BIAY - Standing firm
Deuteronomy 11-13, Psalm 43
Welcome to the Bible in a Year for 2025. Intro to this series and resource links available here, plus here’s how I’m approaching this year.
Scriptures for Today:
Reflection:
Repetition, repetition, repetition (Deut. 11) - There are quite a few things in this chapter I’ve heard before. Observe these commands. Love the Lord your God and serve Him with all your heart and soul. Tie them on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. Teach them to your children… I could go on and on. There’s something about repetition. On the one hand, we could feel like our eyes will glaze over, if we’re being honest. On the other hand, however, we repetition communicates importance and reinforces memory. It has been said that when people start to interrupt you and say it back, that’s how you know you’ve finally repeated yourself enough. This is important stuff. The Israelites needed to hear it more than once. Perhaps we do too.
Differentiate yourself in worship practices (Deut. 12) - If you read behind the text, this chapter assumes that we are easily led astray. As the great hymn puts it, “prone to wander, Lord, I feel it.” That’s why it is so important to keep the worship of Yahweh, their God, distinct and separate from the worship practices of the peoples in the area. “Worship expresses faith and forms faith,” as my friend JD Walt has said so well. Once they compromise their worship, they are being formed in a different faith which cannot help but lead to expressing a different faith too.
Hold firm to the faith you were taught (Deut. 13) - Building on the last chapter, the dire consequences of idolatry and being led astray to worship other gods is again a major concern. This reminds me of Paul’s exhortation to the Thessalonian church: “So then, brothers and sisters, stand firm and hold fast to the teachings we passed on to you, whether by word of mouth or by letter.” Stand firm and hold fast. The opposite of what we might describe today as “playing fast and loose.”
Questions:
What have you spiritually benefitted from by practicing repetition?
Do you see modern temptations to blend worship of God with worship of other “gods”?
What else might the Holy Spirit be speaking with you about in the text today?
Prayer: Lord, grant me discernment and determination to stand firm and hold fast to worship and devotion to you. Amen.
“But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.” (Matthew 13:23)
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