Update your GPS

“Please drive the highlighted route.”  repeated the feminine voice from the GPS.  I was traveling a new road and my GPS map was old.  Sometimes I hear the command from the GPS and see the display “recalculating” because I have decided I know a better way and have not followed the GPS commands.

In Deuteronomy 30: 11-20, God tells the Israelites what He is commanding is not too difficult or beyond their reach.  It is not so far away that they will need to send someone to retrieve it from heaven or the sea.  It is very near. It’s in their heart if they just obey.  He spells out the choice between life and prosperity or death and destruction.  If the Israelites will love God, walk in His ways and keep His commands they will live, increase and be blessed in the Promised Land.  But if they turn their hearts away, are disobedient and worship other gods, they will certainly be destroyed and not live in the Promised Land.  God is very plain when He says, “Now choose life... love God, listen to His voice and hold fast to Him.”

God knew the Israelites would be distracted by the freedom and riches in the Promised Land.  They would tempted with the temporary pleasures of the new world they were entering.  He warned them, prepared them and told them the danger and the consequences.

Yet, the Israelites strayed.  They thought they had a better way, than God’s way.  They wanted to be like the other peoples that lived nearby.  They wanted the immediate satisfaction instead of the everlasting reward God promised.

I remember teaching a young toddler that the square block goes through the square hole, round block through the round hole and so forth.  The child was very intelligent and I’m positive understood the concept.  Yet the child insisted that the square block go through the round hole.  The child became so frustrated that I decided this was not play.  It was a life lesson.

We are so like this child. We don’t outgrow our thirst for our own rules.  We want to make our own world with our own rules but our rules won’t get us nor keep us in the Promised Land. Sometimes we can make an adequate life for ourselves creating a world in our own design, but is it the Best Life?

There is life and then there’s Abundant Life, the Promised Land, the Best Life, if you will.  God wants us to have relationship, blessings and peace.  The world I create will only mimic the true relationship, blessing and peace.  I will create a world of the temporary, a world where life can change direction in a second.  God will give me a world of eternal, everlasting and certain.  God will give me the Best Life.

It seems that the lesson from these verses is positioning.  I need to establish that God is in position to lead my life and I need to follow.  I only get myself into situations, complications and circumstances when I position myself at the lead of my life.

G od
P osition
S ituation

Today I reconfirm that God is in the lead position in my life situation.  I need to update that relationship on a daily, or more often, basis.  My experience with God so far, and the Scriptures, tell me that a better life, the Abundant Life, awaits me when I walk in His ways.    Obedience leads to the best life possible.  I’ve learned in life, the hard way by using my own rules, that it’s simpler, easier and better if I just do it God’s way.

Love & Listen
Keep & Hold
Choose & Do
Decide & Act

Love and Protect

"I love this song!"  It was the morning after the "rough morning" and my ipod was not working properly but in the midst of my frustration, there it was, my favorite song.  I remembered the first time I heard it, an outdoor Christian music concert with 50,000 people!  It was an awesome weekend and that song grabbed me.  It was love at first hearing and it's been over three years and I'm still in love.

 

In Deuteronomy 30:1-10 heart is mentioned 6 times.  The Israelites are told to take "to heart" the blessings and curses, to obey God with heart and soul and to love God with all their heart and soul.  I'd jotted in my journal "It's about your heart."  These verses made me ponder falling in love.

I have vivid memories of falling in love or the instant I knew I was in love.  South Dakota for my favorite song. San Francisco and a little boy clutching my shirt. Driving in a car and deciding I was keeping that second puppy.   Brushing my teeth in my college dorm.

I realized once you fall in love you must decide what to do about it.  Just after brushing my teeth in that college dorm I changed the calendar of events for my life.  I'd planned an internship  over a thousand miles away and then graduate school somewhere that I can't recall.  I knew I didn't want to be separated so I made new decisions.  "I'll go to graduate school someday".  I didn't make it to the graduate school I'd planned but I've never regretted my life choices and experiences.  I've always said "life is an adventure with Dick Sipe."  I think one of my bridal shower gifts from a mutual friend was a journal entitled, "Life with Dick Sipe."  She knew him and she knew God.  She knew our life together (Dick, Jan and God) would be an adventure!  Thanks Gwen, you were right!

