'If from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul. When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him...
'…Ask now about the former days, long before your time, from the day God created human beings on the earth; ask from one end of the heavens to the other. Has anything so great as this ever happened, or has anything like it ever been heard of? Has any other people heard the voice of God speaking out of fire, as you have, and lived? Has any god ever tried to take for himself one nation out of another nation, by testings, by signs and wonders, by war, by a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, or by great and awesome deeds, like all the things the Lord your God did for you in Egypt before your very eyes?
'You were shown these things so that you might know that the Lord is God; besides him there is no other. From heaven he made you hear his voice to discipline you. On earth he showed you his great fire, and you heard his words from out of the fire. Because he loved your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength, to drive out before you nations greater and stronger than you and to bring you into their land to give it to you for your inheritance, as it is today.
'Acknowledge and take to heart this day that the Lord is God in heaven above and on the earth below. There is no other. Keep his decrees and commands, which I am giving you today, so that it may go well with you and your children after you and that you may live long in the land the Lord your God gives you for all time.' (Deuteronomy 4.29-40, NIV.)
“If from where you are you will seek the Lord your God, you will find Him, if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul.” In so many countries, so many places, desperate people are crying out to God in prayer. How do we seek God, how do we pray? Do you go away alone, or pray with others? Do we need to be in a special, undisturbed sanctified atmosphere? But Moses says simply vv29-31, “If, from where you are, when you are in tribulation, when all these things are coming against you, even in the last days, if you will turn to the Lord and be obedient to His Voice – for the Lord Your God is a merciful God – He will not forsake you nor destroy you” – God will answer!
IF you will be obedient…! This is a massive challenge to us. We hope, we expect God will keep His Promises. He says He will. And He does! But I also believe it is conditional on us – if we want that blessing from God, we ourselves must be obedient to His Voice and keep our promises to Him. It’s so easy to make promises but not keep them! I’ve had to make a determination that if I make a promise, especially on the mission field, I must keep it. If I say I will be there, I will be there. Even before Ukraine declared independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, I received an invitation to hold evangelism in one of their cities. But when I got there, they hadn’t really believed I would come, they hadn’t expected me! Fortunately, the Holy Spirit had prepared a great miracle – somehow, we got permission to take the open-air Summer Theatre, and the meetings were advertised and transmitted city-wide on their Soviet loud-speaker system from every lamp-post! Six blind people received their sight! But it’s a lesson, if we want God to fulfil His Promises to us, we must be faithful to fulfil our promises to Him.
Moses moves on, v32ff, “Ask now of the days that are past, since God created man on the earth, and ask from one side of heaven to the other, has there ever been any such thing as great as this is, or has ever been heard like it?” – Moses is reminding the Israelites of their deliverance out of Egypt and the crossing of the Red Sea – the biggest miracle ever seen in the world! If you count the women and children, it must have been 2 million people – plus all their animals and possessions! And the miracle is all the greater, because when Pharoah’s army tried to follow them, the waters closed on them and they were destroyed! Ex 14. – “Or did ever people hear the Voice of God speaking out of the midst of fire, as you have heard and lived?” Moses reminds the people of when they heard God on Mount Sinai speaking as out of a fiery furnace. Ex19.
Moses continues in v34, “Has God assayed to take for Himself any nation from another nation by tempatations, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty Hand, and by a stretched-out Arm and by great terrors – as God did for you in Egypt?” These things were within living memory! I want to remind you, from Creation God has ALWAYS worked by signs and wonders! And when I look at the ministry of Jesus, in every case, God confirmed the ministry of Jesus by the miracles He worked.
The one thing that has empowered my ministry is the miracles God has done when I obey Him! I’ve seen the most incredible miracles, just exactly as Jesus said would happen. In the midst of trouble, God moves in a mighty, powerful way! Why? V35 gives the answer, “These things were shown you, that you might KNOW the Lord is God!”
Moses says to the people of Israel in v35, the great miracles you have seen, were shown to you that you might KNOW that our God is Lord, there is no other! In v36, “Out of heaven, He made you to hear His Voice that He might instruct you, and on earth He showed you His great Fire, and you heard His Words out of the midst of the Fire.”
God is speaking to us, sometimes even through tribulation and war! In my life, God spoke to me through cancers, through my imprisonment in a communist prison. Yes, He spoke to me through these things.
And I believe God is speaking to the world now through the circumstances in which we find ourselves. How? Sometimes He speaks through His prophets, but He reveals Himself and speaks to you and me through the Holy Spirit! When I hear the Voice of God, it’s not God Himself in front of me, but revealed by the Holy Spirit. John 16:13-14; 1 Cor 2:9-14. The Holy Spirit, who is God and dwells in us, reveals the ‘deep things of God’, the things He has prepared for those of us who love Him! We need to have THIS relationship with the Holy Spirit so that He CAN speak to us! He will lead us into ‘all Truth and reveal the things to come’. So often we are consumed with all our other issues and don’t hear the Holy Spirit...
We must keep His Commandments! God through the Holy Spirit is revealing them to you. It’s so important! Moses is very strong, v40, we must keep His Commandments, that it ‘may go well with you and your children’! If you want the Power of God in your life, you have to obey Him! Deuteronomy 4:2 and the last words of the Book of Revelation agree, do not add or take away anything from the Commandments of the Lord your God, if you take anything out of the words of this Book of Prophecy, your name will be taken out of the Book of Life!