God takes from the fruitless and gives to the fruitful

Deuteronomy 2:10-12 (ESV)
(The Emim formerly lived there, a people great and many, and tall as the Anakim. [11] Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. [12] The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the LORD gave to them.)

The Emim formerly lived in the land of Ar. These were a strong people and abundant, and as tall as the Anakim, who dwell in Canaan. But it appears that Moabites went and possessed the land from them. Here is another condemnation for the people of the first generation of Israel. If these Moabites, who were not loved by God with the covenant love, could gather up courage by faith that God had given this land to them, and possess the land from the hand of the Emim, who were as tall as the Anakim, why was Israel so afraid of going in and possessing the promised land? Moabites had not seen the glory and power of God as Israel had in Egypt, and in the parting of the Red Sea, and in the provision God had provided in the desert, and in Mount Sinai. Israel thus had no excuse to be afraid of the Anakims, since Moabites could defeat similar people without having seen the hand of God. Having seen the Moabites settle in the land of giants, Israel ought to have been ashamed of their unbelief.

Christians also ought to be ashamed when they do nothing for the glory of God due to fear, while unbelievers do great and courageous things, having no fear, for their own glory. We are afraid to preach the Gospel lest we suffer humiliation, while followers of false religion are ready to be mocked, harassed and to even die for the lies that they believe in. Sinful men are ready to carry their crosses to proclaim and advocate their sinful lifestyles and philosophies, while Christians are afraid to take the smallest step in defense of truth and righteousness, in fear of rejection. We ought to be ashamed. Our courage should be bigger than the unbelievers'. Our faith in God must be larger than the unbelievers' faith in themselves. Unbelievers are not afraid of the giants that they face, though they have nothing trustworthy to believe in. We have seen the hand and the power of God at work. We have seen the Devil fall from heaven like a lightening. What are we afraid of? Let us not fear man, but put our trust in God. Let us have more courage and boldness than the wicked do in sinning.

Like the Anakim they are also counted as Rephaim, but the Moabites call them Emim. The word Rephaim means 'giant'. These Emim race, like the Anakim, were a 'Giant people' by the name of Rephaim. They were taller and stronger than most people. They may have thought that they were blessed by God for their great height, but it seems that it was a sign of their curse, not blessings. We remember back to this verse in Genesis chapter 7 of the Nephilim, giants who were born between the children of God and of daughters of the world:
Genesis 6:4 (ESV)
The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.

In those days, the sons of God had committed apostasy, and fell away to marry the daughters of man, that is, daughters of unbelievers, and of idolaters, and had fell in to sin though these unholy unions. And these giants were born as punishment, and it was perhaps through them the violence spread like fire on the the Earth:
Genesis 6:11-13 (ESV)
Now the earth was corrupt in God's sight, and the earth was filled with violence. [12] And God saw the earth, and behold, it was corrupt, for all flesh had corrupted their way on the earth. [13] And God said to Noah, "I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence through them. Behold, I will destroy them with the earth.
These giants perhaps went about, and because of their height and great strength, making the world a wasteland, filling it will all corruption by fulfilling of their lusts. Thus their great height and pride was not a blessing from God, but it was great cursing and woe to the world. Why did this happen? Because the men of God went after strange flesh, and after their own lusts and away from the Lord.

Great strength is not a blessing from God. It is better to be born weak and foolish that one must put his whole trust in God, the Most High and Almighty. It is a blessing to remain weak, so that the power of Christ may stay upon us. Is not this what Paul discovered in the midst of his weaknesses?:
2 Corinthians 12:9 (ESV)
But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.

These Rephaim, like the Nephilim, were cursed by God with great statute and height, by which they proudly conquered and subdued lands before them. That which they thought were a blessing from God, was actually a sign of their cursedness. It may be that before the Rephaim were born, as at the time of the Nephilim, there was a great falling away from the faith. And the produce of the people of God joining hands with the people of the world was men of great strength, who by their strength and might were enabled to fulfill their sinful desires as much as their heart could wish. And this was great judgment upon the land of Canaan and neighboring lands. Strength that is placed in the hands of sinful men brings disaster upon the earth. We must ask for weakness, that we may put our whole trust in Jesus Christ our Strength. God alone is able to wield this dangerous sword called Strength.

