Deutronomy 9 &10 : Patterns, Heart, Order and Honour

A couple months back, I had been studying Deuteronomy 9-10 and it just appeared to me that there's sooo much about God that hasn't changed one bit. (Like I know He never does but seriously, it's amazing!)

What these particular chapters did for me was to bring to light how much of a foreshadow of the New Covenant, the Old Covenant was. I understood a bit better the importance of having the right kind of heart towards the people God has placed in our lives and in our care. This revelation may have also had something to do with the messages I had been listening to and just the word in that season as well. 

Whatever the case, God was really opening my eyes to how much of a consistent and patternly God He is. I was learning why God will always choose people who prioritize His own plans, who stay faithful to His will and who are compassionate to others for the really important stuff. Watching the relationship between God and Moses (a foreshadow of the relationship between Jesus as our High Priest and God the father) I also came to appreciate how much God is a God of order and honour. He will never do a thing, without first communicating with the person He has put in charge unless He has rejected them. He is also a God that honours the prayers and pleas of His High Priests and the people He has chosen for Himself. For us under the new covenant, what this means since we are not only God's chosen people, but a royal priesthood is that if we choose to stand in the gap in the place of prayer for people, God will surely hear us.

Reading and understanding these aspects of God's character was really was such a blessing to me. But before I have you wondering what I'm on about, I'll share in a bit more detail a few of things I gleaned with the help of the Holy Spirit in studying Deuteronomy 9 and 10.

1) Patterns with the Old and New Covenant: One of the things I really love as far as patterns go is how Moses had to fast for 40 days and 40 nights to get the ten commandments on the 2 tablets; much like Jesus had to fast for the same amount of time just before He went to die on the Cross of Calvary. The same amount of time and fellowshipping with God, preceded the activation of both the covenant of the Law, and the Covenant of Life.

Also, to obtain mercy from God for the Israelites, Moses had to go back up to the Mountain and pray for another 40days and 40 nights. Actually it appears every time the Israelites fumbled, it was another 40 days and 40 nights for Moses. This is no different from what Jesus does for us... except what Jesus did and does for us is a million times more. Jesus shed His precious blood on the Cross so that anytime God is roused to anger by our sins, instead of seeing us, He sees the blood of Jesus. More so, just like Moses did for the Israelites, Jesus is constantly interceding for us at the Right hand of God (Romans 8:34).

2) The God of order and honour:  Speaking of constant intercession, I'm reminded of some portion from Deuteronomy 9:14. Moses was recounting how God had told him at Mount Horeb “Leave me, I am going to destroy them and wipe out their name under the heavens......".  God was asking Moses to step aside as though Moses could ever actually stop God from fulfilling His desire. After much pleading and supplication, God finally heeded Moses' pleas and did not destroy the Israelites. The first thing I thought was Wow! God is such a humble God. 

God didn't need to be spending anytime talking to Moses. He could have just done whatever He wanted to and updated Moses on the new template but He did not. Why? Because not only is He merciful, He is a God of order. He appointed Moses leader over the Israelites for a purpose, so unless He rejected Moses, He wasn't going to go over Moses' head to do anything. He was going to go through Moses to get things done and when Moses wasn't down with the plan and begged on their behalf, God listened. Therein another aspect of God's character was revealed. God is a God that honours the pleas, prayers and supplications of His elect. If God has set you over anything and you pray in line with His will and His word, He will surely answer you.

3) Still on Patterns: Another thing I've also come to appreciate about God is that He is very intentional about everything He does. We've established that He is a God of order, well apparently He is a God who loves patterns and templates too. God was very intentional about showing us certain things from the Old Testament. In the days of Moses, God allows us see how the intercession of His chosen one and sacrifices, can appease His anger. It is my belief that He wanted to use it to show us something crucial to our faith and salvation.

God wanted us to understand that if He will heed ceaseless fasting and supplications of Moses and the slaughtering of mere animals to spare the Israelites from destruction; then our sins have nothing on the precious blood of Jesus and the pleas He is making for us at the right hand of God.  

