Take a moment to read Deuteronomy 1 before reading the devotional below.
“Do you remember when we were little?” Several years ago, I sat with a good friend. As we drank coffee together, this question arose. We talked about his family and mine. We talked about the influences that made us who were became as adults. As the coffee drained away and the night wore on into the morning, we talked and talked. Of all the stories we could have told, we reminisced about just a few – telling them in detail, savoring the memory. Why? Because those few stories became defining moments in our lives.
As we begin to read the book of Deuteronomy together, one of the key themes in the book is to remember. The book is a series of speeches by Moses. Moses had been leading God’s people from the time they were slaves in Egypt, through a generation-long ramble through the desert, and up to the present moment. God’s people, the nation of Israel, were on the brink of a special portion of land that God had promised them. Moses was old, however, and he would die before they began to take over that promised land. Moses knew his leadership was ending, and he was determined to encapsulate everything that the Israelites had learned about being the people of God under his leadership. Deuteronomy is the text from his final speeches.
In Deuteronomy, we will have the opportunity to listen in on Moses’ final words as a leader. Moses had encountered God face-to-face. He had been used by God to do miracles for as long as anyone could remember. God had personally handed him the ten commandments. For years and years, Moses had learned from and obeyed God. He had been faithful in carrying out the most significant parts of God’s plan in his generation. If we take the time to listen, we have much we can learn.