Let us believers be warned here. When we forsake fellowship with God and join hands with the world, the result will be a generation of strong, Nephilim-like evil men who will leave the world in ruins. This will happen at the end of the world, as Paul explains that the Antichrist will rise after a "rebellion", that is, a great apostasy, a great treason against God by professing Christians:
2 Thessalonians 2:3-4 (ESV)
Let no one deceive you in any way. For that day will not come, unless the rebellion comes first, and the man of lawlessness is revealed, the son of destruction, [4] who opposes and exalts himself against every so-called god or object of worship, so that he takes his seat in the temple of God, proclaiming himself to be God.

And are not these Nephilim-like men already parading the earth today? Why do false teachers and wicked men abound freely in this modern age, whereas they were strictly condemned in the days of old? Because children of God have committed spiritual adultery with the world. And God has made them give birth to spiritual monsters, these wicked heretics who have laid the world in spiritual ruin, bringing destruction through their false gospels. This is the judgment of God, because the Church of God has abandoned fidelity to the Word of God, and have listened to seducing spirits. We believers must be aware. We must repent of our evil ways, in our associations with the world, and come out from amongst Babylon, lest we partake in her plagues. We must slay these spiritual giants that live in God's land by the power of the Gospel, and set people free who are held captive by their power.

But the Moabites call them Emim. Emim means 'Terror', which no doubt they have been called because of their great height. But how their name became as nothing and trampled underfoot. Perhaps the Moabites loved to call them by the name Emim because it gave them great pride in that they defeated such a terrifying people and took their land. How were the great and Terrible people defeated by such a pitiful, inbred people! The boasting of wicked men do not last long. They may call themselves Great, Terrible, and Strong, but how ridiculed their names will be ultimately when they have their glory taken from them. It is better to take a small name, as Paul did (means little) and afterward be exalted, than to be like the Emim, and suffer the scorn of the world.

The Horites also lived in Seir formerly, but the people of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, as Israel did to the land of their possession, which the LORD gave to them. Here the writer (perhaps not Moses, for Israel had not at this time Israel had not yet possessed the land, and thus added as a parenthesis) compares Esau's dispossession of the Horites from Seir to Israel's dispossession of their land from the Canaanites. This suggests that, God works not only through Israel in dispossessing wicked men from a land, and placing instead in it new tenants who will bring the fruits of righteousness to Him. Land is the Lord's, even the whole world. We human beings are only tenants, whose goal is to grow the fruits of righteousness and holiness pleasing to Him. Failing to do that, God will pluck us out of a land like dead trees and burn us in the fire. God will replace where we were standing with new people who will produce fruits that are pleasing to Him.

The Horites were also a wicked people misusing the spot of ground that they were standing on, using it for themselves, and for sin, and not for God's glory. Thus God saw it fit to send Edomites - though they were not even a covenant people of God - and to dispossess it from the Horite's hand and give it to them. Not because of Esau's righteousness was God doing this (though surely, Esau were morally a little better than Horites no doubt, as Israel were a little better than the Amorites), but rather it was because of the Horite's wickedness that God was using Esau to destroy them and to give them their land.

God seemed fit to include this verse to show Israel that what they were doing in conquering Canaanite is nothing special, lest they be proud. God has been, and is continuing to take His land which is owned by wicked people and replacing them with other inhabitants. The land of the world is His. He can give it to whomever He wants. Just as a man who owns a house can give it to whomever he pleases for rent, same it is with God. We must pay the rent due to God, giving of glory due His name. We must live for God's glory. Otherwise He sees us as waste of space. As Christ said:
Matthew 21:43 (ESV)
Therefore I tell you, the kingdom of God will be taken away from you and given to a people producing its fruits.

