April 6, Day 96 – Reflecting Our Teacher and Master
- Dr. Eric Stricker
- Apr 6
- 4 min read
In Deuteronomy 2:24, God tells Moses and the Israelites to “Set out now and cross the Arnon Gorge because He has given into their hands Sihon the Amorite king of Heshbon and his country (verse 24). All along the journey, the Israelites have had nothing to fear from anyone, for God “put the terror and fear of them on all the nations under heaven” (verse 25). Given this truth, all the Israelites ever had to do was obey God and watch Him fight their battles. We notice in verses 32-33 – this is exactly what God did for them – “When Sihon and all his army came out to meet us in battle, the LORD our God delivered him over to us, and we struck him down.” In Deuteronomy 3, the Lord also gave them victory over Og, king of Bashan as well – “leaving no survivors” and providing plunder for the Israelites (verses 3-7). These advances and victories were based on the faith of the Israelites. God commanded them to “set out,” and the Israelites obeyed; they simply got up and “set out.” Through Moses, God promised to “do the same to all the kingdoms over there where you are going. Do not be afraid of them, the LORD your God Himself will fight for you” (verses 21-22). No other nation has ever experienced such blessings or fulfilled promises. In fact, we read here that God gave the Reubenites, the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh their inheritance – just what they asked for – but notice this: their inheritance was outside of the promised land, and it came to them by compromise, as we have seen - outside of God's promise. These desires were not in keeping with God’s perfect will for them, and this issue will revisit them detrimentally in the future. In verses 21-29, we note that God would not allow Moses to enter the land because of his sin, but he was allowed to view it, and then he was commanded to commission Joshua as his replacement. Finally, in chapter 4, based on the historical evidence visible to the people’s own eyes, God directed them to “observe His decrees and laws carefully; do not forget the things your eyes have seen or let them slip from your heart as long as you live” (verses 6-9).
In Psalm 41:7-13, David tells us that his “close friend turned against” him. David prophetically anticipates Jesus’ betrayal by Judas. Because of God’s mercy, David asks God to “raise” him up and “to repay” his enemies for their treachery. Here, we see four reasons to establish our confidence and knowledge “that God was pleased with David” – [1] because his enemies did “not triumph over him;” [2] because of his own “integrity;” [3] because he trusted in the promises of our God, Who is merciful and desires that we appeal to His mercy; and [4] because he “praises” (i.e., recognizes and acknowledges) that the God of Israel “is from everlasting to everlasting.” David is doing what God wants us all to do – simply to praise and acknowledge God; to recognize His attributes properly; and to trust Him implicitly.
In Luke 10:25-11:4, we see in the parable of the good Samaritan, that Jesus holds His followers to the very same ministry standards and expectations that He Himself maintained – beginning with reflecting our Teacher and Master (cf., Matthew 10:24-25) and loving God and our neighbor (verse 27). Our reflection of Christ should mirror Him and His standards. We are His representatives, and as such, our behavior is to be “worthy of Him” (cf., Matthew 10:27-28). Here, we see that the expert in the law tried to excuse himself by asking, “Who is my neighbor?” (verse 29). Typically, because we are fallen creatures, we often try to justify our actions before God, shift our responsibility elsewhere, or play the victim by blaming others. However, all our readings today reveal that Moses didn’t do this, David didn’t do it, and Jesus didn’t either, so we shouldn’t. God already knows our motives and our weaknesses, and He will add boldness and confidence to our faith if we are openly transparent with Him. Interestingly, we notice that Jesus turns the point of the expert’s question from the nominative case – “Who is my neighbor?” to the implied accusative case in His question, “Which of these three was a neighbor?” (cf., verse 36). Jesus already knows that we have neighbors, but what He really wants to know is this: are we being neighbors to our neighbors? That makes a powerful difference. Finally, in verse 42, we note another of the five “one thing” statements of Scripture. Jesus tells Martha, “one thing” is needed. From His perspective, Mary’s choice was better because “she sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what He said” (verse 39). That choice “would not be taken away from her” (verse 42).
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