Deuteronomy 1:1-8 – Forward with God

This chapter opens with the first address Moses gave to the new generation of the children of Israel as they stood at the threshold of the promised land. In the first verse, Moses accurately captured the location that they were at. Numbers 36:13 simply referred to this location as “the plains of Moab by the Jordan at Jericho.” They were literally at the border of the promised land. God brought this new generation to the same place where their fathers failed. They were now confronted with the same opportunity and the same promise. What God had promised to the nation was within their grasp. It was time for a decision. They could step boldly into the promise of God, or be like their fathers, act in unbelief and forfeit the promise of God.

Here is our first lesson. Our journey with God also presents to us many opportunities and promises of God. Many of them can be defining moments for us. They require that we respond to God in faith. And how we respond to those turning points will hone our walk with God and shape our character.  

In Deuteronomy 1:2 Moses brought up Kadesh Barnea. We are told that it would only require an eleven-day journey from Horeb or Mount Sinai to Kadesh Barnea. This was where God first gave the command to the people to go in and take the promised land. But their fathers did not trust God. So that eleven-day journey turned into some 38 years of wandering in the wilderness until the last generation had all died except for Joshua and Caleb.  Here is lesson two. Disobedience always turns God’s promises into a nightmare for us. Years could be wasted foolishly and needlessly because of disobedience.

In Deuteronomy 1:6, Moses went back in time to refer to what God told the children of Israel at Horeb. Verse 8 captures for us what God said to them then, “See, I have placed the land before you; go in and possess the land which the Lord swore to give to your fathers, to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, to them and their descendants after them.” As far as God was concerned, He would keep His words to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The first generation, by their refusal to enter the land because of unbelief, had voided the promise of God. But God would never break a promise. So this new generation had arrived at the same place. The same opportunity and promise were before them. Here God gave the nation a second chance to possess the land.

Here is lesson three: sin and failure could never make God go back on His word. He will bring to pass whatever promise He has made. As Paul so aptly put in 2 Timothy 2:13, “If we are faithless, He remains faithful, for He cannot deny Himself.” This is the God whom we worship and serve. God will never fail us. With His help let’s seek to reciprocate His faithfulness by trusting and obeying Him.