ASK ABOUT THE DAYS

ASK ABOUT THE DAYS

"For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth, and ask from the one side of heaven unto the other, whether there hath been any such thing as this great thing is, or hath been heard like it?" (Deuteronomy 4:32)

THE BOOK OF DEUTERONOMY contains the last words of Moses. They were spoken "across the Jordan in the wilderness, in the Arabah opposite Suph, between Paran and Tophel and Laban and Hazeroth and Dizahab" (NIV). This occasion took place eleven days journey from Horeb, where they had received the Law, and were spoken on the first day of the eleventh month of the fortieth year after their deliverance (Deut 1:1-3). It was a whole new generation, for "all the people that were men of war, which came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they obeyed not the voice of the LORD" (Josh 5:6). Forty years earlier, representatives had searched the promised land for forty days. Ten of those men brought back an evil report, discouraging the heart of the people, who then feared to enter the land as God commanded. God told them at that time, "your carcases, they shall fall in this wilderness. And your children shall wander in the wilderness forty years, and bear your whoredoms, until your carcases be wasted in the wilderness" (Num 14:32-33).

NOW, THEIR CARCASES HAVE FALLEN and been consumed in the vast wasteland in which they had journeyed for forty years. Moses himself has been forbidden to enter the promised land because, he said, "the LORD was angry with me for your sakes, saying, Thou also shalt not go in thither" (Deut 1:37). He is 120 years old, and would soon die, even though "his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated" (Deut 34:7). His final words to the people are the book of Deuteronomy. How will he speak to the people? What will he constrain them to recall?

MOSES AGAIN REHEARSED THE LAW TO THE PEOPLE – the Word God had spoken to them (1:5). He told them how he had interceded for them, how he had appointed chiefs over them, and judges to handle their disputes (1:15-16). He reviewed how they had balked at entering the promised land (1:22-31), and how they had been led day and night by Divine direction (1:33). His review was most detailed, outlining the opponents they had faced in the wilderness, the various battles they had fought, and how they had been slaves in Egypt. On every point he reasoned with them, nailing thoughts into their minds that would assist them to please the Lord in their responses.

IN OUR TEXT, MOSES ADDRESSES THOSE who grew up during the wilderness wanderings. Some of them were born as Israel wandered. Others were infants when they were delivered from Egypt. Even those who were under twenty when they were delivered had much of their recollections erased by "that great and terrible wilderness" (1:19). He challenges them to "ASK" about the days that were past. Some might say we cannot live in the past, so we as well forget about it. That is not how Moses spoke! There were men among them who could remember. Ranking high among them were Joshua and Caleb. They could remember all of the details of their deliverance and wilderness wanderings. "ASK NOW," Moses says, about the days that were before you!

HE CALLS UPON THEM TO CONSIDER if there had ever been days like those since "God created man upon the earth." He does not ask them to consider Adam and Eve in the Garden, but what the Lord had done among them in prior days. He challenges them to "ask from the one side of heaven unto the other" if there is anything that can compare with what God has done among them.

AMONG THE THINGS HE MENTIONS, he recalls how they had heard the voice of God and lived (4:33). He calls upon them to inquire how God had taken one nation out of another nation "by temptations, by signs, and by wonders, and by war, and by a mighty hand, and by a stretched out arm, and by great terrors, according to all that the LORD your God did for you in Egypt before your eyes" (4:34). God had instructed them, showed them "His great fire," and brought them out of Egypt to drive out nations "greater and mightier" than they (4:36-38). Such things were great enough to ask about

FOR THE FIRST TIME IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD, since Jesus has been exalted, there is now a greater and more effective report to be heard! Sin has been put away, the devil destroyed, and principalities and powers spoiled (Heb 9:26; 2:14; Col 2:15). The world has been reconciled to God, the righteousness of God can be given to men, and men can be created anew (2 Cor 5:18-20; Rom 1:17; 2 Cor 5:17). Now, because of Christ, those in Him have access to God, access to grace, and can be strengthened with might by God's Spirit in the inner man (Eph 2:18; Rom 5:2; Eph 3:16). This is "the day of salvation," a time of newness, consolation, and strength.

WHEN HAVE SUCH THINGS EVER BEEN REALIZED among the sons of men? These are matters to be inquired into. These are realities about which questions should be asked Here are things that profit the soul in this world and in the world to come. Ask about them. Ask those who know about them, and have lived in the effects of their grandeur and influence.

– Given O. Blakely