Devarim - July 17, 2021

Torah Portion:
Devarim - July 17, 2021
Torah: Deuteronomy 1:1-3:22
Haftarah: Isaiah 1:1-27

Portion Summary:
—Moses recounts the time immediately after the exodus.
—He narrates the wilderness journey up to taking possession of the holdings east of the Jordan, and of the battles fought along the way.

Devotional by Janet Cothrell:

“When Adonai heard the tone of your words, He was angry and swore an oath saying, ‘Not one of these men of this evil generation will see the good land that I swore to give your fathers…’“ Deuteronomy 1:34-35 (TLV)

“Adonai was even angry with me on your account, saying, ‘You will not enter there, either.’” Deuteronomy 1:37 (TLV)

Moses gave voice to his anger and regret because of the people’s faithless response when they were in formed of the Land’s goodness and the challenges therein. The people’s refusal to follow God’s commands would later result in the people’s grumbling at Meribah. Moses’ angry reaction to their complaining (along with his own obedience failures) carried a great consequence—he would lose the privilege of entering the Land. Here Moses is rightfully expressing that had the people just responded in faith, the incident at Meribah would not have happened. His bitterness at the opportunities that were lost is evident.

The truth was that the people who had come out of Egypt were just not ready to trust God even though they had experienced His deliverance. Instead of acting in faith because they experienced His acts of mercy and deliverance toward them and heard His promises of life and prosperity in the Land, they chose to trust in their own meager strength (which would prove to not be enough). It would take the “schooling" of the wilderness to produce a new generation of strong, faithful children who had heard all the stories and seen the presence of God in the camp to take up the challenge in faith and joy.

Have you got things that you remember with regret from the past? There are times when our lack of wisdom, knowledge, and faith caused us to make bad decisions and take the wrong paths. Even though there is nothing we can do to change the past, we should remember that that life is full of wilderness experiences and that our God and teacher is patient. The only thing we need to regret is if we fail to learn. While we won’t reach “the Land” in this life, we must continue to progress through the wilderness. We can gain wisdom, understanding, and a strong faith that will allow us to reach farther and higher than ever before.

My Lord and teacher,
My thanks for Your patient and merciful consideration of me. I have regrets for not listening, not seeing, and not acting as I should have in the past. I give these regrets to You, and ask that You continue to fashion my path, and that I will learn more and more to listen to You and trust You for everything.
In Yeshua’s name, amen.