Today’s Bible Reading: DEUTERONOMY 31:30-32:52, PSALM 90
Deut 31:10-13
Then Moses commanded them: “At the end of every seven years, in the year for canceling debts, during the Festival of Tabernacles, when all Israel comes to appear before the LORD your God at the place he will choose, you shall read this law before them in their hearing. Assemble the people—men, women and children, and the foreigners residing in your towns—so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law. Their children, who do not know this law, must hear it and learn to fear the LORD your God as long as you live in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.”
We need a plan. A plan typically helps us stay on point and be productive. Lack of a plan limits productivity. One plan that many of us struggle with is to maintain is consistent Bible reading. Amidst the plethora of Bible reading plans, it is easy to pick one but it is hard to persevere in doing it. It is not our desire that is in question, but our discipline. We strive, but don’t succeed.
This is evident by current statistics. A recent report states that approximately 77% of adult Americans own a Bible, but only 1 in 5 has read the whole Bible. It further reports that 1 in 4 adult Americans have never read more than a few sentences from the pages of scriptures. Basically, the Bible has become a research book utilized when a crisis or concern arises. They are curious about scripture but not committed enough to study it. The most striking statistic from this 2022 study was that approximately 26 million Americans had “mostly or completely stopped reading the Bible”.
The Lord knows the nature of man. He sees how the Israelites (and all believers) can be “rebellious and stiff-necked” (Deut, 31:26). He observes how they disregard and disrespect His word. They seem to forget and then forsake what He has said. Because of this, He devised a plan of Bible intact for them to practice. He installed a seven-year plan for them to implement upon entering the Promised Land.
The Lord devised His plan to keep His Law before the people. Only the priests had a copy of the Book of the Law. They were tasked with instructing the people in the Law. This was impossible to do with a widely dispersed group of people, so God planned for it to be done at a time when they would all be together. The reciting of His word was conducted at the seven-day Feast of Tabernacles where all the men of Israel and their families were to gather together before the Lord in Jerusalem. This afforded the opportunity needed for all of His word to be read to all the people including, “men, women and children, and the foreigners”. This put the principles and precepts found in His law in the presence of the people.
The plan was also developed to rekindle their reverence for the Lord and reignite their response to His Law. The text clearly states that the reason for this recitation was “so they can listen and learn to fear the LORD your God and follow carefully all the words of this law”. They were to learn it and live it. This was not merely a recitation for them to hear or a recounting of what God had said. It was a reminder of what God had commanded, a realization of their own disobedience to His decrees and a re-commitment to fear Him and faithfully follow Him. It was a seven-year renewal.
There was one final element of The Lord’s seven-year plan. He arranged for children who did not know the law “to hear it and learn to fear the Lord”. His plan presented a time for the next generation to be tutored in His truths. The Lord knew that they needed to know. Generational spiritual succession is contingent on the children loving the Lord and His word. The hope for the future of Israel rested upon the children receiving God’s word and being receptive to walking in His ways. It is the same today. We must have a plan to teach the next generation to fear and follow the Lord. They are the future of the faith.
Today evaluate your plan of Bible intake. Make revision to your strategy to ensure that you are faithfully receiving and humbly reacting to the Word of the Lord. Ask the Lord to help you fear Him and follow Him. Ask the Lord to reveal to you ways in which you can assist the next generation in receiving and responding to His word, but there is no longer a need to wait seven years.
Opmerkingen