Deuteronomy

Deuteronomy 2: God directs the journey

Begin in prayer

Before following Israel north through lands the LORD had assigned, let us remember whose world this is. Ask God to teach our family to depend on His care and accept the limits He gives.

There is no king saved by the multitude of an army. A mighty man is not delivered by great strength.

Psalm 33:16

Father in heaven, open our eyes to understand Your wise care for Israel. Show us Jesus, who obeyed You in every step. Please turn us from demanding our own way and make us more like Him. Bless our family as we hear Your Word. In Jesus' name, Amen.

See where we're going

After encircling Mount Seir, Israel receives God's command to turn north. They must leave the lands of Esau, Moab and Ammon alone, because God has given those lands to their peoples. At the brook Zered, thirty eight years have passed since Kadesh Barnea, and the condemned men of war have died. Moses then asks Sihon for peaceful passage, but the LORD hardens Sihon's spirit and makes his heart obstinate. Sihon comes to battle, and God gives Israel his land and cities. Israel destroys the inhabitants, including women and little ones, while leaving the territory God has forbidden untouched.

As you read Deuteronomy 2, look for the answers:

Reflect together

Key truth

God directs His people with sovereign care.

The LORD had sent Israel back into the wilderness, and now He commands them to turn north. His care continued through the years when His hand also consumed the unbelieving warriors. The lands ahead belonged to Him to assign. Israel must buy food and water from their brothers, the children of Esau, since God had given Seir to Esau. Moab and Ammon also held land He had given to Lot's descendants. Moses adds that the LORD destroyed a people as tall as the Anakim for Ammon, and Israel had feared the Anakim at Kadesh. When Sihon refused passage, the LORD hardened his spirit and delivered his kingdom to Israel. The difference between passing by and taking possession rested on God's command.

How does Deuteronomy 2 show us that God directs His people with sovereign care?

God cared for Israel throughout the wilderness.

Moses says that through forty years the LORD had been with Israel and they lacked nothing. Their long delay did not mean that He had lost sight of their journey. Yet His hand was against the condemned warriors until they died.

God decides what land each nation may have.

Israel had no right to seize the land given to Esau or to Lot's descendants. They must pay their neighbours for food and water. Receiving God's gifts meant respecting the boundaries He set.

God delivered Sihon and his land to Israel.

Moses sent Sihon words of peace and asked to use the highway. Sihon refused because the LORD hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate. God delivered him to Israel, and no city proved too high for them.

Memorise

These forty years, Yahweh your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing.

Deuteronomy 2:7

Looking to Jesus in my life

Ask yourself in your heart, where do I demand my own way instead of trusting Jesus?

After forty years Moses says, “You have lacked nothing.” The LORD had known their walking through the wilderness. Their daily needs and the borders of kingdoms were both under His care.

That same God sent His Son to save people who resist His rule. Jesus obeyed His Father's will to the cross, where He bore the punishment of His people. Death could not hold Him, and He rose victorious. His completed obedience and sacrifice supply everything needed for their forgiveness.

Come to Him with your stubborn demands. Turn from sin and put your faith in the risen Lord Jesus. He receives all who rely on His mercy, and their sins are forgiven. Entrust your steps to the One who reigns over every nation.

Parent's note

Tell your children that God directs nations and cares for His people, while His judgment on Sihon's kingdom was complete. Please explain the destruction in your own words with the weight the passage gives it. Call each child to turn from sin and trust Jesus, and pray that God would give them a new heart. Please do not tell them they are saved just because they grew up in a Christian home.

Pray together

Now please close your time together in prayer. Thank God for His wise care over the journey, and bring the heart question to Him. Every child can pray, so invite each one to ask for help to trust Him.

He made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the surface of the earth, having determined appointed seasons, and the boundaries of their dwellings, that they should seek the Lord, if perhaps they might reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.

Acts 17:26-27

God of all the earth, thank You that Israel's journey was in Your hands. Please turn our stubborn hearts toward Jesus and teach us to trust His mercy. Help our family respect what belongs to others and receive Your care with thanks this week. Amen.