chronological day 76 :)

Let's read Deuteronomy 16:18-22, Deuteronomy 17, 18, 19, 20, and Deuteronomy 21:1-9. Busy day!

A couple of things…. I love Deuteronomy 20:4 MSG:

“Don’t waver in resolve. Don’t fear. Don’t hesitate. Don’t panic. God, your God, is right there with you, fighting with you against your enemies, fighting to win”

When the Lord is with us in a battle, we can be assured that the end result IS victory – He means to win.  

I also liked the encouragement in Deuteronomy 20:20 about not cutting down trees:

When you mount an attack on a town and the siege goes on a long time, don’t start cutting down the trees, swinging your axes against them. Those trees are your future food; don’t cut them down. Are trees soldiers who come against you with weapons? The exception can be those trees which don’t produce food; you can chop them down and use the timbers to build siege engines against the town that is resisting you until it falls.

It made me think: even though these battles seems harsh to us, there was always a purpose. In man’s excitement over a victory, maybe he can become overzealous and do more damage than necessary, but we are warned against that. God doesn’t waste anything, and doesn’t want us to waste anything either.  When the battle is over, praise the Lord and let it be over.