Deuteronomy 10 – 12

Verse 10:20 is a simple key to living for God:

So fear the Eternal your God; serve Him, and be devoted to Him. Show your loyalty by swearing oaths only in His name. 

Don’t drift, don’t wane and don’t chase other distractions, focus only on Him. It’s a very simple and easy to understand directive yet is so difficult to follow. Think about how much the people of Israel drifted after being release from Israel, so imagine how difficult it is after 3500 years without an event like parting of the Red Sea to remember. On a positive note we have a personal “coach” in the Holy Spirit who tend to help us stay focused.

Verse 11:26 keeps simplicity going:

Look, you’ve got two choices: you can be blessed, or you can be cursed.

One often looks at life as a bunch of peaks and valleys with “blessing” and “curses”. You really have two options, follow God and live the “blessed” life or don’t and miss out. Now one of the fallacies we tend to get trapped in is “blessed” means “easy”. Often “blessing” are harder than “curses” since we are fighting the flesh. How many times have you been in fellowship with God only to have your dreams crushed?

I know I have a few times, but as with most things I learn sometimes decades later that God was working with me and training me for the “blessings” in the future. Think about wealth, everyone wants the “easy” win or “blessing” to get fixed without thinking that once that happens it only means you will just drift back unless you really “learn” your lessons.

Verse 13:15 got me thinking if “legalism” took over the “Law”:

However, if you just want to have meat for a meal, if the Eternal your God has blessed you and you can afford it, you can do that in your own towns. Slaughter the animals and eat them there. It’s not a sacred meal, so people don’t need to be ritually pure to eat it, and it can be a gazelle or a deer.

Does this mean pork is ok for food but not for sacrifices? I believe not since the gazelle and deer meet other qualifications. Also, we know now science shows why God protest us from unclean food because toxins are moved out to the flesh. These “unclean” animals are the garbage processors for the world, so let them do their job! Now we know it’s not a sin to eat pork based on Peter’s vision, but understand it’s not the “best” food for us.

This verse is saying don’t get hung up on rituals for your food!