Only As God Sees Fit

Deuteronomy 12:8-10 -  You are not to do as we do here today, everyone doing as they see fit,  since you have not yet reached the resting place and the inheritance the Lord your God is giving you.  But you will cross the Jordan and settle in the land the Lord your God is giving you as an inheritance, and he will give you rest from all your enemies around you so that you will live in safety.

Moses last speech was a long one.  It has spanned 12 chapters….with no end in sight yet.  This portion deals mostly with where the Israelites were to take their offerings and tithes.  It also reminds them that worshiping God any other way than how God directed them would be completely unacceptable.

The phrase Moses used…you are not to do as we do here today as every man sees fit…really caught my spirit. My heart felt the sting of truth in his words… feeling that surely all the evil bombarding the world today is a direct result of man’s insufficiency in keeping this command.

We have become a nation of hedonistic Christians… each religion stating its own theology and rules. Some are completely Bible based…others are completely founded on other works.  Some Bible based religions take only what they want from the Bible…and stretch the truth so blatantly its distortions are easily caught by a faithful follower of God.  Others stretch the truths so craftily…many are fooled easily by their doctrines.

I needed the reminder that God’s way is recorded for me.. the answer is clear….we have to get back to the basics of the Bible.  The problem is that you will never get all people to agree that this is true. It is simply easier to find a religion that fits your needs…or even make up a new one…than to adjust your thinking to the truth Moses recorded for us here.

Father…thank you for the reminder that you demand my praise and worship on your terms only.  Forgive me for the times that I have allowed anything else to sway my thoughts to ways that are just not your ways.  Help me to cling even closer to the truths you set down for me in the Bible…so my faith will stand strong …even as the world around me is deceived in every way.  Amen.