Deuteronomy 4:7-9
New International Version 1984 (NIV1984)
7 What
other nation is so great as to have their gods near them the way the Lord our God is near us whenever we
pray to him? 8 And what other nation is so great as to have
such righteous decrees and laws as this body of laws I am setting before
you today?
9 Only be careful, and watch yourselves
closely so that you do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them
slip from your heart as long as you live. Teach them to your children and to their children after them.
Today as I began to look at
scriptures and ask the Lord what He wanted me to write about, prayer, came to my mind. So I went to the concordance of my Bible and
began looking for scriptures regarding prayer and this was the first one that
was listed. When I read it, I thought, “How
fitting for the beginning of this week as we once again face a decision making
time in our nation.”
These were the words of Moses to
the Israelite people but as I read them, I could see how they are the words for
the United States of America as well. I
know I have readers from other countries and maybe these words describe your
country too but I only know of the foundation by which our nation was
established and that was through the belief in a One True God.
Against all odds people of God
left their home country to come to a place where they could be free to worship
God without rules and regulations of another nation. Against all odds a country was established
that proclaimed a trust in God not a trust in gods. This was no mistake and I truly believe that
God was in the midst of these pilgrims as they began a new way or should I say
an old way of following and trusting Him.
Children learned to read using
their only textbook, the Bible. The
teachings of God were instilled in them from the time they were old enough to
learn. Our judicial system was based on
the ten commandments, our coins stamped with “In God we Trust” and we were free
to attend any church of our choosing, no established religion but a faith in God.
The problem today is, other gods are creeping in to our nation and the
values and beliefs that this nation was founded on do not hold as true today as
they did even 10 years ago and even further from the values and beliefs of 200
years ago. We can no longer have prayer
in our schools and the Bible readings we used to hear in our schools are no
longer permitted. Why? Partly because of the Protestants and
Catholics who could not agree on which Bible should be read and so they decided
that they would teach their children on their own. Now, it is on the churches and the parents to
teach the children the ways of the Lord.
Yet many of our churches have fallen away from the traditional Sunday
school hour and our children are not being taught as they once were. Our school systems have struggles not just
with teenagers but with the three and four year old students who are entering
the door with no structure and no discipline in their lives. We are not teaching our children in our
homes, in our schools or in our churches which is a frightening place to be.
In regards to prayer, have you
ever heard someone say, “My prayers hit the ceiling” implying that they didn’t
think their prayers traveled high enough to God? These verses tell us that God is near to us
when we pray. If our prayers are not
getting heard by God maybe we have placed another god in His place. Because when we pray to God those prayers don’t
have to travel up and they don’t have to go far because He is near. Although Moses was speaking to the Israelites,
Jesus came to save all of us, not just them.
So, what was true for the Israelites is true for us today. Pray to God, put all other gods out of the
picture and pray to Him, the One True God.
Verse 9 makes it clear that we
need to watch ourselves that we do not become like the Israelites who adopted
the ways of other people, accepted their gods, they forgot about the powers of
the Lord, how He saved them from their enemies.
They forgot about the parting of the Red Sea, they began to complain
about what they didn’t have rather than what they had. They disregarded teaching these truths to
their children and their grandchildren.
Does this sound like any nation that you may know? I urge you, no matter where you live, honor
God with your lips, teach the children His ways, destroy any idols that are in
your life. Do not accept the gods that
are not true but cling to the One True God.
He isn’t far away, He is waiting for us to call upon His name, He is near.
Those of you who are voting in
the United State of America this week, pray for our nation that we will be the
nation that our forefathers intended for us to be, pray that we will be the
nation that our Father in Heaven intended us to be. I am convinced that we would not be a nation
at all if it were not for God. When I
look at how our nation was won, the men who fought for it were few compared to
the established nation that was in opposition yet the Lord allowed this to be a
new nation and I truly believe that if it were not so the outcome would have
been very different.
We are one nation under God, and
if we act that way, we will be indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.
Pray for our nation that we will remember and teach our children and that we
would spread the good news throughout this world. Seek Him and know that He is near.
Seeking Him with all my heart,
Sheila
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