Your name, O Lord, endures forever, Your renown O, Lord, throughout all ages. For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants. (Verses 13-14)
Moses is about to die. God has told him this. And God also knew that "this people will rise and whore after foreign gods among them in the land they are entering, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant (Deuteronomy 31)." The upshot of that will be that God will become extremely angry over their idol worship and debauchery. Ultimately, in their straying from God with bellies full of the fruits and prosperity of the Promised Land, life will fail them. Things will go horribly awry and the people will say, "It's because we forsook our God!"
In order to vindicate Himself, God dictates a song to Moses and commands the prophet to teach it to the nation prior to their entrance into Canaan. "Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers...they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise Me and break My covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness, for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring." Much of the song is a recap of all God has been to them and done for them. Lest their generation and future generations forget God's power, protection and prescience. Midway through the song there are these lyrics: Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes quickly. For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. Then He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge?"
When we get to the end of ourselves...when our idols come crashing down around us, showing themselves to be the empty, vacuous treasures they are...there is still our God. Yes, He's been angry. Of course, God's been standing by having to watch our deliberate dancing before our addictions. Crazy in love with what makes the aching need for all that only God can fill medicated for a time. And at the end of the road, with our faces to the ground, we will say, "I'm in this mess because I forsook my God!" He waits for that. God's heart has ached...He made ours like His, so of course, it aches...to see His beloved children run to idols that are erected to their destruction.
"Take to heart," said Moses, "all the words by which I'm warning you today, command them to your children, too, that they may be careful to do them. He's just finished reading the song lyrics. Knows how important its message will be in future gluttonous generations. "For this is no empty word for you, but your very life! Oh, had they listened. Life wasn't in the law but in the heart of God! Listen, people, listen to the words of your God to you. No other gods are alive! No other gods bring life!
God knew they would stray. The lyrics of this song were to be burned into their minds and roll off their tongues for generations. Because when they found themselves entrapped and entangled with the sinful repercussions of idol worship, God wanted them to remember Who He is and what He'd done. Vindicated in comparison to false gods. When all the "Oms" have been chanted, the drugs injected, the lovers departed, the power depleted...when things fall apart, God wants His people to know that if they'd stuck with the One Who calls them "Beloved," they wouldn't be powerless in a place where they've lost it all. Don't blame God. His great love vindicates Him.
Stunningly, though, is for us the more impossible thought. Even though we've deliberately, intentionally walked away from His Great Love, find ourselves like the prodigal son, face down in the excrement of our choices, God allows Himself to be found by us and then goes after the idol that took us down. "Rejoice with Him, O heavens, bow down to Him, all gods, for He avenges the blood of His children and takes vengeance on His adversaries!" Who else loves me like that? Who else could take my willful brokenness upon Himself, make it His case against evil, and avenge the root of my own choices? It brings a sudden gush of tears to my eyes right now, because I have been the wretched, lost recipient of my Father's unrelenting love. I've felt the Hand of comfort on my brow when I deserved the switch of wrath on my backside. And it makes me hate the idols of my adultery toward Him. Makes me cling to the folds in His robe. Makes me cry out every morning and all through the day, "Don't leave me, Lord, not ever. I can't breathe without the One Who is my very life!" Scriptures from The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 Italics, mine
Moses is about to die. God has told him this. And God also knew that "this people will rise and whore after foreign gods among them in the land they are entering, and they will forsake Me and break My covenant (Deuteronomy 31)." The upshot of that will be that God will become extremely angry over their idol worship and debauchery. Ultimately, in their straying from God with bellies full of the fruits and prosperity of the Promised Land, life will fail them. Things will go horribly awry and the people will say, "It's because we forsook our God!"
In order to vindicate Himself, God dictates a song to Moses and commands the prophet to teach it to the nation prior to their entrance into Canaan. "Put it in their mouths, that this song may be a witness for Me against the people of Israel. For when I have brought them into the land flowing with milk and honey, which I swore to give to their fathers...they will turn to other gods and serve them, and despise Me and break My covenant. And when many evils and troubles have come upon them, this song shall confront them as a witness, for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring." Much of the song is a recap of all God has been to them and done for them. Lest their generation and future generations forget God's power, protection and prescience. Midway through the song there are these lyrics: Vengeance is Mine, and recompense, for the time when their foot shall slip; for the day of their calamity is at hand, and their doom comes quickly. For the Lord will vindicate His people and have compassion on His servants, when He sees that their power is gone and there is none remaining, bond or free. Then He will say, "Where are their gods, the rock in which they took refuge?"
When we get to the end of ourselves...when our idols come crashing down around us, showing themselves to be the empty, vacuous treasures they are...there is still our God. Yes, He's been angry. Of course, God's been standing by having to watch our deliberate dancing before our addictions. Crazy in love with what makes the aching need for all that only God can fill medicated for a time. And at the end of the road, with our faces to the ground, we will say, "I'm in this mess because I forsook my God!" He waits for that. God's heart has ached...He made ours like His, so of course, it aches...to see His beloved children run to idols that are erected to their destruction.
"Take to heart," said Moses, "all the words by which I'm warning you today, command them to your children, too, that they may be careful to do them. He's just finished reading the song lyrics. Knows how important its message will be in future gluttonous generations. "For this is no empty word for you, but your very life! Oh, had they listened. Life wasn't in the law but in the heart of God! Listen, people, listen to the words of your God to you. No other gods are alive! No other gods bring life!
God knew they would stray. The lyrics of this song were to be burned into their minds and roll off their tongues for generations. Because when they found themselves entrapped and entangled with the sinful repercussions of idol worship, God wanted them to remember Who He is and what He'd done. Vindicated in comparison to false gods. When all the "Oms" have been chanted, the drugs injected, the lovers departed, the power depleted...when things fall apart, God wants His people to know that if they'd stuck with the One Who calls them "Beloved," they wouldn't be powerless in a place where they've lost it all. Don't blame God. His great love vindicates Him.
Stunningly, though, is for us the more impossible thought. Even though we've deliberately, intentionally walked away from His Great Love, find ourselves like the prodigal son, face down in the excrement of our choices, God allows Himself to be found by us and then goes after the idol that took us down. "Rejoice with Him, O heavens, bow down to Him, all gods, for He avenges the blood of His children and takes vengeance on His adversaries!" Who else loves me like that? Who else could take my willful brokenness upon Himself, make it His case against evil, and avenge the root of my own choices? It brings a sudden gush of tears to my eyes right now, because I have been the wretched, lost recipient of my Father's unrelenting love. I've felt the Hand of comfort on my brow when I deserved the switch of wrath on my backside. And it makes me hate the idols of my adultery toward Him. Makes me cling to the folds in His robe. Makes me cry out every morning and all through the day, "Don't leave me, Lord, not ever. I can't breathe without the One Who is my very life!" Scriptures from The Song of Moses in Deuteronomy 32 Italics, mine
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