Day: February 20, 2026

Day 51 – A Year in the Bible – Deuteronomy 1-3

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DEUTERONOMY 1 – REMINDERS

Deuteronomy 1 is a recap of Israel’s journey from Horeb to the edge of the Promised Land, highlighting themes of obedience and trusting God’s leadership, God’s faithfulness, and the consequences of fear and moving forward in faith.

The Command to Move
The LORD our God spake unto us in Horeb, saying, Ye have dwelt long enough in this mount: Turn you, and take your journey, and go to the mount of the Amorites, and unto all the places nigh thereunto, in the plain, in the hills, and in the vale, and in the south, and by the sea side, to the land of the Canaanites, and unto Lebanon, unto the great river, the river Euphrates. – Deuteronomy 1:6-7

The Promise
Behold, I have set the land before you: go in and possess the land which the LORD sware unto your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, to give unto them and to their seed after them. – Deuteronomy 1:8

The Blessing 
(The LORD God of your fathers make you a thousand times so many more as ye are, and bless you, as he hath promised you!). – Deuteronomy 1:11

Righteous Judgment
Ye shall not respect persons in judgment; but ye shall hear the small as well as the great; ye shall not be afraid of the face of man; for the judgment is God’s: and the cause that is too hard for you, bring it unto me and I will hear it. – Deuteronomy 1:17

God as Protector
The LORD your God which goeth before you, he shall fight for you, according to all that he did for you in Egypt before your eyes; and in the wilderness, where thou hast seen how that the LORD thy God bare thee, as a man doth bear his son, in all the way that ye went, until ye came into this place. – Deuteronomy 1:30-31

The Failure of Unbelief
Yet in this thing ye did not believe the LORD your God. – Deuteronomy 1:32

Consequence of Disobedience
And the LORD said unto me, Say unto them, Go not up, neither fight; for I am not among you; lest ye be smitten before your enemies. – Deuteronomy 1:42

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DEUTERONOMY 2 – DIVINE PROVISION AND GUIDANCE

In Deuteronomy 2 Moses recounts the final stages of Israel’s 40-year wilderness journey. This chapter speaks of God’s faithfulness, the transition between generations, and their first military conquests.

Divine Provision & Guidance
Ye have compassed this mountain long enough: turn you northward – Deuteronomy 2:3

Marks the end of their aimless wandering and the beginning of their march toward the Promised Land.

For the LORD thy God hath blessed thee in all the works of thy hand: he knoweth thy walking through this great wilderness: these forty years the LORD thy God hath been with thee: thou hast lacked nothing. – Deuteronomy 2:7

Emphasizes that God sustained them throughout the 40 years, stating they lacked nothing.

Respecting Boundaries
God commands Israel to respect the territories of others, specifically the descendants of Esau and Lot.

Meddle not with them; for I will not give you of their land, no, not so much as a foot breadth because I have given mount Seir unto Esau for a possession– Deuteronomy 2:5

And the LORD said unto me, Distress not the Moabites, neither contend with them in battle: for I will not give thee of their land for a possession; because I have given Ar unto the children of Lot for a possession. – Deuteronomy 2:9

The Next Generation
And the space in which we came from Kadesh-Barnea, until we were come over the brook Zered, was thirty and eight years; until all the generation of the men of war were wasted out from among the host, as the LORD aware unto them. – Deuteronomy 2:14

Confirms the fulfillment of God’s judgment on the unbelieving generation who died in the wilderness. 

Start of Conquest
Rise ye up, take your journey, and pass over the river Arnon: behold, I have given into thine hand Simon the Amorite, king of Heshbon, and his land: begin to possess it, and contend with him in battle. – Deuteronomy 2: 24

Gives the first official command to engage in war and claim territory, specifically against Sihon the Amorite.

This day will I begin to put the dread of thee and the fear of thee upon the nations that are under the whole heaven, who shall hear report of thee, and shall tremble, and be in anguish because of thee. – Deuteronomy 2:25

Instead of the children of Israel walking in fear, God promises to instill fear in the surrounding nations.

From Aroer, which is by the brink of the river of Arnon, and from the city that is by the river, even unto Giles’s, there was not one city too strong for us: the LORD our God delivered all unto us. – Deuteronomy 2:36

No city was too strong for Israel because God delivered all to them, this really highlights the sin of the fear of the previous generation of Israelites.

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DEUTERONOMY 3 – ENOUGH!

Let It Suffice
And I besought the LORD at that time, saying, O Lord GOD, thou hast begun to shew thy servant thy greatness, and thy mighty hand: for what God is there in heaven or in earth, that can do according to thy works, and according to thy might? I pray thee, let me go over, and see the good land that is beyond Jordan, that goodly mountain, and Lebanon. But the LORD was wroth with me for your sakes, and would not hear me: and the LORD said unto me, Let it suffice thee; speak no more unto me of this matter. Get thee up into the top of Pisgah, and lift up thine eyes westward, and northward, and southward, and eastward, and behold it with thine eyes: for thou shalt not go over this Jordan. But charge Joshua, and encourage him, and strengthen him: for he shall go over before this people, and he shall cause them to inherit the land which thou shalt see. – Deuteronomy 3:23-28

As we have made our way through the Old Testament this year, I have wondered if Moses accepted that God wasn’t going to let him enter the Promised Land. Did he ask God at any time to allow him to go in despite that He had sinned in striking the rock instead of leading the people to glorify God by bringing forth water according to God’s direction? Here was my answer, and I have never seen this passage before.

This passage says God would not hear his plea, and then He added – Enough! Be satisfied with seeing it from the top of Mt. Pisgah, and don’t mention it again!!!

I have also wondered if God ever gets tired of our asking the same thing over and over. Well, here we have the answer to that question too.

I guess there is a fine line between persistence and satisfaction with God’s will when it doesn’t seem to go our way. That fine line is what God has spoken. If God has said it, it is so. He is not a man that He should lie.

Suffice – to be enough or adequate for; satisfy

Help me, Lord, to accept your will in all areas of my life. Please help me to be satisfied. To let it suffice, to wait quietly and prayerfully for Your leading and Your direction.