This is always God's way of working. God had given authority to Adam, that he would rule and have dominion over all the creatures of the world:
Genesis 1:27-28 (ESV)
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them. [28] And God blessed them. And God said to them, "Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth."

But since Adam sinned, and were unfit to have the dominion, God took the authority from him, and gave it to Jesus Christ:
Matthew 28:18-20 (ESV)
And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. [19] Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, [20] teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age."

And at the end of the age, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of God, and only Christ and His people will remain as the eternal inhabitants. Christ will take the land from Satan, devils and evil men and will cast them away into the garbage bin of the Lake of Fire. Then shall He take possession of the whole world, and give it back to the Father. Thus the Kingdom of God will be brought to only those who will bear the fruits of it, forever. Let Christ come and take the kingdom away from man forever, and let God alone reign. Amen!:
Revelation 21:23-27 (ESV)
And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb. [24] By its light will the nations walk, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it, [25] and its gates will never be shut by day-and there will be no night there. [26] They will bring into it the glory and the honor of the nations. [27] But nothing unclean will ever enter it, nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb's book of life.

Blessed through the blessedness of another

Deuteronomy 2:8-9 (ESV)
So we went on, away from our brothers, the people of Esau, who live in Seir, away from the Arabah road from Elath and Ezion-geber. "And we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. [9] And the LORD said to me, ''Do not harass Moab or contend with them in battle, for I will not give you any of their land for a possession, because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession.''

Away from our brothers ... and we turned and went in the direction of the wilderness of Moab. Israel turns away from their brothers, to their distant relatives the Moabites. The Gospel likewise is first preached to those around us, our closest family and friends and nation, and afterwards, it is turned to those who are further, even unto the ends of the world:
Acts 1:8 (ESV)
But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the end of the earth."
The Gospel went forth from Jersusalem, where the Lord was crucified and was risen, and then in all the state of Judea and then Samaria, and is even now continuing to be preached all over the world. Thus we must speak first to those around us, and when we have done all that we can, or if the message is rejected, we must take our message to the neighboring nation, and then to all over the world. The Word of God cannot be constrained in our own neighborhood forever. We must go to the strange nation, beyond Samaria, that the Gospel be heard to all creatures. We must not be stagnant where we are, and be slothful and disobedient to the Great Commission. We cannot forever stay with those who reject God's Word, wearing ourselves down. But we must go to those who will listen:
Acts 13:45-46 (KJV)
But when the Jews saw the multitudes, they were filled with envy, and spake against those things which were spoken by Paul, contradicting and blaspheming. [46] Then Paul and Barnabas waxed bold, and said, It was necessary that the word of God should first have been spoken to you: but seeing ye put it from you, and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we turn to the Gentiles.

Because I have given Ar to the people of Lot for a possession. Moabites were a wicked people, and these were those who joined hands with Midianites to hire Balaam to curse the people of Israel. But God had still given them the land of Ar as inheritance. Just as God had given Israel the land of Canaan, God has given this land to the Moabites.

It is not for Moab's sake that God had given this land to them, but it was for the sake of their father Lot, and, to be more specific, for the sake of Abraham, the blessed one. On account of the faith and obedience of Abraham, God has blessed Lot, and His children Moab and Ammon, in that God has given them lands to inherit. It may be that while he was living Abraham had interceded for Lot, that his generation may not be cut off from the land of the living, that his children may have inheritances. And perhaps God had heard his prayer, and the answer of the prayer was standing strong, even after hundreds of years.

