down and understands the condition of their hearts.

Ultimately, the purpose of this pause is duly noted in what Moses is emphasizing.  “Be strong and courageous, and fear God.”  When we come to realize that we were not “chosen” for our own personal salvation, but that we were chosen to be a part of a nation that God will ultimately use to lead the world to Him and His ways, it kind of changes everything.

In this context, we come to understand that He is a loving father who has seen who we are and believes we are capable of becoming all that He has chosen us to be.  Like a great coach who can see the potential in a great athlete, so too can we think of God and His choosing us to be a part of this nation that Peter refers to as a “royal priesthood.”

Ultimately, our loving father will use everything in His power to make us and mold us into the priesthood that He has chosen us to be.  This is why fearing Him is so important. He uses the pain and suffering, the temptations, and the battles to speak to us.

The point is, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.”  Simply put, when we fear other things, we end up distracted from what God is attempting to communicate.  We miss His voice and are left prone to the voice of the enemy.  In this place we lose the battles to the physical challenges of this world, the spiritual battles that surround us, the emotional battles that seem to never end, and ultimately evil reigns.

Letting go of the fear of those things that make us uncomfortable takes a lot of courage.  It takes courage to trust Him in the battles that seem impossible to overcome, to face pain, sickness, or disease with a sense of peace. 

It takes courage to stop spending our time, talents, and money on the things that we think will deliver us peace and joy, and to start trusting that true joy and peace come from doing things for Him and for others. 

In other words, it takes courage to become selfless over selfish, to see the world revolving around Him instead of revolving around ourselves, to trust that being Holy is life, and unholy is death, to look different, talk different, eat different, celebrate different, and in all ways, trust in Him.  All these things take courage.

Walking in Torah and trusting all that we are commanded to do takes courage.  But that courage begins with a fear of the Lord.  When we move away from fearing anything but Him, we cut ourselves free from our greatest weakness in this spiritual battle.  We move into a place of trusting Him, become open to hearing His voice, and allow Him to lead us through the valley of what really is only a “shadow” of death. 

In this courage we are led to a place of doing the right things for the right reasons, we are not led by fear, but are led by wisdom.  In this the attacks of the enemy are silenced and we are protected from allowing fear to move us into a place of making bad decisions that only add to the problem that the initial fear steamed from.

This reminds me of the story of the children of Israel coming to the promised land for the first time, sending in the spies, and rejecting God’s promise in their fear.  When they heard what their destiny would be it was too late.  They attempted to go to war only to be slaughtered because God was not with them.

First evil reigned when they allowed the words of the spies to instill fear into their hearts.  Then evil reigned again when they listened to the words of God, feared the discomfort of what He was about to do, and attempted to go to war without Him.

I pray as we continue forward toward Yom Kippur that each of us grow in our ability to be strong and courageous, to trust Him in all things, and to not let the things that we “know” about this world to become a distraction from the plans that He has for us.

I pray this has been a blessing, that we all discover a new courage deep within, and that in and through this we all grow in our ability to hear His voice, understand what He is communicating, and walk in all that He is showing us. Amen and God bless.