Deuteronomy 18:9-22
It’s a Wonderful Life is not an easy movie to watch. It seems like each scene plunges deeper into the pain of brokenness in this world. George Bailey had so many problems! Watching that movie is like watching a train wreck over and over again; that is, until the end and the bell rings.
The world is a broken place. Tragedy is all around us. We’ve been watching both my mother and my father-in-law battle cancer. The Big C is one of the major named villains in our world today, but is certainly not the only culprit. We can talk about the human trafficking pandemic, political corruption, the general degradation of society, or even just heart-breaking accidents like what happened recently to 80yo Suzanne Rees, a passenger on a cruise ship who left and forgotten about on an island in the Great Barrier Reef (Wikipedia). There is nowhere we can look and not see brokenness. The list goes on and on.
As we anticipate the upcoming Christmas holiday and through that anticipate the return of our Savior and King to this earth, we are taking a look this year at some passages that might not appear to be advent-themed verses, but that help us to gain a wider appreciation for the arrival of our Savior and the work He accomplished. Last week, we talked about the promise for us as failures and this week we are talking about the wanderer: the believer who is stuck in this broken world yet longs to live for God’s will.
Our Path is Amongst the Broken
The first thing we need to understand is that we are wanderers. Consider who this passage was originally meant for. In Moses’ final sermon, inside a section where he foreshadows the future king, priest, and (in this section) prophet together, comes a challenge and call to be perfect before God while surrounded and amongst the vile, the evil, the truly broken. This was the Israelites’ mission. Their call by God was to be an example of God’s goodness and to welcome in those who came. To accomplish this, they were to be that perfect example that connects people to the desire to be restored instead of wallowing in brokenness. They must do this by living in and around this vile group of nations. They are wanderers in a land that is not theirs. Later Israelites may have seen the promised land as theirs, but those standing on the banks of the Jordan River listening to Moses knew they were squatters and wanderers. And guess what: so are you.
Scripture is clear that we, as Christians, are exiles in a foreign land and must live as witnesses of God amongst the enemies of God. This passage speaks of murderers, mediums, and abominations. Take a walk down your street and hear the screams coming from one house, or see the bruises on the woman across the street, or the smell coming from the house around the corner. You are an exile in a foreign land who is called to be an example of God’s desire to find the lost and fix the broken.
We Must Pick the Right Lifeline
We know that the Israelites would ultimately fail at being the example and were exiled to Assyria and Babylon for that very reason. Why?
“Thus says the Lord God: This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations, with countries all around her. And she has rebelled against my rules by doing wickedness more than the nations, and against my statutes more than the countries all around her; for they have rejected my rules and have not walked in my statutes. Therefore thus says the Lord God: Because you are more turbulent than the nations that are all around you, and have not walked in my statutes or obeyed my rules, and have not even acted according to the rules of the nations that are all around you, therefore thus says the Lord God: Behold, I, even I, am against you. And I will execute judgments in your midst in the sight of the nations. And because of all your abominations I will do with you what I have never yet done, and the like of which I will never do again.
Ezekiel 5:5-9
The Israelites, instead of being an example of God’s goodness, were an example of the exact opposite. This came to pass because they started listening to the wrong voices. They asked for a king to rule over them instead of God; they shunned the prophets; they ignored God’s voice. It matters who you listen to. Remember Rehoboam? He was listening to his friends and split the kingdom. Moses is overt in the importance of listening to the right voices and in this passage, he highlighted THE RIGHT VOICE: Moses is speaking here about Jesus, the ultimate prophet from the line of Israel who will speak the very words of God because He is God. And again, Moses warns them to listen to the right one, because other voices will imitate Him, yet will not be Him. Just like AI and deep fakes – they are close but are NOT. Listen to the right voice – which you’ll know, because He speaks the words of God (Bible).
Next Steps
Being a perfect example in a land of evil is an impossible task, and yes, even Jesus Himself calls us to be perfect (Mt 5:48). Thankfully, in Mt 19:26, we learn that with God, all things are possible.
- Pray that God would show you as different in your harvest field.
- Read/study scripture consistently so you can learn the Shepherd’s voice.
- Manage your influences. Who else are you listening to? Be aware.
This life is hard and it’s not that difficult to compare oneself to George Bailey. There are these great dunes in CO and to me as a young boy, they were an impossible climb. But with the right voices cheering me on, it was possible. Keep your ears on the right prophet and you’ll be that example to our lost and broken world.
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