Moab should not have thought that it was because of their own worthiness that they had this safety and great land as possession. They should have humbled themselves, and should have said, 'We are children born of wickedness, product of the land of Sodom. But because of Abraham and Lot's faith and righteousness we are still here today, and have this land and joy in our hearts'. They should have then sought the Lord God of Abraham and Lot, and called out His name. But they sinned against God, abusing the grace that God had given them through the merit of another. And later they would perish forever, because of their foolishness, their pride and their carelessness:
Amos 2:2 (ESV)
So I will send a fire upon Moab, and it shall devour the strongholds of Kerioth, and Moab shall die amid uproar, amid shouting and the sound of the trumpet;

Sometimes we take the blessing that we have for granted, and realize not that it is because of another's faith, obedience, righteousness and toil in prayer that we are standing here today well. It may have been our parents, grandparents, relatives or ancestors in the past that have prayed and lived for us, and have sacrificed for us, that we are so blessed by God on their account. But when we fail to recognize this, and begin to think that we are well because of our own strength, our own wisdom and our own righteousness, then surely God's judgement will fall on us. What we must do is to do the same that our fathers have done, and live, pray and prepare for our future generation. We must endeavour to leave a legacy for them, knowing that what we have received has not come from our own selves also. This way God's blessing will continue down the generations.

Why were even the distant relatives of Abraham such as Moab and Ammon blessed through him? Was it ultimately because of anything that Abraham was, because he was so righteous and special? By no means, it was because through him God would come down from heaven and become a Man. Through him the Son of the Blessed, the Christ, would come. It was because of the blessedness of Christ that God had blessed all who were related to Abraham, even Lot, and Esau, though they were not in the covenant.

It is because of Christ's blessedness, obedience, faith and righteousness that all the people of the Earth of have been blessed. We were evil, and had not done anything worthy to be blessed. Like Moab and Ammon, we are all of wicked origin, of the sin of Adam. We have nothing good in our selves to deserve the good things that we have. But it is because of Christ, the only Son of God, who came and died for the sins of the world. He died so that we those who don't deserve life, can not only have the physical blessings such as food, clothing and homes, but so that we can even have what we definitely do not deserve - eternal life and sonship to God.

It is not because of our doing, or anything good in us that we have this eternal life. We are like the Moabites, who deserved none of the good land that they inherited. Moab were not better in righteousness from the Amorites or the inhabitants of Canaan. But what was the only difference? They were descendants of Lot and Abraham the righteous. We are also the descendants of Abraham, and not only that, but of Jesus Christ who is not righteous by faith alone, but also by works.

For the sake of Christ the Righteous one we have been given the Kingdom of God to inherit. Though we were unrighteous, for Christ's sake God has given us the Kingdom. But if we begin to think that it was because of our own sake that we are blessed, because of our own righteousness, our own works, and begin to live in pride, admiring our own faith, our own pathetic good works, then shall God destroy us. We must be humble, recognize that it is not by ANYTHING we have done, but because of Jesus Christ. We must not sin again God, living at ease thinking we are blessed in and of our own selves, lest we be torn apart by God. Let us live in thankfulness coupled with fear, knowing our own unworthiness and the worthiness of Christ, and let us humbly walk with God. That way we shall keep the inheritance that has been given to us. Let us always remember that it is because of Christ and His obedience on the cross. Blessed be Christ, our Saviour.

Proof of salvation is whether God gives Himself to you

Deuteronomy 2:5-7 (ESV)
Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land, no, not so much as for the sole of the foot to tread on, because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. [6] You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water of them for money, that you may drink. [7] For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing."''

Do not contend with them, for I will not give you any of their land. Israel appears to have perhaps misunderstood during the 38 years of wandering in the land of Edom that perhaps that God would grant them the land of Edom just as He would give the land of Canaan to them. But God did not want Israel to be a conquer of all the kingdoms of the earth, but God had prepared for them a specific region which they were to occupy. Only to those lands Israel may go in and conquer, but not any other lands, such as the land of Edom. Likewise God has granted His people His Kingdom, that they may conquer it with violence, but He has not granted us to have the kingdoms of this earth. For the devil offered to Christ the kingdoms of this world, but Christ refused, for His Kingdom was of not of this earth.

