Today, I am reading and commenting on  Deuteronomy 3-4.

I take three points away from today’s passage.  First, we need to make sure that we do not forget what we have seen God do in our lives and we need to tell the next generation the ways in which we have witnessed God act.  Related to and extending that, we need to pass on to the next generation what the generations which preceded us told us about what God had done in the past.  Or, to put it another way, we need to study history, in particular the history of what God has done, and learn the lessons which it teaches us about listening to God and obeying His commands.  Second, we need to make sure that we do not mistake God’s Creation, or any part of it, for God Himself.  While we can admire the beauty and majesty of God’s Creation, we must not allow ourselves to worship any part of it.  The Sun, the Moon, the stars, mountains, forests, wilderness, etc. none of those things  should be worshiped.  Finally, we must not make the mistake of thinking that we can add, or subtract, from the Laws which God has laid down.  This raises a temptation which some fall into of worshiping the Laws which God laid down, which violates that second principle we are taught here.  This last principle is complicated by the decision of the Jerusalem Council recounted in the Book of Acts.  The New Testament gives us an account of a new covenant which God has entered into with mankind.  It does not invalidate the covenant which is described here.  Instead, it offers us an alternative way to reconcile with God.

I use the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.