DCLM Daily Manna December 22, 2016 by Pastor Kumuyi – One Good Turn Deserves Another

Topic: One Good Turn Deserves Another [December 22, 2016]

Text: Deuteronomy 10:12-22

Key Verse: "And now, Israel, what doth the LORD thy God require of thee, but to fear the LORD thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the LORD thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul"(Deuteronomy 10:12).

The importance of Deuteronomy in the Holy Scriptures is gleaned from the fact that it is quoted about eighty five times in the New Testament. The chief reason is its being the nutshell of laws God gave to the children of Israel in their forty years of wandering in the wilderness as they headed for the Promised Land.

If the book is Moses' parting address to the Israelites as they prepared to enter Canaan without him, it is also God's reassuring recollection of His laws which constitute life, comfort and spiritual food to the soul if adhered to. Either way, the book is unique as the last of Moses' five books. God summarises His demand from an Israel without Moses in the land flowing with milk and honey. They were not to lose their senses over this material blessing God is giving them. But only a purged heart can do so.

Circumcision is beyond what the eyes see. Purity of the heart is what the Lord Himself does to clean up saved souls and wash it from carnal deeds. Like salvation, it is not by work; it is a work of grace. When accomplished, it makes the soul submissive for service to God. Among the sinful habits that disappear when circumcision takes place is the stiff-necked nature. We cannot love God absolutely or serve Him sacrificially until every residue of iniquity has been purified. God's desire is that we live a truly victorious life free of sin, either inbred or Adamic.

Mercifully, God has provided for a believer's entire sanctification in Christ's substitutionary atonement. Let us heed Hosea's counsel to "break up [our] fallow ground...till he come and rain righteousness upon us" (Hosea 10:12).

Thought for the day: It is God's laws that guide the steps of the pilgrim.

Bible Reading in one Year: Malachi 1-4