Moses continues his warning from last week's text, "God is not going to smile upon your sin." Moses tells the people, "Watch yourselves" when it comes to their walk with the Lord. The message of "pay close attention" is not just an Old Testament warning, but a sermon that has been preached since the beginning of time.  From Noah to Paul, faithful men and women have been pleading with the world to not take their eyes off God.  Also, warning them of the grave consequences if they do!

Mankind has heard the message loud and clear.  However, man has not always been good at listening. This week's Scripture tells us that when we don't pay close attention to our faith, our obedience and worship will shift towards other things.  Often times, things that we can tangibly see.  Remember, Moses has forty years of experience of watching God's people chase things that aren't the true and living God. When people are weak and unfocused, they become vulnerable to sin.  When vulnerable, they will run towards things outside of God for help.   These "other things" are what the Bible calls idols.

Idols can be anything in our life.  Idols can be other people, ideologies, passions, and even callings.  Anything we place before God in our heart, mind, or behavior is an idol in our life.  Moses tells the children of the wilderness this week that time with idols is adultery against God and will result in hardship.

So "pay close attention"!

In Moses's wisdom, he doesn't try and scare them into faith or beat them over the heads with a thousand lectures, he reminds them of God's goodness in their life. Moses reminds them, "But the Lord has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace..."

What Moses is doing here is what today's church needs more of! We need hard words of truth, nurtured in the saving words of the Gospel.  We need to stare hell in the face while being reminded that Jesus came to rescue us from what we deserve.  As believers, we were once separated from God, slaves in our Egypt.  "But God who is rich in mercy....."
 
In this week's scripture, Moses isn't just using past lessons that were learned from mom and dad, but past realities that must shake us.  The reality that we were broken, lost, and without a home and God rescued us! How could we ever walk away from the One who saved us?

Allow the word of God to ask us the same question this week.

I pray that what even gods we are flirting with or chasing, we leave them.  I pray we run towards God in worship, filled with thanksgiving!


Stay faithful church,
Pastor Hunter

Read Ephesians 2 this week in our remembrance of God's goodness to us.