The Meaning Of Life

https://biblehub.com/nkjv/deuteronomy/7.htm

There were seven nations occupying the Promised Land, all stronger and more powerful than the Israelites, but God promised them victory. His only condition was to move all of them out, every one of them, and not to create a covenant with them, and not to intermarry with their sons and daughters ecause the Israelites would turn away from God and, as they had before, start worshiping other Gods and sacrificing children to Baal or Molech.

Why did God want this? I believe that those seven nations were so evil, that they were absolutely refusing to turn back to God and be His children again. Remember, Esau married out of the family just to spite Jacob; that is who God was dealing with, spiteful, angry, people that had turned to other gods, and were sacrificing children on the altar instead of animals. And what is the difference between the pagans killing children to suffice their gods, and today when women are aborting their babies for their own gods, themselves? God instructed the Israelites to show “no mercy” against these pagans.

Did God hate them? Certainly not, they were His children. But they were full of unrepentant sin, and God knew that they would easily overtake the entire world. And it is no different than today.

Today people are non-believers. People turn away from God because His rules cramp their lifestyle. Many think it is funny to mock God and the Bible, calling Him names like “Sky Daddy” and calling the Bible a “fairy tale”. And to be honest, most of it is our own fault.

Many turn away from God because of bad experiences at church. People who confess to be Christians but are not, modern day Pharisees if you will, have rejected people trying to find God.

Remember the story about the church’s new pastor who, on his first day, dressed as a homeless person to see how his congregation would act. Most shunned him, and finally they asked him to sit on the back row. Doesn’t sound very Christian like; Jesus sat down and ate with the sinners, the tax collectors, and the prostitutes. So many of the people that have turned from God have done so because they have seen people who profess to be Christians, and they want no part of being like them.

And as we will see in the future, the Israelites did not follow God’s instructions, and while I am in full support of Israel today because they are still God’s Chosen, they wouldn’t be at war all the time had they taken care of the pagans in the first place, 3,000 years ago.

Furthermore, because of Abraham’s impatience, because he did not have faith in God to give him an heir through his barren wife Sarah, the conflicts may not have even started at all.

Did you know that the Muslim religion believes in the same God we do? The difference is they believe the birthright belonged to Ishmael since he was first born, and that is where the difference lies. Had Abraham waited for God, Isaac would surely have been the first born and there wouldn’t have been conflict to start with. And to make things even worse, it was because of Sarah’s jealousy that they even went so far as to kick Hagar and Ismael out of the tribe, and sent them away. And while I am a follower of Christ, who descended from Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, I can understand how Muslims may feel.

The rest of the chapter talks about the blessings God will bestow on the children of Israel if they follow His instructions. If they take over the land, remain true to God, and resist the urge to intermarry and worship other Gods, He promises to make their land bountiful, their livestock strong, He would bless them with many children and promised that no woman would be barren, and He promised to withhold the plagues they saw in Egypt, and He would remove all sickness from them. Instead, God would send those sicknesses and plagues and infertility, and all the other bad things on the enemies of Israel.

And as we will read, Israel failed to fulfill their promise to God.

I know being faithful is hard. Every single day is a battle between good and evil, God and Satan, an internal battle within us to resist temptation and remain faithful to God. But can you imagine the blessings we would have if we remain steadfast? God promised the children of Israel no sickness. Imagine how nice it would be to never suffer a disease because we followed God’s rules. Unfortunately, we do not. And even when we try our hardest, we may end up like Job, with Satan testing our faith. We must remain loyal and true to God. We cannot fall to the temptations of Satan. And when bad things do happen to us, because we all know bad things happen to good people, we must be like Job and not blame our problems on God.

There is a lesson in each book of the Bible, each chapter, each verse. Let the Bible be our guide as to how we live. Because the true “meaning of life” is hidden in God’s word.

Amen.