Once I decided I was in love, I made decisions to protect it.  These verses in Deuteronomy remind me that my relationship with God must also be protected.  These verses tell me that I protect my heart and relationship with God by obedience.  My obedience preserves my relationship with God and protects me from sin, the sin of false worship. 

God promises the Israelites will be blessed in their work, the womb, livestock and crops.  When the Israelites love God with all their heart and soul, their daily lives and family will be blessed and they will be  prosperous. My obedience will also result in a prosperous life, or in my case, an exciting and adventurous life!

We think we control our prosperity and blessings by how we labor and plan.  Our prosperity really comes from God and how we choose to preserve our relationship with Him.  We think we own and control our lives but do we?  Everything really comes from God.

We can only control so much of our lives.  I'm going to learn to love God more and preserve that love, to trust and obey.  Obedience is the preservation of the precious. 

It's all about Heart.

H ave no other God.

E ven if it doesn't make sense.

A lways follow His commands in spite of the world's logic.

R estrict negative influences.

T hen prosper will take on a whole new meaning!

Rough Morning

"I forgot  my shoes!"  It was -8  degrees as I was picking my way  through the icy parking lot of the Y.  I thought, "usually I have something else in my hands?"  Then it dawned on me. I was wearing my boots but not carrying my walking shoes.

I'd had one of those days when I just did not want to follow my daily ritual, especially the laps at the Y.  I'd slept a few minutes longer; did a bit of  meditating on my Bible verses and enlightened my mind with some reading.  Nestled in my quilt I'd argued with myself.  "I'm not going today."  "It's only been one day since you'd skipped."  "I'll go 15 minutes later" was the compromise I made with myself.

While pondering Deuteronomy 29: 16-29, I was intrigued by the warning to "make sure there is  no root among you that produces such bitter poison."  The bitter poison was worshipping other gods and in these verses God makes very plain the consequences of exempting oneself.  When I reread these verses in The Message I saw the same situation in the world and my life.  God describes the person who strays as one who "exempts oneself" and says "I'll live the way I please, thank you" and proceeds to ruin lives.

How many times a day do we hear "it's my life and I choose how to live it"?  So many people have invoked this self-indulgent lifestyle, without regard to the affect on others, that we have so many more rules and forms to fill out.  You can recognize the areas when there has been some dispute by the new rules and questions that pop up in life. 

In my job sometimes I have to have people sign a form that makes them promise to sign forms again at a later date, in case something was missed.  Most everyone smiles and makes a joke about it.  I usually reply that it was hard for me to say it with a straight face.  Yet I did have a person simply refuse to initial a page that she'd already signed just because she didn't want to.  Obviously someone else had done the same thing and my customer thought this form would invoke some responsibility.  The paper is only effective if one does not invoke their self-exemption from the responsibility.

How does this apply to me forgetting my shoes?  I realized that rough morning that I have a consistent ritual of exercise and I do it because it's beneficial to my future.  (I do not enjoy it nor look forward to it.)   When the argument begins with myself, the point is made that it does not matter if I skip one day.  In the course of the short term, it probably does not matter that I skip one day. I don't see or feel the reward of the  minimal exercise. Yet in the scope of my whole life, I decided that the consistent exercise, moderate as it is, will keep me mobile and active longer than if I exempt myself from the routine.

I see the danger of living life with self-exemption, knowing the right way and then knowing choosing the opposite.  It's easy to choose the right way in the big issues in society because we have laws, law enforcement and penalties.  The threat to my world is self-exemption, when others make the wrong choice on how to live their life and my life is affected. 

On this rough morning I realized that in my daily life I can't enact self-exemption for my own good.  These verses in Deuteronomy showed me that I can't self-exempt myself, even when I'm polite by saying please and thank you as in The Message, by following the false gods of the world.  There are consequences for me and others.

It was truly a rough morning, I had to drive back home to get my shoes.  With my poor choice giving myself 15 minutes to be lazy and the extra trip to retrieve my shoes, I was 30 minutes later than usual.  Then my Ipod failed.  I  had to walk alone without an entertainment!  I use the book on the Ipod as my incentive for exercise.  Yet it was a good walk.  It wasn't that bad without the entertainment.  I got everything done and still made it to work at my usual time.  I was really glad I'd followed through with my daily routine in spite of my own efforts to skip.

