Deuteronomy 31:16-18 "And the LORD said unto Moses, Behold, thou shalt sleep with thy fathers; and this people will rise up, and go a whoring after the gods of the strangers of the land, whither they go to be among them, and will forsake me, and break my covenant which I have made with them. (17) Then my anger shall be kindled against them in that day, and I will forsake them, and I will hide my face from them, and they shall be devoured, and many evils and troubles shall befall them; so that they will say in that day, Are not these evils come upon us, because our God is not among us? (18) And I will surely hide my face in that day for all the evils which they shall have wrought, in that they are turned unto other gods."
The people will shortly be going into the Promised Land. The Lord has called
Moses and Joshua into the tabernacle of the congregation. Here He is telling
Moses that he will die shortly and Joshua will be the new leader to take the
people across the Jordan River. I wonder who the people would have chosen
to be their leader. I wonder if they would have chosen someone different; yet,
the Lord had been grooming Joshua for this position from the very time they
left Egypt. But He had especially been preparing him from the time of the
twelve spies going into the land. Because Joshua was God's choice, we can know
he was the right choice.
But there is something else that God is saying to Moses and Joshua. The people
are going to go after "the gods of the of the strangers of the land."
They are going to forsake the Lord and will suffer the consequences of doing
so. God is never caught off guard. He is saying, before it happens, that
the people will forsake (turn away) from Him. The people will break the
covenant which God made with them. What was that covenant? "For the
LORD your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies,
to save you." (Deuteronomy 20:4) He had promised to fight their
battles for them as long as they would walk with Him. But He knew there
would be a time when they would turn away from Him.
Notice God's words concerning this: "I will forsake them, and I will hide
my face from them, and they shall be devoured" Is this a
contradiction to other places where God had said, "I will never forsake
you"? I think not. In the instances of which God is
foretelling Moses and Joshua, the people are the ones turning away from God and
He would not turn with them. In so doing, they were forsaking God and indeed
turning away from Him whereas He is always steadfast and never changes.
They turned their backs upon the Lord. There are consequences when we do
so. As a result, the people were turned in one direction and the face of
God was in the right direction. The two ways were contrary.
Again, I see these verses being the foundation for Solomon's prayer of
dedication for the new temple. "If my people, which are called by my
name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their
wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will
heal their land." (2 Chronicles 7:14) God never turns His face away
from us; but, it is hidden from us when we turn away from Him. May we in
America today humble ourselves before the Almighty God. May we spend much time
in prayer, seeking His face. Jesus said, "Ask, and it shall be given you;
seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you.' (Matthew 7:7)
But we must humble ourselves to ask and seek and knock. The Lord
has promised to answer.