Deuteronomy 32:1-52

For Reading and Meditation:     Job 9:21-35

The more the psalmist contemplates the condition of the ungodly, the more his perplexity increases. The next verses show him to be upset over the fact that people treat the ungodly with such admiration: "Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance. They say, 'How can God know? Does the Most High...

For Reading and Meditation:     Deuteronomy 32:36-47

We turn now to focus on an aspect of God's character which for some reason many see as a blotch or blemish in the divine nature. I refer to the matter of God's wrath. Though the subject may be missing from many modern-day pulpits, it is not missing from the Bible. If you look up in a Bible concordance all the...

For Reading and Meditation:     Psalm 92:1-15

How does contemplation of God expand the soul? "The soul," says one theologian, "is at home only when it is in God." He meant, of course, that as the soul was made for God it can only function effectively when indwelt by God. Contemplation of God is like breath to the soul; it inflates it and causes it to be fully...

For Reading and Meditation:     Deuteronomy 32:28-38

We have been seeing that in the sanctuary the psalmist was reminded of the things he had forgotten, and thus his thinking was straightened out. There can be no real change in our personalities until there is a change in our thinking. Counselling that focuses only on changing behaviour and fails to emphasise the...

What is the secret spot which infallibly betokens the child of God? It were vain presumption to decide this upon our own judgment; but God's word reveals it to us, and we may tread surely where we have revelation to be our guide. Now, we are told concerning our Lord, "to as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to as many as believed on his name." Then, if I have received Christ Jesus into my heart, I am a child of God. That reception is described in...

How are they his? By his own sovereign choice. He chose them, and set his love upon them. This he did altogether apart from any goodness in them at the time, or any goodness which he foresaw in them. He had mercy on whom he would have mercy, and ordained a chosen company unto eternal life; thus, therefore, are they his by his unconstrained election.

They are not only his by choice, but by purchase. He has bought and paid for them to the utmost farthing, hence about his title there...

As a general rule, God's people cannot stand material prosperity. They thrive much better under adversity. In his parting song, Moses predicted that Israel's prosperity would ruin them spiritually: "But Jeshurun waxed fat, and kicked: thou art waxen fat, thou art grown thick, thou art covered with fatness; then he forsook God which made him, and lightly esteemed the Rock of his salvation" (Deuteronomy 32:15).

The prophecy was fulfilled in...

Canaan was divided among the ancient people of God. Each tribe had its portion. The question might have been asked, What portion has the Lord reserved for himself? The answer would have been, " The people of God are his portion. They are his peculiar possession in the earth. They are his habitation. Not merely the first fruits, not merely the Sabbaths, not merely the firstling of the flock: - all is his. The people are his; their allegiance, their service belong to him.''

So it was...

In the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled [Jacob], He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye. As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him. § Even to your old age, I am He, and even to gray hairs I will carry you! I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you.He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness for His...

The Lord your God … went in the way before you to search out a place for you to pitch your tents, to show you the way you should go, in the fire by night and in the cloud by day. § As an eagle stirs up its nest, hovers over its young, spreading out its wings, taking them up, carrying them on its wings, so the Lord alone led him. § The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord, and He delights in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down; for the Lord upholds him with His...