God intended and still intends for us to understand that the blood of Jesus is a perfect cover for us and that any of our pleas made in the name of Jesus are all Yea and Amen (2 Corinthians 1:20).

Side Note: It's probably important to mention at this point, that God hasn't started feeling any differently about sin. He hates it in the New Testament as much as He did in the Old. It's easy for us to think that's not the case because of the amount of mercy we enjoy, but it is. Our saving grace and I mean that quite literally is that we are covered by something much greater than sin (The blood of Jesus). 

4) Right Heart: Ok now back to Moses and what I was saying earlier about the number of times Moses had to spend 40 days and 40 nights praying to God to pardon the Israelites.  I just thought to myself, He must have been crazy exhausted because I certainly would have been. Truth be told if I was Moses, I probably wouldn't have made it past the 2nd time. Not to mention, the Israelites of his time were a pretty ungrateful bunch, which obviously made his sacrifice so much harder.

Then I thought, wow! Moses must have really liked the Israelites but yeah, turns out it had nothing to do with liking them. In Deuteronomy 9:14 after God said He would destroy the Israelites and wipe their names out from under the heavens, He told Moses "...... I shall make you into a mightier and more numerous nations than they are". When Moses begged for them, he knew fully well that they would still sin and they would still be ungrateful to God and to him because their hearts were not right. So when he begged God, he did not base it on their change of heart, instead He based it on God's promises. In Deuteronomy 9:27-29 He basically told God to overlook the stubbornness of the Israelites and remember His promises to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He told God not to destroy them so people would not say He could not save them and hated them, so He brought them out of Egypt to destroy them.

And there it was. The reason Moses had been putting up with the Israelites wasn't because He liked them, it was because He was committed to seeing God's vision through. Don't get me wrong, Moses definitely loved the Israelites but even that love was born out of carrying them in his heart the way God did.

That really made me think. If God were to offer us what we wanted right now at the expense of His word, character or faithfulness would we take it? Like God is God oh, so if He gives it to us it will be right but if He were to offer us something that would make people question His faithfulness and His word. If this thing also came at the expense of others, would we say No? Do we care more about who God is and how He is perceived than we care about what we get out of Him? And what He does for us?

It actually reminds me of something my pastors say. They often say that as Christians it is so important for us to live beyond ourselves. They point out that Jesus even on the Cross (His death bed) was meeting needs. He granted eternal life to the thief next to him and made provisions for Mary his mother with John the beloved. See Abraham, Abraham had not yet received Isaac but he prayed for Abimelech, his wife and maid's that their wombs be opened and they were opened (Genesis 20:17).

All of this really challenged me. It made me think of a lot of things. I had to really ask myself, how much of my time do I spend in prayers of intercession for others? ‎That was Moses' entire Ministry, bearing the ridiculousness of the Israelites, while still praying for them. There's no rocket science to why God chose Moses. Moses loved God to the point that he learnt to love the Israelites even when He didn't like them because God had chosen them. God being all knowing, knew that the Person he chooses to lead them must be bent on doing His will but also have a heart for His people. God knew that He would require someone close to him to offer prayers and intercession on their behalf to placate His anger against the Israelites.

So it really makes you think, what are our hearts like towards the people, communities and things God has placed around us? How much compassion do we feel towards those people or communities? Even with the people we can't stand and we believe do the most, how much time do we spend praying for them versus being irritated at their conduct? And I don't mean hypocritical prayers like "It's only God that will help that one" but genuinely praying for them as we would those we love?

Mehn! It's been a serious heart check for me even as a write this because the truth is unless our hearts are right in God's eyes, we will never be put in charge of anything that really matters to God. Moses could have just let God consume them and he would have been chilling but he didn't. He refused to stand aside because more than he wanted to enjoy peace, he was committed to God's plan, God's people and the name of God being glorified. 

It's not enough for us to just love God. We must learn to love His ways, we must pattern our hearts according to His and care for the things He cares for. That was what Jesus did and still does and we are little Christ’s therefore that is how we ought to live life daily.