We are not to meddle with the affairs of this world, lest we be tangled in it like thorns and the Gospel word that is planted in us be choked while growing. God has not given us not even one sole of foot to which we tread on this world. He has granted us the Kingdom of God, which is far better, and eternal. We are not to sell our souls for that which will perish. Jesus Christ is our portion. God has not given us any of this rocky mountain in the desert. Let us watch out for covetousness, for we believers have enough already. We have God and eternal life and adoption as sons. Do we also want the things of this world? We have our portion, and those of the kingdoms of men have their portion:
Psalm 17:13-14 (ESV)
Arise, O LORD! Confront him, subdue him! Deliver my soul from the wicked by your sword, [14] from men by your hand, O LORD, from men of the world whose portion is in this life. You fill their womb with treasure; they are satisfied with children, and they leave their abundance to their infants.
God has given the children of the world the portion in this life, just as Edom had received Seir as their portion. Our portion is in the next life. Let us be content with that, and not desire to have everything in the world. Let us gain our souls, by placing our hope in the Kingdom of God.

Because I have given Mount Seir to Esau as a possession. Just as God had given Canaan to Israel as possession, God had given Seir to Esau as possession. Each of us has that which is given to us from God. Therefore we are not to covet that which is given to others from God, because to covet them would be to oppose God's distribution. Each of us have our own gifts and talents that God has given to us. We are not to be jealous of another person's life, for God has given us our portion, and He has given him another. We each have different calling and ministry, and we are not to care about what God has given to others. We ought to do what we are ought to do. Each body part has each its role to play. Israel's part was to go and inherit the land of Canaan. Esau's part was to go and conquer Mount Seir. Let us thus not envy what others have, for then we despise God who gave us what is best for us.

Also let us think about this: God hated Esau. God had not loved Esau with the special love that He has for His elect. But see how generous God is to those whom he "hates"! He gives them a great mountain land for their possession. He protects them from Israel, and does not allow Israel to conquer them. God has a general love for even those whom He hates. God provides for and cares for them. Even those who are His enemies receive this love of God. Even the most hardened atheist, who devotes all his life arguing that God does not exist, is still being clothed, fed and given good things from God.

So if God thus clothes and feeds those who will be thrown into the fire of hell, how much more does He love His elect, His own adopted children, and how much more does He care for them:
Matthew 6:30-32 (ESV)
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is alive and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?
God does not only give material things to those whom He has chosen, but He gives them spiritual things. This is what makes the difference between the general love that God has for all, and the special love that He has for His elect. The Spirit of God is the difference. As it is written:
Romans 8:9 (ESV)
You, however, are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if in fact the Spirit of God dwells in you. Anyone who does not have the Spirit of Christ does not belong to him.
The Spirit clothes His elect with not the physical clothing, but with Christ. The Spirit feeds His elect not the physical food, but Christ, the Bread of Life. The Spirit grants us the knowledge of God, and that is how we know that God loves us with a special love, and not just with a general love. Esau was loved with a general love, but he did not know God, nor did he see any of Christ's glory. It was Israel, who was loved with the special love of God, that became the nation who alone knew the one true God, and through whom the Son of God became a Man. We need to seek after this kind of love. The evidence that God loves us is that the Holy Spirit shows us and gives us God's Son. Those who go to hell have plenty of food and clothing and abundantly have the general love of God. But it does not save them. Let us ask God to reveal His love through His Son to us and to those who have not yet come to Christ.

You shall purchase food from them for money, that you may eat, and you shall also buy water of them for money, that you may drink. For the LORD your God has blessed you in all the work of your hands. God commands Israel to buy food and water for money. Why? For the Lord had blessed Israel in all the work of their hands. Israel had money that they had earned by work, most likely by raising sheep and selling them, since they were shepherds. Israel would have sold the sheep to the Edomites, and God says He has blessed their business. And now God says they ought to use that money to buy food and water. They were not to steal from them, but pay the full price that is due for food and water.

When God blesses us with money, that He has blessed the work of our hands, it is not that we should hoard the money, or use it for on our lusts, but that we should use it for the advance of God's Kingdom and for the journey of the church. We are not to steal or cheat in order to do the work for the Kingdom, but we are to use the proper and legal means, paying the full price for the things that we use on earth. This is why God has blessed the work of our hands, so that we will be able to conduct the affairs of God with integrity, not through any lawlessness.

