Location, Location, Location

PASSAGE FOR THE DAY:
1 “These are the statutes and judgments which you shall be careful to observe in the land which the Lord God of your fathers is giving you to possess, all the days that you live on the earth. 2 You shall utterly destroy all the places where the nations which you shall dispossess served their gods, on the high mountains and on the hills and under every green tree. 3 And you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and burn their wooden images with fire; you shall cut down the carved images of their gods and destroy their names from that place. 4 You shall not worship the Lord your God with such things.

5 “But you shall seek the place where the Lord your God chooses, out of all your tribes, to put His name for His dwelling place; and there you shall go. 6 There you shall take your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, your vowed offerings, your freewill offerings, and the firstborn of your herds and flocks. 7 And there you shall eat before the Lord your God, and you shall rejoice in all to which you have put your hand, you and your households, in which the Lord your God has blessed you.

8 “You shall not at all do as we are doing here today—every man doing whatever is right in his own eyes— 9 for as yet you have not come to the rest and the inheritance which the Lord your God is giving you. 10 But when you cross over the Jordan and dwell in the land which the Lord your God is giving you to inherit, and He gives you rest from all your enemies round about, so that you dwell in safety, 11 then there will be the place where the Lord your God chooses to make His name abide. There you shall bring all that I command you: your burnt offerings, your sacrifices, your tithes, the heave offerings of your hand, and all your choice offerings which you vow to the Lord. 12 And you shall rejoice before the Lord your God, you and your sons and your daughters, your male and female servants, and the Levite who is within your gates, since he has no portion nor inheritance with you. 13 Take heed to yourself that you do not offer your burnt offerings in every place that you see; 14 but in the place which the Lord chooses, in one of your tribes, there you shall offer your burnt offerings, and there you shall do all that I command you. (Deuteronomy 12:1-14, NKJV)


QUICK BACKGROUND INFO:
The entire book of Deuteronomy is a last challenge by Moses to a second generation of Israelites to remain faithful to the covenant with God.  We pick up in Deuteronomy 12 with Moses developing the covenant fellowship, and specifically, the worship of God.  This passage was written by Moses as the Israelites were getting ready to enter the promised land of Canaan, a land flowing with milk and honey, but also plagued by idolatry to false gods.  God wanted to bless His people in the Promise Land, but he didn’t want them distracted or tempted by places where the Canaanites had worshiped false gods so he instructed the Israelites to utterly destroy all of those places.  He then instructed them to seek the place where the Lord would choose and that was where they were to go to worship and make sacrifices and give tithes, and from that they would find rest and rejoice.  


REFLECTIONS:
It’s pretty cool to get to write these devotionals from this side of the cross.  Everything is so much more because of Jesus.  But let me take a moment for some “Old Testament” reflections of these verses.  Israel was given instructions by God through Moses for building a tabernacle in Exodus 25-27; the priesthood to serve in the tabernacle was declared in Exodus 28 and 29; some of the procedures to be followed were given in Exodus 30; the craftsmen in charge of producing the tabernacle were announced in Exodus 31; the construction of the tabernacle was discussed in Exodus 35-39; the tabernacle was erected and placed into service in Exodus 40:34-38.  This portable structure with its furnishings and priesthood was to be a spiritual guide for them throughout their journeys in the wilderness.  At least portions of it were significant in Israelite worship until Solomon built the temple.  In that temple many of the furnishings, including the Ark of the Covenant, played a prominent role in Israel's worship.  And yet Deuteronomy 12:1-14 makes no mention of the tabernacle, or its altar of incense, or its tables for the bread of presence, or its lamps and lampstand, or even the Ark of the Covenant.  It focuses entirely on the "where" of worship in Canaan.  In the worship instructions concerning Canaan are these main ideas:  God will select the place where He is to be sought after (v.5); the place God selects is to be the only place for national worship, sacrifices, tithes, gifts to God and redemptive acts (v.6-7); be sensitive to God’s selection of where to worship and He will provide rest and enjoyment in the Law (v.10-12); do not choose for yourself the places of worship (v.13-14).  It is interesting that the emphasis was not on worship implements, procedures, and worship directors previously stressed.  Location was key and it was all about God’s choosing.  God blessed His people with His presence in the tabernacle in the wilderness and later at Shiloh, in the temple in Jerusalem, and finally through Jesus and the Holy Spirit. 

Which leads me to my thoughts about these verses from a post Jesus perspective.  Because now God’s temple is each and every believer in Christ.  And Jesus tells us in John 4:21-24 that “true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for the Father is seeking such to worship Him.”  The funny thing is I can hear Jesus telling me some of the very things Moses was trying to get the Israelites to hear.  Things like, “Take a look around and really see the things and places you worship.  Are they Me?  Are they places I’m leading you?  Am I the sole object of your desires and devotion?  Are your worship times what I want, or what you think you should do?”  

Have you ever read the stories in the Old Testament, especially those of the Israelites in the wilderness, and thought, “How can y’all be so _______ (fill in the blank with some negative adjective, such as stupid, faithless, unappreciative, stupid)!  God has proven Himself to y’all over and over again, and you continue to doubt Him and turn your backs on Him.”  OK, hopefully I’m not the only one who reads those stories and thinks that.  It’s easy to lie on my bed and read and think I’m so different from the Israelites wandering the desert.  Until that voice whispers in my heart that I am exactly the same.  I have to be constantly corrected.  I have to constantly examine what I’m doing and who I’m doing it for.  And my worship life is no different than any other aspect of my life.  The ultimate source of worship of the God who created me must spring from a recognition of God's deservedness and from the understanding that praising God in worship is distinct from the mere attempt to be religious (which is part of why I think these verses simply speak about being in God’s presence wherever He chooses and not about any of the objects of worship). Without those two realizations, the procedures of worship and who leads worship are insignificant.  It is too easy to make worship about us and not about God.  So today, and tomorrow, and hopefully every day to come I will ask those questions that I can hear Jesus speaking, and by His grace my answers will be a resounding “YES!” much more of the time.   


WHO AM I?
I’m Jennifer Babb and I’m a sports fanatic!  I’m currently eagerly anticipating the return of football season, hoping the Rangers can turn game 1 of today’s (Monday's) doubleheader against the Diamondbacks around quick, and of course expecting the Spurs to sweep the series tonight and head gloriously into the finals (against the Heat?)!!