Silas
Beloved of All
Your cry for healing and for God to place you in a position of strength and favor is heard, and I want to gently help you see what that promise in Deuteronomy means so you can hold it in a true and steady way.
The book of Deuteronomy is Moses speaking his final words to Israel. The name itself means second law, a restatement of God's law. Moses was about one hundred and twenty years old, near the end of his life, speaking to a new generation that had grown up in the wilderness. Many of them had not personally seen the parting of the sea or known the bondage in Egypt as their parents had. They were about to enter the land God had promised, and Moses was urging them to remember and to obey.
In that setting Moses lays out blessings and curses. One of the blessings is this, that if the people would listen to the voice of the Lord and keep His commandments, the Lord would make them the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath, lending to many and not borrowing. But that same chapter also lays out the reverse, that if they turned away, they would build houses and not live in them, plant vineyards and not enjoy them, and would become the tail and not the head, pursued by curses until they were destroyed. The point is not a phrase to be loosened or spoken as a formula to force an outcome. It is a covenant picture that obedience matters, that God sets what is right and wrong, not each person doing what is right in his own eyes, and that blessing flows from walking with Him.
That does not mean you earn healing by trying harder. We relate to God through grace because of the work of Jesus Christ, not through our own works. Grace is never a license to ignore His ways, but it is the ground on which we stand. Jesus Himself showed us how to use this book. When He was tempted He answered Satan with words from Deuteronomy, saying that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He lived that dependence perfectly for us, and through His blood we have access to the Father.
God also understands wilderness seasons. Israel wandered for forty years, and even there God was with them. Their clothing did not wear out and their feet did not swell all that time. You may feel you are in a wilderness now, waiting for healing and for fullness of life. It is not God's desire for you to stay in a place of wandering and lack, but even there He is present to help and to sustain you. He often leads His people through hard and desolate places not to prove something to Himself, for He already knows our hearts, but to show us what is in our hearts, whether we will trust Him.
So do not keep your eyes mainly on the situation or on the size of the need, or your heart will sink as you think you are not strong enough. Keep your eyes on the Lord. He is the one who fights for you, and His word says to not fear, for He is with you. Any good, any strength, any gift you have is not because you are more clever or more worthy than others, but because God in His kindness has given it.
I will pray for you now for healing according to God's wisdom and mercy, for strength in body and spirit, and for a heart fully turned toward Him. May you learn to live by every word from His mouth, to trust His grace through Jesus, to walk in obedience out of love, and to rest in His presence whether on the mountaintop or in the wilderness, knowing that He will provide what is best and will not forsake you.
The book of Deuteronomy is Moses speaking his final words to Israel. The name itself means second law, a restatement of God's law. Moses was about one hundred and twenty years old, near the end of his life, speaking to a new generation that had grown up in the wilderness. Many of them had not personally seen the parting of the sea or known the bondage in Egypt as their parents had. They were about to enter the land God had promised, and Moses was urging them to remember and to obey.
In that setting Moses lays out blessings and curses. One of the blessings is this, that if the people would listen to the voice of the Lord and keep His commandments, the Lord would make them the head and not the tail, above only and not beneath, lending to many and not borrowing. But that same chapter also lays out the reverse, that if they turned away, they would build houses and not live in them, plant vineyards and not enjoy them, and would become the tail and not the head, pursued by curses until they were destroyed. The point is not a phrase to be loosened or spoken as a formula to force an outcome. It is a covenant picture that obedience matters, that God sets what is right and wrong, not each person doing what is right in his own eyes, and that blessing flows from walking with Him.
That does not mean you earn healing by trying harder. We relate to God through grace because of the work of Jesus Christ, not through our own works. Grace is never a license to ignore His ways, but it is the ground on which we stand. Jesus Himself showed us how to use this book. When He was tempted He answered Satan with words from Deuteronomy, saying that man does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God. He lived that dependence perfectly for us, and through His blood we have access to the Father.
God also understands wilderness seasons. Israel wandered for forty years, and even there God was with them. Their clothing did not wear out and their feet did not swell all that time. You may feel you are in a wilderness now, waiting for healing and for fullness of life. It is not God's desire for you to stay in a place of wandering and lack, but even there He is present to help and to sustain you. He often leads His people through hard and desolate places not to prove something to Himself, for He already knows our hearts, but to show us what is in our hearts, whether we will trust Him.
So do not keep your eyes mainly on the situation or on the size of the need, or your heart will sink as you think you are not strong enough. Keep your eyes on the Lord. He is the one who fights for you, and His word says to not fear, for He is with you. Any good, any strength, any gift you have is not because you are more clever or more worthy than others, but because God in His kindness has given it.
I will pray for you now for healing according to God's wisdom and mercy, for strength in body and spirit, and for a heart fully turned toward Him. May you learn to live by every word from His mouth, to trust His grace through Jesus, to walk in obedience out of love, and to rest in His presence whether on the mountaintop or in the wilderness, knowing that He will provide what is best and will not forsake you.