This verse shows how scarce water is in this region of the world, that it seems it was custom that water had to be bought with money. It is true blessing if we are able to drink water for free. Thus it shows how blessed Israel was when God had opened the rock that water may flow out of it in the desert. Water was scarce even in civilized cities, but how much more barren would it have been in the desert, and that from a flinty rock! Holy Spirit is the water for our spirit that had to be bought for us, but not with money, but by the blood of Jesus Christ:
John 16:7 (ESV)
Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

Only because Jesus Christ died for all our sins, the Holy Spirit can come and dwell in us, and be the well in our hearts that springs up to eternal life. If Christ had not died, we would never had the Holy Spirit, and we would have all died in our spiritual thirst and barrenness. The Holy Spirit could never dwell forever in a man whose sins are not forgiven. But Jesus Christ died to purchase the only drink for our dead souls, that we may live, and that we may also be a giver of this water of life by the preaching of the Gospel. Blessed be Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit!

We are to buy from Christ the spiritual provisions, without money and without price, the things which are freely received by faith:
Isaiah 55:1 (ESV)
"Come, everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and he who has no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.
Though God says it is free, it is not to say that is without cost. Having Christ costs everything, like the man who sold all that he had to buy the field wherein the treasure was hid. Getting the spiritual riches of wisdom costs our time and effort devoted in prayer and meditation. It is free, that is, it is never so expensive that we cannot buy it. ANYONE can buy the Spirit from Christ if they would receive it. It is rather for those who receive it by active faith, those who grasp hold on to Christ while letting go of everything else they are holding. When we see the worth of Christ, just like the man who find the treasure, we would care not about the losses we make to attain this great Treasure who is in heaven.

But it is God who blesses us in order that we may buy from Christ our salvation. Our faith is the currency that Christ requires to give us eternal life, but this currency is only from God. God has blessed us with the gift with faith, that we may buy Christ with it. Blessed be God who has grants us faith, that we may buy the things that we need to inherit salvation, such as holiness, wisdom and God's righteousness:
Revelation 3:18 (ESV)
I counsel you to buy from me gold refined by fire, so that you may be rich, and white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen, and salve to anoint your eyes, so that you may see.

It is interesting to think that Israel had sold Edom the produce from their sheep for money, and Israel had purchased with that money food and water. We Christians are also to give to the world that which is spiritually useful to them, just as we buy the things that are physically useful to us. We are to give the spiritual clothing, the Gospel of Christ, and the spiritual food and drink, the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ, that they may believe and be saved. But though we buy the things that we need from the world with money, we should not sell the Gospel of Christ for filthy lucre. When we help them free of charge, we are going to receive from God eternal riches. Therefore we give them the Gospel for free, because we know we will be repaid from God. Let us then bless the unbelievers freely, though they may take spiritual money from us, so that they may be rich as we are through Christ.

He knows your going through this great wilderness. These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. You have lacked nothing. This is a great surprise to us to know that God had not simply abandoned them these 38 years. It was God that led them, even throughout this wandering in the wilderness. Here we have hope. Our "wanderings" in this world are also carefully calculated paths that God had ordained for us to walk in, for our eventual good. God had during this 38 years led them around this land, to humble them, to kill their old man, and to grow and educate them through patience, and through continued repentance. God grew their faith in the wilderness, so that they would the more long for the promised land.

God knew their going through this great wilderness. It appears that some Israelites though that God did not know their ways, or that God had abandoned them. But Moses contradicts that doubt, and comforts their weary heart. God knows exactly what is going on in our lives. If we are His elect, God knows all the places we have been, and where we are going now, what troubles we have and what concerns we have. It is not that He didn't know, but He knows all things, and He knew what effect did our wanderings have on us, and He knew how they would help us in the end. God had continuously led us, as He did for the Israelites, through the wilderness by His cloud during the day, and His pillar of fire during night. It may have seemed that we were going nowhere, by God knew exactly where we were going. When God is our guide, even our wanderings have a purpose, and even in our lostness we are getting to where God wants us to go.

