Anyone who has studied the books that Moses wrote in the Old Testament would agree that his central topic is the Covenant between God and His chosen people, Israel. That Covenant is an agreement between two parties. It contains some conditions. For the most part, it is a matter of One party (God) saying to the other (the Israelites), "If you do this, I will do that." And it is by any account, a great deal for Israel.
In the previous chapter, chapter 28, Moses has outlined both the blessings that Israel stood to gain "if they did" and the curses they would suffer "if they didn't". And what was it exactly that they had to do (or not do)? Chapter 28, verse 1 tells us. It was simply to "diligently obey the Lord your God, being careful to do all His commandments".
Let's think about this a little before we dig into the passage. A small nation of people whose most recent claim to fame was being slaves in Egypt for 400 years was invited to be participants in a covenant with the Almighty. Is this a no brainer or what? I mean they had nothing more to lose and nothing really to offer. God, on the other hand, was and is all-powerful, He loved them a lot, but He also hated sin, especially idolatry. Could this really work with mere mortals prone to sin and a righteous God? If so, how?
It seems that God and Moses knew people back then, and even now, would be asking themselves the same question. So, thankfully, in the first part of this chapter, chapter 29:1-9, Moses relates God's words to the people, explaining exactly how this arrangement would work. Let's look at it.
Here's God's argument: "You've seen everything I did before your eyes in Egypt" (verse 2). He could have stopped there, but He goes on. "You remember the great trials, as well as the great signs and wonders" (verse 3).
"But to this day, you still don't get it because I haven't given you a heart to know, eyes to see, or ears to hear" (verse 4). "For 40 years that I led you in the desert, your sandals and clothes have not worn out" (verse 5).
"You fasted, from bread and wine, in order to know that I am the Lord" (verse 6). "When we reached the promised land, 'we' met your enemies and defeated them" (verse 7). "We took their land as an inheritance for certain of your tribes" (verse 8).
That's it. That's His whole argument. He concluded His argument with these words: "So keep the words of this covenant to do them, that you may prosper in all that you do." And then He rested His case. Nothing more needed to be said to explain how this would work. Anyone with the ability to put two and two together, could figure out that God had not lost any of His power that He had exhibited. He could make this Covenant work on His power alone.
Moses was saying in essence, "If seeing is believing, then you had better believe and obey, because you have seen the mighty hand and power of God at work, and there's no denying it." I believe that is true of all of us. If we stop to think about, and know a little about, how God operates, we too cannot deny that we have seen the hand of God at work in our lives.
But yet the Israelites still didn't get it and today, we don't get it, or we don't believe it. Why is that? Well, perhaps verse 4 in this passage explains why the Israelites didn't get it and why we don't get it today. If no one gets it, it's because the Lord has not given us a heart to perceive. And why is that? David Guzik suggests the reason:
"The miracles in and of themselves could not accomplish anything in the heart of Israel. If God did not send His Spirit to change their hearts, then the greatest wonder imaginable would not make a difference. Some people today think the greatest help to evangelism would be to see more miraculous events. After all, who could not believe in the face of such displays of spiritual power? But seeing great wonders accomplishes nothing apart from a supernatural work of God in someone's heart."
That's what the Israelites needed and that's what we need today -- "a supernatural work of God in our hearts". And to get it, we need to really want God and God alone, not His blessings, but Him. We need to want a relationship with Him for Who He is, nothing else.
Matthew Henry wants us to be careful that we don't think God is to blame for the fact that He had not given the Israelites (or us for that matter) a heart to perceive. In fact, Henry writes:
"Moses laments their stupidity: Yet the Lord has not given you a heart to perceive, v. 4. This does not lay the blame of their senselessness, and sottishness, and unbelief, upon God, as if they had stood ready to receive his grace and had begged for it, but he had denied them; no, but it fastens the guilt upon themselves. 'The Lord, who is the Father of spirits, a God in covenant with you, and who had always been so rich in mercy to you, no doubt would have crowned all his other gifts with this, he would have given you a heart to perceive and eyes to see if you had not by your own frowardness and perverseness frustrated his kind intentions, and received his grace in vain.'
[And he continues.] Note, (1.) The hearing ear, the seeing eye, and the understanding heart, are the gift of God. All that have them have them from him. (2.) God gives not only food and raiment, but wealth and large possessions, to many to whom he does not give grace. Many enjoy the gifts who have not hearts to perceive the giver, nor the true intention and use of the gifts. (3.) God's readiness to do us good in other things is a plain evidence that if we have not grace, that best of gifts, it is our own fault and not his; he would have gathered us and we would not."
In conclusion, if we're not succeeding in perceiving Who God really is, it's not God's fault. It's because of our frowardness (our being difficult and ornery) and our perverseness (our contrariness, our deliberate and stubborn unruliness and resistance to guidance or discipline) that has frustrated His desire to give us that kind of heart, eyes, and ears.
If we can't perceive Him for Who He is, we cannot avail ourselves of His power -- the very Power that is the only thing that would make the Covenant between Israel and Him work; and the only thing that would make His covenant with us work.
We need to Know God and Let Him Be God, for us. How are we doing?
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