Devarim “Words”
Deuteronomy 1:1–3:22
Isaiah 1:1–27
1Kings 16-18

A More Excellent Work

This week we begin the Book of Deuteronomy, including the final message of Moses to the people he has grown to love. Yes, they have given Moses many days of heartache through the forty years he has been with them, but in the end his love for them cannot be measured nor could any of the people really understand this love that he possesses. His calling is almost complete as he stands, probably with tears running down his checks at times and choking on his words, to give one last message to the Hebrews.

Moses has completed the task he was called to many years before. He delivered the people out of the bondage of Egypt and has now taken them as far as he can go. It is time to turn the reins over to another so those final steps can be walked. As we continue through this last book of Torah we will learn that even Moses knows they will not remain in The Land. The reason is that for many, forty years later their hearts are still in Egypt. We know of course that those who physically left Egypt over twenty have died in the wilderness, but the heart of Egypt was passed down to their children. Yes, they will enter The Promised Land, but in the end they will not be allowed to remain because the work of leaving Egypt was only a physical deliverance. It would take a power far greater than Moses to complete the inward work of true deliverance from Egypt.

I see this scenario of the Hebrews being lived out once again today. The “Hebrew Roots Movement” has once again done the work Moses did centuries ago. It has produced a people who have undergone a somewhat physical deliverance. It has been a deliverance of mostly externals. We no longer decorate trees and hide eggs. We look differently at what is set on a plate in front of us. We go to places and celebrate with others on dates tied to scripture. Many of us can even look to the New Moon and understand further the first verse of Genesis which tells us it is a sign. But have we truly made more progress in the journey than the Hebrews? Are we still standing on the wrong side of the river? Are we being held back from entering in because we have not allowed His work to be completed at a level which will not only allow us in The Land, but will allow us to remain in The Land?

So what is the work that is needed today? It is something I touched on last week. The work that I believe Yah desires to do in us today is the work within. He desires to not only bring us out of Egypt, but bring Egypt out of us! His desire is for deliverance and redemption that has the power to save to the uttermost instead of just getting us through another day.

How can this more perfect work happen? I do not believe it is through more study of the “Letters of The Word.” We must allow the letters to become spirit and life to our lives. We must find the place of not just seeing the Torah of Moses, but seeing the person of Yeshua, His life, His power and His deliverance within each word. If we do not seek Him in Torah, we will do just as our ancestors have done and come up short.

So now you hopefully are asking how this is done. Sorry, but I do not have the full answer. In fact, I have no answer for you at all. I only have partial answers for myself. He is showing me for me what has to be done to make His Torah not only BE in me, but also LIVE in me. Since true and total redemption is an individual matter, what He is showing me for me is for me and not for you or anyone else. The work He desires to do in you is a work for you and must be revealed to you, for you. Does that seem like a cop-out on my part? No, it sounds more like work on your part! To loosely quote Paul, each person must work out their own complete redemption with fear and trembling. There is not a one size fits all here.

We have one more thing in common with our ancestors of old and that is an individual choice to walk across the river. It was an individual choice to stay in the land or be booted out due to disobedience. This same concept holds true for us today. The work I am speaking of is a choice, not one I can make for you, nor one you can make for me.

No, I do not hold all the answers to how this work will come about. What I can tell you is this. The words of Deuteronomy hold keys for each of us. Take the time during each week’s reading to pray and ask for your keys to be revealed. Ask to see not just words for outward change and observance, but rather ask to see Him.