Guess I'd better go find my walking shoes, 'cuz I'm going today.  I'm learning that faithfulness in following the little rules and rituals will  make it easier to choose when the big decisions come.  It is beneficial to follow God even when the circumstances make it tempting not  to or difficult.  Deuteronomy has shown me the blessings of keeping close to God and the consequences of chasing the false of this world gods who cannot provide what I need.  Only God can truly provide all that I need.

Scoot Over

"That's fine if you want to lay with me, but this is my spot."  Molly, one of my three dogs, was circling the spot that I had just readied for myself to settle in this morning.  I'll confess that we let all three dogs sleep with us.  When they hear, "let's go to bed", they race upstairs and try to get a spot on the bed.  I make them move until I have my spot and then let them snuggle up to me.  The puppies want to touch me when they sleep with just a shoulder or a hip. If I shift position so there are just a few inches separating us, they will scoot over until they are touching me. I've  learned that they each gain 100 pounds once they are asleep and are near impossible to move while sleeping. So I get settled first.

In Deuteronomy 29:2-15, Moses summoned the Israelites and reminded them that God did miraculous signs and wonders in Egypt and during the 40 years in the desert.  During their journey their clothes and shoes never worn out.  He provided them food and drink.  God did it so that they would learn that He was The Lord God. When they approached the Promised Land and the end of the journey from Egypt, God reminds them that "we" defeated the Kings of Heshbon and Og to begin the distribution of the land to the tribes of Israel.  He also reminds them, again, to carefully follow the terms of the covenant, the covenant that God is making and sealing with an oath to be their God.

I am convinced by these verses that the best way to get ahead in life is God's way, which is the opposite of the world's way.  The world tells us to make our own plan to take and thus we will prosper.  Every night Mickey tries to claim my pillow and every night I tell him, "this is my spot." (Plan, take, maybe prosper.)

God's way is, first, to learn to lean on Him for our daily life. He will invite us to participate in His plan and then we will prosper. The world's way is all about Me but God's way is about "we."  (Lean, participate, definitely prosper.)

I provide the food and water for the three dogs. In this bitter cold, I make sure their feet don't get too cold outside.  Then I invite them to join me in rest.  They know the "rule" is to stay in bed, it's not play time or time to find mischief. Once they have done the six or seven turnarounds to prepare their spot, they are settled for the night.  If I move in the night and perhaps there is space between us, they scoot to me.

For me to prosper in life God's way, I need to follow His rules.  When He invites me to participate in His mission, I want  to be like Mickey and Molly when they hear the words, "let's go to bed" and race proudly upstairs.  But I also want to be like them when they feel a bit of separation they move toward me.  When I feel a bit separate from God, I need to scoot over to feel His touch.

I'm not going to lean on my own plans to succeed because I've learned I'm not reliable. I'm learning to lean on the One who promises and delivers. I'm scooting over to the Sure Thing.

I wish I'd known

"I wish I'd known that."  I saw those three aces in my "foot" and regretted putting a wild card on my set of aces to "dirty them".  We play a game called Hand and Foot often.  The object is to have a set of seven matching cards.  The rules allow the use of wild cards to make the set but the point count is less.  As much as we'd like to think of Hand and Foot as a game of skill, it really is a game of chance.

I knew there was a chance that when I saw the cards in my second hand, my foot, there would be aces and I would have lost my chance at a pure set of seven aces.  I had decided to take the chance, play the odds and face the consequences.

When I read Deuteronomy 28:15 through 29:1, I thought God made the consequences of the Israelites' disobedience, breaking the covenant with Him, abundantly clear!  All the blessings listed in the first verses of chapter 28 turn into curses.  Then God gets specific.  There will be curses, confusion and rebuke in everything they put their hands.  There will be plagues and diseases that are well described.  There will be no rain.  They will be soundly defeated by their enemies.  They will be unsuccessful in everything.  They will be desperate for food.  They will be oppressed by other nations.  It will be Egypt again, only much worse.

