Originally posted: 08/04/2019
I wondered, where are You Lord, in this?
Initially I had more questions than answers after reading through Deuteronomy 21, especially when reading about wives. After all, I am one; and I confess I was more than perplexed to discover a husband could let a wife go if she didn’t please him, or it appears he could even choose to have two.
I was reminded of the hardness of hearts that sometimes ushers in an edict of God.
They said to Him, “Why then did Moses command to give her a certificate of divorce and send her away?” 8 He said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart Moses permitted you to divorce your wives; but from the beginning it has not been this way,” (Matthew 19:7-8).
But I wanted to see God, not man’s heart. I desperately wanted Him to increase, that man would decrease. And I wondered, where are You Lord, in this?
And something beyond description emerged off the page. There He was, in the midst of my confusion, in the midst of my questions still lacking answers, He Was There.
Consider Him Who Was There
- He Was There, as the innocent blood in the midst of God’s people.
- “‘Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel,’” (21:8).
- And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent,” (Luke 23:46-47).
- And Jesus, crying out with a loud voice, said, “Father, into Your hands I commit My spirit.” Having said this, He breathed His last. 47 Now when the centurion saw what had happened, he began praising God, saying, “Certainly this man was innocent,” (Luke 23:46-47).
- “‘Forgive Your people Israel whom You have redeemed, O Lord, and do not place the guilt of innocent blood in the midst of Your people Israel,’” (21:8).
- He Was There, to remove the bloodguiltiness.
- “And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. 9 So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst…” (21:8-9).
- The next day he saw Jesus coming to him and said, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” (John 1:29).
- “And the bloodguiltiness shall be forgiven them. 9 So you shall remove the guilt of innocent blood from your midst…” (21:8-9).
- He Was There, put to death for the sins worthy of death.
- “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,” (21:22).
- For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit; (1 Peter 3:18).
- “If a man has committed a sin worthy of death and he is put to death, and you hang him on a tree,” (21:22).
- He Was There, hanged on a tree and accursed of God.
- “…his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance,” (21:23).
- Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree” (Galatians 3:13).
- “…his corpse shall not hang all night on the tree, but you shall surely bury him on the same day (for he who is hanged is accursed of God), so that you do not defile your land which the Lord your God gives you as an inheritance,” (21:23).
How do we respond to Him Who Was There?
Not having answers to some of our questions can certainly be challenging to our faith. Two important truths come to my mind when confronted by formidable questions.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts,” (Isaiah 55:8-9).
“The secret things belong to the Lord our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our sons forever, that we may observe all the words of this law,” (Deuteronomy 29:29),
We will never have all the answers… that is a human impossibility after all. But in His Word, God has revealed secret things to us. And what has been revealed is meant to impact our lives with faith and obedience.
Let us daily look to Him with eyes of faith that we may clearly see Him Who Was There, revealed in every page of Scripture. From the very beginning, He was There.
knowing that you were not redeemed with perishable things like silver or gold from your futile way of life inherited from your forefathers, 19 but with precious blood, as of a lamb unblemished and spotless, the blood of Christ. 20 For He was foreknown before the foundation of the world, but has appeared in these last times for the sake of you 21 who through Him are believers in God, who raised Him from the dead and gave Him glory, so that your faith and hope are in God, (1 Peter 1:18-21).
- Let us place our faith in what only Jesus, the One without sin, accomplished for us.
- He Was There, as the innocent blood in the midst of God’s people.
- He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him, (2 Corinthians 5:21).
- He Was There, as the innocent blood in the midst of God’s people.
- Let us embrace His love that has removed the bloodguiltiness of our sin.
- He Was There, to remove the bloodguiltiness.
- But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, (Romans 5:8-9).
- But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. 9 Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him, (Romans 5:8-9).
- He Was There, to remove the bloodguiltiness.
- When we feel unworthy of His grace, we must remember it is His grace, not our goodness, that enables us to be brought to God.
- He Was There, put to death for the sins worthy of death.
- For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit, (1 Peter 3:18).
- He Was There, put to death for the sins worthy of death.
- May we daily consider all He endured on our behalf, crucified and accursed, that we would be spared the punishment we deserve.
- He Was There, hanged on a tree and accursed of God.
- But he endured the suffering that should have been ours,
the pain that we should have borne.
All the while we thought that his suffering
was punishment sent by God.
5 But because of our sins he was wounded,
beaten because of the evil we did.
We are healed by the punishment he suffered,
made whole by the blows he received.
6 All of us were like sheep that were lost,
each of us going his own way.
But the Lord made the punishment fall on him,
the punishment all of us deserved, (Isaiah 53:4-6 GNT).
- But he endured the suffering that should have been ours,
- He Was There, hanged on a tree and accursed of God.
And as we think on Him Who Was There, and His indescribable gift, how can we not live life captivated by gratitude each and every day?
Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15).