Stepping Into God's Blessings

The people stands at the brink of a new life, in a new land that God is giving them.

• Moses ends “his career” here with a series of sermons, before he makes his final climb up Mount Nebo and passes on from there.

• These are important, final words from a great leader, recalling all that God has done for the people, and reminding them to keep to all that God has said.

Moses talks about the WATERING of the land - 11:10-11, 11:14-15

The people have been dependent upon God, and must continue to depend on God’s PROVISION.

• Moses say, “The land you are entering to take over is not like the land of Egypt…”

• In Egypt, they can water the crops with the water from the River Nile. With little rain in Egypt, the Nile River is their main source of water.

• They dig trenches, canals, and transport water from the Nile to irrigate the land.

In that sense, the land can at least be watered by human effort.

• The expression, “with your foot” probably refers to some kind of pumping wheels, propelled by foot that draws in the water by buckets.

• The Israelites were slaves, so they would likely know what it means.

• Through hard work, toil and sweat, you can get water from the river. You don’t feel the need to depend on rain from the sky.

BUT not so with the land of Canaan. 11:11 “But the land you are crossing the Jordan to take possession of is a land of mountains and valleys that drinks rain from heaven.”

• Filled with mountains and valleys, with a river Jordan miles away, and not much of a resource because the river flows from a lake (Sea of Galilee) to the Dead Sea.

• It doesn’t overflow, unlike the Nile River. The people dig wells to get water.

• Canaan needs to depend upon the water from the sky, the “rain from heaven”.

Moses says, God will send the rains. It is a land God cares for and He has promised - 11:14 “I will send rain on your land in its season, both autumn and spring rains…”

• God will provide, faithfully, the autumn and spring rains, in its season.

• At the right time, in the right season, you can expect God to send what you need. The land will “drinks rain from heaven”. (11:11)

And what will be the result of this? Moses says (11:14-15) “so that you may gather in your grain, new wine and oil. 15I will provide grass in the fields for your cattle, and you will eat and be satisfied.”

Trust God to provide. You will be SATISFIED!

• In Egypt, you depended on human efforts. That’s your own way of life.

• Today, when you step into this Promised Land, you must depend solely on God.

Canaan is completely dependent on God. Rain is His gift.

• If God has provided you for the last 40 years in the wilderness, trust Him to provide you in the new land that has no natural resource.

When God puts us in a situation that seems to be beyond our ability to survive, it is never a comfortable place to be in. BUT it is in such a circumstance that we learn to depend on God fully. It is through such times we grow spiritually and our trust in God deepens.

Remember God is the source. Trust Him to provide, what you need, not what you want!

• In an affluent society, with almost everything accessible, we run the danger of living life without the sense of a real need for God.

• We need to constantly remind ourselves and check our hearts. Do we live each day with the recognition that we are completely dependent on God?

Jesus taught us to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread” (Matt 6:11). Every day we are called to depend on God. Jesus expected that.

• Don’t ever go back to Egypt and live by the old paradigm – getting water by human efforts.

• Our confidence, in life and in ministry, is in God and never in our ingenious ideas or plans or strategies. Apart from God, you can do nothing.

• You can dig our wells and trenches, but without rain from heaven, you have nothing.

• Without the anointing of the Holy Spirit upon our lives and ministries, we are just empty vessels.

When we are born, we are completely helpless. We depended on our parents to care for us, entirely.

As we grow up, we learn to do things for ourselves. By the time we get married, we can practically do everything ourselves.

Sometimes, we are misled into thinking that we are not dependent upon anything or anyone, which is actually not true. We are never completely independent.