These forty years the LORD your God has been with you. God is with His elect at all times, even while He is chastising them for their sins. When God chastises the lost for their sins, God casts them out from His presence into the darkness forever. But God's steadfast love for His children never fails even when He is striking them with His rod:
Psalm 89:30-33 (ESV)
If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules, [31] if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, [32] then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, [33] but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness.

This is how a person can be sure that he has been elected by God: even when he is being punished by God for their sins, he can still feel the presence and the love of God still with him. This was surely the case with Israel, not only in these 38 years, but when they were delivered to Babylon for their transgressions, God was with them, even during their chastisement. God did not cast them out completely, but He was with Daniel and the remnant of the people, and He showed favour to them through the kings, and God eventually brought them back to their land.

How can God be with us always, even when He is angry at us for our sins? How can He show favour upon us even when we are being rebuked for our iniquities? It is because God forsook Christ on the Cross of Calvary. God had cast Christ from His presence, that He could be with us forever, no matter what we go through:
Mark 15:34 (ESV)
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, "Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?" which means, "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?"

God is with us at all times, the Immanuel God, because God had abandoned Christ His Son momentarily on that Cross. For, think of it, God should not be with us in those times we sin against Him, when we think or do evil thoughts. He should indeed forsake us, take His Spirit away from us and throw us into the garbage bin of Hell forever. It is not "righteous" that the Holy God should continue to be with such wicked people in communion. But why? Because God had forsaken Christ for our sins and had cursed Him. God had laid on HIM our sins and left Him for dead on the Cross. That is why God can be with us. Sure, some of His presence may leave us when we sin and when we are chastised, but His elect can never totally be abandoned, because God loves them, because Christ was hated for a season because of our sins. Let us devote ourselves to Christ.

And it is a sweet feeling, to know that God has been with us, even during those moments when God did punish us with the rod. It means that even those moments were not wasted, and it means that God will not remember my sins forever, and that He had truly forgiven my sins. If my sins were not paid for, and taken away from me, how could God have been with me during those times? Therefore we praise God, for His everlasting mercies on those whom He killed His Son for. We truly owe God our lives. Let us serve Him, if thus Christ has served us with His life.

You have lacked nothing. Mainly, Israel had lacked nothing because God had been with them. When we have God, we have more than if we had everything in the whole world. God had given the devil the world, but he had not God, and thus how poor indeed is that creature! Those who have not God have nothing. They have no life, because God is the Life of man. They have no wisdom, because Christ Himself is our wisdom. They have no spiritual riches, no spiritual food, they lack everything, for God is everything for a man.

But when we do have God, then we lack nothing. As the Psalmist says:
Psalm 23:1 (ESV)
The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want.
Yes, Israel had lacked nothing in food and clothing, for Manna rained every day from heaven and their clothes never went old. But more than that, they had a relationship with the Creator and the Ruler of the heavens and the earth. What more could they want, then, since they had God's presence among them?

God's cure for covetousness is always God Himself. The knowledge that we have the LORD God, His Son, and the Holy Spirit, ought to obliterate any desires to have anything else. God is saying to Israel, 'You have Me, and I am with you. Therefore do not covet what is Esau's, and do not steal from them, for you should be satisfied with Me, and what I have planned for you in Canaan'. As it is written:
Hebrews 13:5 (KJV)
Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.

God had given Esau this mountain range as possession, but He never gave Himself to Esau. God gives those who are perishing many things, but does not give Himself to them. This is how we know whether God loves a person with a covenant love, or with only a general love. Let us examine ourselves and see if God has given Himself, even Christ, and of His Spirit to us. If not, we are not loved by God by covenant love, but only with a general love. General love of God will not save us from His wrath, for God even loves those He hates. Only the love that God has for His Son, which has been giving to us by Christ's sacrifice, can preserve us eternally. Let us rejoice, if we know that God loves us in this way, and let us willingly give our lives for Him. Amen.