26.21: Jesus in Deuteronomy Part 7: It's Your Choice! Go with the Culture or Go with God

<p>Guess what?! We’re almost done trudging through &nbsp;Deuteronomy! This is the next to the last part! You may be wondering why &nbsp;God wanted Moses to be so repetitive. Or maybe… why did it have to be &nbsp;so detailed? So, comprehensive? Clearly, God loved the Israelites — just &nbsp;as He loves each and every one of us. He doesn’t want to see us go the <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2020/09/16/are-you-off-the-right-road-going-in-the-wrong-direction/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wrong way</a> or choose <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2020/04/28/are-you-trying-to-do-the-right-thing-the-wrong-way/">evil over good</a>.</p> <p>God had to show the Israelites that they had to unlearn all the bad &nbsp;habits they picked up living for so many years in Egypt. Let’s play with &nbsp;some numbers. (Pun kind of intended!) Back in <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2021/06/03/jesus-in-numbers-part-1-the-journey-in-the-desert-starts-for-the-jews/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">Numbers</a>, &nbsp;God asked Moses to take inventory of all the men 20 years or older who &nbsp;were able to go to war. Why? He was sending them into the Promised Land, &nbsp;but it was inhabited by pagans, whom God was going to remove. &nbsp;Consequently, these people were not going to go quietly. The Hebrews had &nbsp;to be prepared for war.</p> <p>The problem was that when they <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2021/06/07/jesus-in-numbers-part-5-the-israelites-made-it-to-the-promised-land/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">reached the border, the people were afraid</a>. They didn’t trust God. Subsequently, God punished that generation by having them <a href="https://giselleaguiar.com/2021/06/08/jesus-in-numbers-part-6-sinning-against-god-disobedience-has-its-consequences/" rel="noreferrer noopener" target="_blank">wander in the wilderness for 40 years</a>. &nbsp;Everyone who was in that first census, except for Caleb and Joshua, &nbsp;died in the desert. So, figure those two were in their 20s. They are