CHAPTER 12:
As soon as I stepped onto the back porch, I knew something had gone terribly wrong. I do not have a screened-in porch at my home, but our little river house has one. I love it! I enjoy sitting there watching the river, appreciating the sights and sounds of outdoors from my comfy chair. However, my porch was a mess. There were white stains everywhere, which I later discovered was bird poop. The screens had all been sliced and poked with something sharp. What in the world had gone down in here? It didn’t take long form our neighbors to come over and fill us in. An owl had gotten onto our porch and couldn’t get out. They heard it banging around and helped it escape. It took a frantic moment of flapping and shooing, but eventually, the owl found its way out the door. I’m not sure how the owl got in. Maybe we left a screen door open; we just aren’t sure. It left quite a mess – one we haven’t totally fixed yet. My screen still has some slices and holes. Sometimes we let things in to our home accidentally.
Read Deuteronomy Chapter 12:1-7.
What were the Israelites to destroy? Why?
Where were they supposed to seek the LORD?
Read Deuteronomy 12:8-12.
Moses tells them they cannot do what they’ve been doing, which was just doing what was right in their own eyes. In other words, they were being slack. He warns them to do what is right when they enter the Promised Land. They were supposed to bring their offerings and ________________ (verse 12) before the LORD. I’m not sure what they weren’t doing. Bringing the offering or rejoicing, but whatever it was, their heart was not fully committed to worshipping the LORD. This, of course, was going to bring them trouble later.
Read on to find out what they were and were not supposed to do with their offering.
Read Deuteronomy 12:13-32.
What were the 2 warnings given to them in verses 28 and 30?
What is the warning is verse 32?
Why do you think people are so easily led astray, so easily distracted?
What sorts of things distract us from the Lord today?
What is your greatest distraction?
This chapter has two messages: 1) beware of the pagan gods and avoid them; 2) worship God in the way He has established. God knew the danger of walking into a land where other worship was happening. He knew this worship would intrigue them; they would want to know more. Once seen, once learned, these ideas would make their way into the Israelite’s worship of Him, and eventually lead them far away.
Here’s the thing: once you’ve seen something, it is hard to get rid of that image, that idea. It might be gross or disturbing at first, but the more you are exposed, the more you become desensitized. This about TV. The mature scenarios that fill our screens today would have been unheard of fifty years ago. We’ve lost our innocence. And what’s worse is that those innocent scenes don’t entertain us anymore. We crave the explicit. A desensitized person with no filter will always be available for the next level. Compromise of our morals always leads to corruption.
It makes me wonder about myself. How desensitized am I? What have I compromised? What will I tolerate next? I don’t want to continue on this cultural curse. I hear God’s words directed at me: “Be careful to listen to all these words which I command you, so that it may be well with you and your sons after you forever, for you will be doing what is good and right in the sight of the LORD your God” (v. 28).
Maybe this requires a detox. You know how people do on those diets to detox their bodies? They refrain from eating most foods and they drink herbal supplements instead to help get rid of impurities in their body, or even cravings for food they don’t need. I think we need a mental detox, a heart detox. We need to go on a cultural diet, stay away from the places and things that fill our minds with ungodly ideas, unholy scenes. We need to supplement our daily thoughts with God’s word to fortify our minds and grow our spiritual selves. We need to rebuild our habits, filling our time with things that honor Him.
I can’t think of a better time than now during this pandemic stay-at-home command. It is the perfect opportunity to refocus our lives on Christ. When things reboot and the world starts moving once again, we can choose the activities to add back. We can cast away the things that have kept us from our Lord. With prayer and petition, the filter on our lives and homes can be reset. It is so easy to be unwittingly allow something into our heart and minds that is destructive. Like the owl on my porch, it can leave things in shambles. It’s time to grab hold of Jesus and never look back, “for you will be doing what is right in the sight of the LORD your God.”
Lesson to Remember: God is Lord over all.
A Way to Walk: Being lax in our worship will affect our walk with the Lord. Remember to worship by offering and rejoicing before the Lord.
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