My hindsight judgment kicked in and I thought how fickle were the Israelites.  God made it very plain, what to do and what not  to do and they consistently chose disobedience.  They gambled thinking they knew better than God or let their desire and lust lead them.  He even told them in these verses they would set up a king for themselves, not following God's plan and they missed that He knows their hearts and their future following  their own plans.  God knows our frailties and provides a way of life to protect  us from ourselves.

He warned them about making poor choices and living the "if only" life.  These verses describe it as life so difficult and challenging that longing for morning when it's evening or evening when it's morning is the foremost.  I know too many who live the "if only" way of life, always lusting for what seems better than the present.  Too often the present is the result of poor choices.

Today I also  ponder that more of us are just like a character in a  reality TV show I often watch.  He touts the persona of The Gambler.  He buys abandoned storage lockers in the hope that precious "treasures" will be found to make his fortune.  He knows the consequences and takes the chance.

There is more gambler in us than we think.  For some reason, we think we can live our lives based on our own choices and desires even when God has made it clear, plain and frankly easy for us (follow His ways wholeheartedly).  He tells us His way is safe and rewarding.  He tells us the consequences.  He listed the blessings in 14 verses and the consequences in nearly 50 verses.  The Israelites, nor I, can really say "I'd wished I'd known."

I want to remember to live my life safely by carefully following God.  I can't say that God hasn't shown me the consequence of living life following my own choices.  Why risk when God has a great life planned for me?  It's up to me to enjoy it.

Always on Top

"Why do you do this?"  Dick asks Mickey with a smile on his face.  When Dick sits in his chair watching TV, Mickey, the male pup, will ask to jump up.  Mickey positions himself standing on Dick's chest looking down on him, staring into his eyes.

After reading  Deuteronomy 28: 1-14, I think Mickey is trying to satisfy his desire to be the Top of someone.  We have three dogs.  Makena is a female and the oldest so we have designated her the Alpha dog (after us of course).  Molly is a female and was born with  more Alpha dog than all of us in the house.  She definitely is Mickey's big sister. She tells him what to do, takes away anything he has and sometimes she barks at him just because he is breathing!  Good thing she's real cute!  Mickey is a male and in his mind he should be the Top Dog but he is "barking up the wrong tree!"

In the first 14 verses of Deuteronomy 28, God tells the Israelites they will be "high above all the nations" if they fully obey God and carefully follow all His commands.  They will be blessed wherever they live, city or country.  Their crops and livestock will be blessed.  They will be blessed coming and going.

The Israelites will go from being the bottom of the social ladder, slaves, to "always be at the top, never at the bottom" but they were not to turn aside from any of His commands.

In the world today we are given many examples of being on top. We need to be glamorous or well known or rich or powerful.  The TV is full of reality shows where plucky characters let us follow their quest to be famous, even for a few minutes and even if they act ridiculous.  In their minds they are "on Top".

 Yet if we follow the world's plan to be on Top,  we are dependent on the opinions of other people.  Our position of the Top, is fragile and those under us can be fickle and we fall at their whim.  There is always someone else plotting and scheming to remove us from the Top to gain the position for themselves. (This thought made be shiver and remember my life as a teenager in high school and the thirst for popularity, fleeting as it is!  Yikes!)

God's offer of "on Top" is not based on other people.   It is His gift to us.  He gives us the method and the choice. 

God even defines "on Top".  The world defines the Top as above all the people and looking down.  God defines "on Top" as a life full of blessing, looking up to God the source of all we have.  God's method to be on Top is to completely, fully, wholeheartedly and always follow His ways.  We are to never turn to the right or the left.  Keep straight on the path to walk in His ways. 

Just in case, we might not know what turning away might be, God even tells us it would be following and serving another god.  In today's world, there are plenty of distractions.  Today I am reminded that to be on Top I need to be focused on one, not me as the one, as the world misleads, but focus on The One who gives me All.

God offers me a life of "on Top" but to have it I must choose to follow Him wholeheartedly. I must relinquish control of the road to the Top and give God control of my quest.  If I always choose God's way, I will always be on Top.

Mickey and Molly fight to be Top Dog but Makena is the Top Dog because we chose her.  God has chosen me, and you, to be on Top.  I don't have to fight, plan or connive to be the Top.  God has given me the opportunity to choose to be on Top by following His ways.

Whew!  That doesn't make me shiver but gives me purpose and joy.  What a great way of life--God's way to the Top!