Apr 3 - 9 Moses Lives To 120

OK, I have to tell you the reading and blogging everyday has become a little overwhelming. Now I read how much stuff had to be done in the old testament with setting up, breaking down and moving the Temple and it seems a little weird that I would be overwhelmed with reading. Then I think about all that we do now adays with work, side businesses, kids and day to day issues I guess it can snowball before you know it. So from time to time I may be doing some bulk blogging. The main thing I want to take out of all of this is my devotional time with God. I can't sacrifice that just to stick to a regiment that I'm finding hard to keep up with now and again. The old testament right now is a lot of reading and zzzzzzzzzzz uh not necessarily boring but very loooooooooooong, drawn out and repetitive.

The big thing I've found over the last few days is that the Lord is a jealous God and he tells the people of Israel that, through Moses, many times. He is going to give them the land across the Jordan but makes it very clear if they stray and start worshipping false gods and statues he's going to turn from them and curse them and their towns, flocks, fruit baskets....etc. "Just as the Lord has found great pleasure in causing you to prosper and multiply, the Lord will find pleasure in destroying you. You will be torn from the land you are about to enter and occupy." I would think that statement alone would keep anyone from going astray after everything they had seen with the Lords power.

"Today I have given you the choice between life and death, between blessings and curses. Now I call on the heaven and earth to witness the choice you make. Oh, that you would choose life, so that you and your descendants might live! You can make this choice by loving the Lord your God, obeying him, and committing yourself firmly to him. This is the key to your life. And if you love and obey the Lord, you will live long in the land the Lord swore to give your ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob." This was the statement Moses gave to the people of Israel after he finished giving them all the instructions from the Lord. Moses wrote all the instructions in a book and gave it to the priests who carried the Ark of the Lord's Covenant. He gave them this command "At the end of every seventh year, the Year of Release, during the Festival of Shelters, you must read this Book of Instructions to all the people of Israel when they assemble before the Lord your God at the place he chooses."

The Lord then says to Moses "The time has come for you to die. Call Joshua and present your selves at the Tabernacle, so that I may commission him there." He then gives Moses a song that he recites to the assembly of Israel. He also added that they need to "Take Heart all the words of warning I have given you today." he says the instructions are not empty words-they are their lives!. Then Moses gives blessings to the people of Israel to each individual tribe. I'm just reading about it and am exhausted I can only imagine living it!